Photoessay: Photographing Around Octopus Pedestrian Bridge, Penang

yzhensiang
Apr 22
3 min read

The Octopus Pedestrian Bridge has always been one of those locations that I tend to return from time to time. It’s interesting architecturally, yet I couldn't quite figure out how to make the best out of it. There is a weird feeling of familiarity and predictability, yet at the same time I feel like I am yet to exhaust all the possibilities in extracting frames from there. Even after years of shooting here, I still find new angles, small shifts in perspective and changes in the surrounding that somehow changes how the structure interacts with light and movement.

Recently, I pull myself up to visit the same location 2 weekends back to back and have documented the behind-the-scenes process separately. Both visit came with a slightly different intention, I find it quite interesting that I was able to yield different mood and results out of it. While I do like the outcome from both visits, I kind of wished the lighting was flipped between them. For the first visit, I went with my usual street photography camera, the Leica CL and the Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 L. This is quite an unusual setup because the lens on my Leica CL is rather front heavy and I am only using it because I would want to give the lens a try again before letting it go. The lens itself does yield a pretty good result but personally I do feel a lot of its potential is hidden when used on an APSC body. To complement the focal length, I also did bring a long the Zeiss T* Planar 50mm f/1.4 ZF. It was a rather slow morning as I just recovered from a rather hectic project week and was glad that I am able to find a few new angles that I usually missed.

On the second weekend, I brought along my Canon R5 to pair with the Thypoch Ksana 21mm f/3.5. This will be my first time experimenting with Thypoch's lens after wanting to get it for the longest time. This time round, I chose the octopus pedestrian bridge again as I felt it was an appropriate pairing; a wide-ish focal length on a location with a structure that naturally invites expansive framing.

If I’m being honest, I didn’t go into this experimentation expecting particularly strong optical performance. With Thypoch's emphasis on portability and that 1970s-inspired “vintage character,” I assumed there would be a more obvious compromise. But the lens turned out to be more capable than expected especially when stopped down. It delivers a level of sharpness and consistency that feels modern, while still allowing for a softer, more character-driven rendering when the light conditions align.

Still, I came out feeling even more confused now, though it's still an enjoyable lens to shoot with (Compare my output from both trips). I do think that its slim profile and understated design also make it well-suited for documentary-style work as it doesn’t draw as much attention as my other full frame lenses, and most importantly, it’s easy to carry around. The f/3.5 aperture on the other hand can become limiting in lower light, and with a wide angle like this, framing requires decisiveness. Hesitation, even for a moment, can cause the subject to slip away within the scene. Not to mention, this lens does caused some colour shifts on the peripheral of the frame due to the extreme light ray exit pupil. Also sadly, I did not get much chance to try out how it flares (what it was design) during the shoot as it was really cloudy. I guess we will keep that for our next trip. For now enjoy this 1 minute behind the scene video.

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