Decided to head out for the first time in my life, to capture General Election Rallies. Of course, it had to be a Workers’ Party one as it had been known for its amazing atmosphere and ambience.

Words cannot summarise enough the feelings I had, attending/photographing my first ever election rally. From the moment I arrived, I saw scenes of people helping one another, sharing umbrellas, helping seniors, starting conversations with total strangers, and witnessed the smiles and giggles that seemed to be a constant through the night.

I saw people of all ages (and here’s me thinking it would only be older citizens), from young children, the Gen Zs (which I was pleasantly surprised that they were so intent of learning more about the political scene), people of my age the millennials, to the boomer generation. It felt more like a carnival, than a rally. The plus point was, people were not as wary of the camera as they often would be, and so,

I ran on adrenaline.

No wonder everyone seemed so intent to head out to photograph such events.

Here are some of the photos I took, while documenting the day.

Thomas (Tinkytee), Haolun (Wabisabi Journal), good industry friends of mine, and I arrived earlier, to avoid any potential traffic or human jams. We fooled around for a bit, had a quick bite / tea at a nearby coffeeshop before witnessing the dark clouds arriving. My thoughts wandered with dread… “will the event be postponed?”

Somehow, it became apparent that the gates are not opening to allow early entry, and we speculated if it was because of the impending rain. People began to stream towards the gate, and waited patiently outside. It was a mixture of people my age (millenials), a couple of kids and mostly senior citizens. As the dark clouds loomed, people started asking why weren’t the gates open? What began as questions, evolved into shouting lol.

Apparently, it can only be opened at 6.30pm, 30 minutes before the supposed rally time begins, at 7pm.

Then the inevitable happened, the first few droplets of rain arrived.

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*From the way things were going, I thought we needed a little luck.*

And eventually, what began as droplets quickly became a heavy downpour. We were stuck right outside the gate and I decided to run to another more open space lol.

*Our ‘weapons’ of choice, I thankfully chosen boots*

A mere few minutes later, the gates were opened and the majority could finally move into sheltered space. Most of the attendees took to the seats while the three of us roamed around in search of potential photos.

It was this moment that my mother said she saw me on some random YouTube video that was live streaming the event. This random YouTube clip had like 73k views - makes one really wonder how do people find such channels and videos to watch lol. Well, at least my wife knows my whereabouts and that I was still alive.

Once most of the ‘early birds’ arrived and settled down within the stadium, we were promptly updated that the rally couldn’t start, as the lightning warning was still on. So nobody could stream unto the pitch. And no one else could get into the stadium as well - seeing that it is already full.

And there were more folks that were stuck outside the stadium, as reported on mainstream media. Thankfully, we managed to meet Muz (Shutter Mischief) inside too. We got to know each other through our Scenes from the Street Collective photo walks and he is also a loyal Workers’ Party supporter.

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As the glorious glowing sun began to set, it was not before a good 30 minutes after the last lightning strike, did the lightning warning system clear. Like certain MPs running around during election time, the supporters ran towards the stage area too.

What became apparent was that due to the rain, it wasn’t as crowded towards the back half of the stadium. But the crowd continued to stream in, as I walked around to capture more photographs.

What I noticed amongst the crowd was a mixture of young children, the trendy Gen Zers (whom were intellectually debating their choices - sorry not sorry for eavesdropping lmao), people my age (millenials) with their children and without, as well as the seniors.

All probably intent on making their vote count. Or just there to soak in the carnival like festivities - like one random uncle who chatted with me before me realising that he was from Holland Village lol. I also met Nicholas (nicholasthree_officiel) (whom I’ve not met before) who came by to say hi! And his photos are so good?? The fact was - I loved every random conversation I had with the folks on the ground.

It felt for once, so Singaporean, with a kampung spirit, if you will.

As my battery waned, so did Thomas and Hao Lun’s. Decided to call it a day but not before hitting the 85 Bedok Feng Shan market - a place I grew up suppering at.