Tag: photography
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Street cart vendors in Bali
We’ll head into the streets of Bali where migration, money, and makanan (food) all mix into a life in motion. This story is not about street food, but the people behind it: the street sellers. The majority of small businesses die within 3 years. Each stall that you walk past is run by a brilliant…
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Eating houses in Singapore | Our public living room
14 August, 2015 One of the most beautiful traits of the coffee houses (or eating houses) in Singapore is that anyone can come in and feel at ease over a hot meal or drink. There is no gender divide: women are just as welcome as men. There is little class consciousness: in fact, strangers across social…
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Markets in Siem Reap (Cambodia)
We enter the mystical world of Siem Reap, a city in the north of Cambodia and home to the legendary Angkor Wat (“Temple City”) built in the 12th century that hosted around a million inhabitants in its time, making it one of the largest cities in the world before the Industrial Revolution. In the 1970s,…
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Capturing Hearts
Fai and his team have documented more than 300 weddings in Singapore and featured in two consecutive issues of the the magazine Her World Brides. It takes not just talent but grit to shine in a saturated photography market, and Fai shares his experience starting from rock bottom. Never feel discouraged by negative feedback “The most important…
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What’s your beef?
“I started helping my father in primary school. At first it was only during school holidays, but then I left school to help him every day. While he was doing deliveries, I took care of the stall. At the time, I was still quite young, so I found the work quite fun. I taught myself…
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Carpet Trade
A mother-and-daughter team from Iran are bringing the rich tradition of carpets to Singapore. Iran is known for their exquisite Persian carpets which made up 13% of their total exports in 2012. The largest buyers were Germany (29%) and Japan. If you have a curiosity for the flow of commodities around the world, you might…
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Temple of Knowledge
Little Prayer Shop August is the month of the 7th month of the lunar calendar for Buddhists and Taoists. The gates of the Afterlife open and ghosts of the dead return to Earth to linger among the living. Families make offerings to appease the souls of the dead and pray for their well-being in the Underworld, and…
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![15 minutes in a hawker centre in Singapore [Part II]](https://shopkeeperstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/31.jpg?w=1024)
15 minutes in a hawker centre in Singapore [Part II]
Urban Runway The hawker centre in Singapore is noisy and spontaneous and the centre of gravity for much of our routine social action. In this post, I’d like to present 10 scenes of activity in exactly the same place. Far from the glitz and glamour of Marina Bay Sands, this is the ordinary picture of life that most of…
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![15 minutes in a hawker centre in Singapore [Part I]](https://shopkeeperstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/15.jpg?w=1024)
15 minutes in a hawker centre in Singapore [Part I]
Urban Runway While drinking a mug of sugarcane juice, I took out my camera to document the people walking by in the exact same spot. This set of photos captures the mix of the crowd from “suits” to “slippers” to “stylish seniors” on bikes. Welcome to the tropics of Singapore! You can see Part II of the…
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Little Red Dot
Get ready for Singapore! An island, a city, a state, a nation. When the nation was mocked for being a “little red dot” because you can hardly see its territory on the global map, Singaporeans took this mockery in stride and transformed the moniker into a fashionable brand name: “Little Red Dot”. One might even…
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Food Stamps
Many stalls at Lexington Market (Baltimore, USA) display bright signs declaring that they accept “Food Stamps” (or the “Independence Card” — visible in the earlier post with the butcher.) Misconceptions about social welfare float loosely in public conversations: who receives welfare, why they receive welfare, should they receive it, and how much. About 1 in 7 Americans…
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First Steps
I like asking business owners how they got started because it usually tells a story of confronting change and uncertainty. Henry is from the Dominican Republic. When I asked him how he got started selling jewellery at the Lexington Market in Baltimore (USA), he didn’t miss a beat. “How I got started? Straight from the…
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Getting Fresh
When I asked Leo whether I could take his photograph, he glared at me: “You trying to get fresh with me?! Are you getting fresh with me?” Stunned but unfazed, I looked right back at him and joked: “What? You? Never!” He broke into a wide grin, but his eyes quickly brimmed with tears. He…
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Bringing home the bacon
A butcher shop at Lexington Market in Baltimore (USA) Microbusinesses typically offer a pathway of upward mobility for immigrants and, today, many stall owners at this market are Korean. Bill Devine, the owner of Faidley’s Seafood, explains the transition of vendors: “Wave after wave of new immigrants. This guy over here isn’t Krause anymore, he’s…
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Underground Music
The streets can be a fierce world for buskers who are exposed to the mercy of city police. However, musicians in San Francisco can perform at train stations for free as long as they stay outside the paid zones such as the platforms and trains. You don’t need to pay any rent to use this…
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“Without music, life would be a mistake.”
Location is absolutely crucial for businesses that rely on walk-in customers, and you have probably met many vendors and musicians making use of city streets around the world. Rodney Byrd plays his saxophone on the street next to Ghirardelli Chocolate in San Francisco. “I’ve been playing for 20 years! The sun’s not out today, but it’s beautiful over…
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Windows of Opportunity
Rich Trager travels around the world to take photographs for his business. Travelling to disrupt an established sense of order I really like Southeast Asia. On my last trip, I travelled to Bali, India, Nepal, Cambodia. I was also in Singapore for a day. I like the region– it’s chaotic, yet it moves at a slower…
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Kopi-ng with change
Singapore has been ranked the most expensive city in the world, yet there are few modern cities left in the world where you can get a strong and shiok (awesome) cup of coffee for less than a dollar at hawker centers located in almost every corner, with each cup of coffee customized to your exact desire with…
Shopkeeper Stories 