The Singapore Dragon Boat Festival is one of the oldest dragon boat races in Singapore. The other festival is the Singapore River Regatta which has evolved into the Singapore Regatta Waterfest@Sports Hub. Singapore Dragon Boat Festival 2022 is SDBA’s 1st event to bring back the exciting thumping of the dragon boat drums.
A total of 161 teams and 2254 paddlers took part in the 3-day event held from 3 to 5 June 2022.Capturing the paddlers at a slow shutter speed is one of my favourite photo techniques of the sport.Singapore Institute of Technology team in transit to the form-up area almost 600m away.The team paddled to gain momentum to form up at the start line.The spectators stream in as the whole day event progresses seeking shelter under the sweltering 36°C heat and soupy humidity.I always enjoy using another photographer for foreground blur as it adds depth to the picture.Singapore Institute of Management dragon boating ladies in their institution T-shirts. There is no escape from social media.The calm before the storm as each team warms up and paddles steadily to the race start line.Fellow shutterbug clicking up the event with a long lens as it’s about 150m from the reservoir embankment to the boats.An expatriate team, the American Dragons Singapore huffing and powering on.Adrenaline burns as the sheer human powers the teams to the finishing line.
Conclusion
It’s gratifying to witness this age-old tradition live on in modern Singapore with the Dragon Boat Festival, which is a traditional Chinese holiday with fabled origins dating back to China’s Warring States era. For me, it’s the vigorous action and camaraderie that attracted me to photographing this sport.
Many sincere thanks for coming along with my article on the Singapore Dragon Boat Festival 2022. For travel inspiration, you can check out my curated travelogues here.
Footnote: All pictures used are all rights reserved and copyrighted to Jensen Chua Photography. The opinion expressed is factual, objective, and that of the author.
