Free admission. Please register at bit.ly/1N86mEM
2pm, 4 July (Sat) at National Library Building Lvl 5.

Learn how we preserve memories through the process of digitising, and collecting stories from the photo contributors, in turn allowing our project to uncover the thread that weaves the unseen fabric of themes that hold us together, as an individual and as a unit of society.

If you are joining us for the launch on Wednesday, 10:30am – 12pm, do let us know so we can say hello to you!

After 3 months of knocking on 2,600 doors in 3 different neighbourhoods, the project scanned a total of 15,239 printed photos after looking through more than 17,000 photos. We made many new friends and heard amazing stories from over 100 participants.

The team will be looking through and categorising all contributed photos over the next several months to select the ones that will be used in the animated films. In the meanwhile, keep a lookout for the many stories that will be published on our website here at www.SgSnaps.com and by liking our Facebook page.

‘Singapore Snaps’ is an art project seeking to create 3 animations with collected old photographs contributed by members of the public. The project provided free scanning service at 3 neighbourhood libraries – Toa Payoh, Bukit Merah and Geylang East, as well as the National Library, from May to July in 2014.

Top photo: Zainab Binte Mohd. Kassim

We strive to do this through door-to-door visits with the residents of the neighbouring HDB near the public library, where the team sets up the collection booth. With the involvement of student volunteers, the project connects the residents with students of a younger generation, and engage meaningful conversations about personal histories and memories.

For the past three weeks, we have been collecting photographs from the residents, who we got to know better by talking to them about their memories, of a moment in time of the stories they captured with their photographs. Students from Hwa Chong Institute and Hougang Secondary School, as well as friends who participated in this journey, have been making their rounds together in the Toa Payoh neighbourhood. The photographs and stories they collected are nothing short of intriguing, informing and in fact, unexpected.

Student volunteers arrive in the afternoons after school, or on weekends to visit the neighbourhood either in pairs, or in small groups. Prior to heading out, they are briefed on their introduction of themselves and the project to the residents, and having positive attitudes throughout the visit. Should a resident be interested in learning more about the project, and in the event that the resident wishes to participate, volunteers may be invited into the resident’s home. While accepting the photo contributions, volunteers are encouraged to be curious and inquisitive so Contributors are encouraged to share their personal stories in relation to the photographs at hand.

The student volunteer team from Singapore Snaps taking part in a slightly uncommon volunteering endeavour.

The corridors of our HDBs may look similar, but each home holds stories waiting to be discovered – These are the stories our volunteers get access to when a willing resident opens the doors to let them in.

When a Contributor submits his or her photographs, we take great care in ensuring that the photographs are kept in its original condition until they are returned. These are the steps that we take:

Step 1: We account for all the contributed photographs.

For each set of photographs collected, we have two types of calculations: 1) Total number of photos submitted 2) Of these, the total number of photos selected for scanning. This way, we ensure full accountability for the photos submitted.

Step 2: We protect the photographs and albums with bubble wrap.

Loose photographs and photo albums are wrapped in protective bubble wrap before delivering them to our professional scanning studio for digitising.

Step 3: We deliver the package personally for scanning. Once scanning completes, the SG Snaps team returns the original photographs and albums to the contributor, together with a free personalised DVD containing the digitised photos.

And that, folks, is what we do on a typical “workday” at SG Snaps. We have just finished our stint at the Toa Payoh library and will be at the Central Library and Bukit Merah library from 11 June onwards.

Thinking ahead, we wonder… how will the photographs collected at Bukit Merah differ from the contributions and stories in Toa Payoh? Will we see a greater variety of photographic types and content, or more similarities? How will our collections in Bukit Merah and Central Library shape the 3 animations? Join our journey, and we shall see!

Till then – Much Love & Be Well.

Writen by Annette

With that in mind, I thought it fitting to pick this beautiful image, shortly after birth, to kick start the series of weekly featured photographs. From the thousand plus photographs that we have collected thus far, I noticed a trend in photo taking when a child is born. The arrival of a new being into a family seems to inspire photo taking.

Take a look at your family album, does it also have lots of photos of babies?

Credits to Ms Rebecca Fong

It is also common for babies to be naked in their photos!

Credits to Ms Lim Mui Tiang

Credits to Ms Serene Lee

The cabinet in the background of this photo looks like the cabinet that we have at the Toa Payoh booth! Are we seeing a trend in the design of cabinets from the past? I wonder which time period we can this design is from?

Also, check out the old sewing machine behind the boy, these days, such machines are being restored and dismantled where by the “legs” of the machine are used as legs for a new table. Do you still have a similar type sewing machine at home?

Credits to Ms Lim Mui Tiang

Back when kids still played outdoors bare foot. The following two photos were taken at the HDB flats in Jalan Besar.

Credits to Ms Lim Mui Tiang

Captain America t-shirts!

Credits to Ms Lim Mui Tiang

Family portraits such as these were popular then, still popular now.

Credits to Ms Lim Mui Tiang

One of the many photographs we have collected that suggests that the Chinese Garden was a very popular destination for families during their free time. What a lovely picture indeed.

Credits to Ms Lim Mui Tiang

Ms Stella was a teacher for the deaf. She has a nice collection of photographs with her students. This is one of her more unusual photographs featuring ducks in the park… toy ducks of course.

Credits to Ms Stella Maria Lazar

Credits to Ms Stella Maria Lazar

During one of her lessons, the class she was teaching was visited by ex-President Wee Kim Wee.

Credits to Ms Maria Stella Lazar

Ms Stella is seen here standing in front of her HDB home. Take a look at her door… it has no grills! She shared with the team that there was a time when homes were “open” – no grills, no security cameras!

Credits to Ms Stella Maria Lazar

Weddings, like births, were a common occasion that inspired photo taking. The difference in the type photography of these two occasions is that wedding photos are usually taken in a studio, while babies are usually subjects of more candid and casual photography.

Wedding photos in the past usually featured the bride in a traditional western type bridal gown, with the couple standing against a simple solid colour background. This photography style is a far cry from the wedding photography style of today!

Credits to Ms Lim Mui Tiang

Credits to Ms Lim Mui Tiang

That’s it for this week’s seat of featured stories and photographs. Look out for a new set new week!