Betty Goh is a street photographer born and raised in Singapore and a first-time contributor to The New Yorker Life. Even though she does not have education or experience in arts, she developed her unique style of photography and became the first Singaporean artist in the Women Street Photographers book curated by Gulnara Samoilova and internationally published by Prestel Publishing in March 2021. The book features 100 contemporary female street photographers around the world.
My passion is abstract street photography – focusing on the urban streets, colors, shadows, silhouettes, reflections, and lines. Sometimes I feel that there is a natural force within me to do these.
I started street photography after attending a workshop with Siegfried Hansen. I didn’t know who he was or what kind of photos he took, and in fact, I didn’t understand what street photography was. I just signed up for the workshop as I was thinking of going to Tokyo for a short holiday and thought attending a workshop would be an excellent activity. Who knows, it changed my life. At the workshop, I was inspired by him as I discovered that the streets could be so attractive by looking at them from different perspectives. When I returned home, I practiced a lot and developed my unique style of photography. Besides being influenced by Siegfried Hansen, I focused on my feelings and views while photographing on the streets.
Due to the COVID pandemic, I have been photographing only in Singapore over the last 2 years. Therefore, the majority of the photos you see here are from Singapore. Abstract street photography is not at all common or popular in Singapore, but I feel that it is still important to follow my soul and capture the streets in the way I think.
In September 2021, I became a Leica Guild member. Currently, I have an exhibition, “Graphics in Streets,” held in Leica Singapore. I also take place in a Leica Conversation Zoom session called “Graphics in Streets.”
I definitely would love to come to New York to photograph. In fact, before COVID, I had frequently been traveling to the US for my work, and so, I flew to New York over one short weekend to take some street photos for a couple of hours. I would love to return to do more.
For more: Follow Betty Goh on Instagram and visit bettygohphotography.com.
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