The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple is a Buddhist temple in the heart of Singapore’s Chinatown.  It is based on the Tang Dynasty architectural design.  It houses the tooth relic of the historical buddha and is a major place of worship in Singapore.

The building is simple striking. I spent several days photographing this temple, both on the exterior and interior.  There are countless possibilities for outstanding compositions.

I definitely wanted to capture the front façade of the temple, which is easier said than done.  I had to use a special wide-angle Tilt-Shift lens to avoid distortions, and capture the entire building.  And equally important, I had to capture it at dawn before the road in front of the temple was swarming with people and traffic.

I ended up capturing it just before sunrise, with soft civil light, and moments before the temple was about to open to its worshippers.  If you look carefully you can see a small crowd of people that was anxiously waiting to enter the temple at the front gates and doors.  I used a camera which captures a great amount of details.  And if you were to enlarge and inspect the photograph you can see every little feature of the building.  Within 30 minutes of taking this photo, Chinatown fully came to life and the area was sprawling with life again.  Time to go for my favourite kopitiam for my delightful kopi. (Singapore style coffee)