Trash Talk

The Way To A Conservationist’s Heart, Er, Art

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I have to admit it’s not often that we get to train our cameras on garbage bins, but this week’s theme really had me thinking. Yes, I’ve got some shots of huge dumpsters; yes, I’ve got some shots of festival trash. But did I really want to publish them? I racked my brain to try and think if there was anything from left field.

That’s when I remembered these shots taken on Orchard Road, the main shopping area in Singapore. Luckily I catalogue all my images in a logical manner, so it only took me a few seconds to track down the image.


I clearly remember walking briskly down Orchard Road and pretty much stopping in my tracks when I saw these brightly coloured bins.

Of course I had to shoot the sight immediately. Not just because of the bright colours, but mainly because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a trash can decorated with so much vibrant art.


Visit TNChick's Photo Hunt. Today's theme: "Garbage''.

Friends, Romans, Lens Me Your Ears

Test Your Eyesight With These Two Shots

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This post is a direct result of a challenge from British blogger Imac. He recently threw down the gauntlet when he challenged me to take an unusual photograph of a camera lens. It was just before I flew out to Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur with my family and as soon as I saw his comment, I planned to photograph the famous Petronas Twin Towers reflected in a lens.

How? The simplest way. I always have at least two Sigma lenses with me, an 18-125mm lens and a 70-300mm lens. I figured the best way to do it was to have one of the Authorbloglets point the 300mm lens at the twin towers and for me to use the other lens to photograph the reflection of the towers. It would have been a simple but effective shot.

So there we were, on our way to the towers, when I spotted this unusual sight, a roadside collage comprising several small hexagonal mirrors of different colours. As usual, I trailed the rest of the family by several metres, because I kept stopping to take photographs. As soon as I saw this, I knew it would be perfect for Imac’s challenge.

If you haven’t been able to spot the reflection of my own lens in the photo above, take a look at the shot below and see how quickly you can pick it among the beautiful kaleidoscope of colours.

Incidentally, this sequence of challenges began when Crazy Cath said I’d probably be able to take an artistic shot of a bowl of peas and Maggie May echoed her words before I posted my response, called The Nobel Peas Prize. Immediately afterwards, the Texan blogger Rhea challenged me to photograph garbage (literally) and my response to that was Trash Talk.

I know what you’re thinking. You have a challenge for me, right? Leave a comment and let me know what you want me to shoot….