GE2025 in low-res: A look back at the Singapore election through an old digicam

SINGAPORE – With a digicam in hand and sweat dripping down my forehead, I press the shutter button, hoping to capture a group of people cheering.

The dim rally lighting and fast-moving crowd overwhelm the camera – it lags, and the moment slips away.

I try again. Then again. I get my shot, but not without losing a few others along the way.

There’s a kind of beauty in the slowness of a point-and-shoot digital camera – a contrast to the electric pace of GE2025 and the speed of the latest mirrorless cameras and even smartphones.

Once considered outdated, digicams have become trendy again among Gen Z digital natives aged between 13 and 27 years old. They seek the nostalgic Y2K aesthetic, having grown up with pictures taken on these cameras. Many new businesses have sprung up, selling deadstock or secondhand cameras.

Armed with a Canon Ixus 275HS, I wondered what it was like for people in the past to capture their experiences of the general election.

The grungy, almost nostalgic effect of the low-fi pictures made me reflect on how they might compare with photos from past eras – especially my first time taking pictures at a rally in 2013, when I was a 17-year-old student – and what they might reveal about this moment in time.

Before the GE2025 rallies began, I wondered if people would show up. After all, it had been a decade since such rallies were last held. Would they prefer to tune in from the comfort of their homes instead? After all, we have all got used to wireless communication since the pandemic.

However, as I looked through the lens, I realised some things have not changed. The boisterous characters, the fiery speeches and the riot of colours were just like what I remembered from my first experience.

It was as though time had stood still for a moment, reminding me that despite all the changes around me, some things remain timeless.

• Shintaro is a photojournalist with The Straits Times. Through journalism, photography and documentary-making, he strives to shine a light on the everyday man. 

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