No-camera rule puts damper on Snow City visit

Recently, I visited Snow City for the first time with my grandson, and enjoyed the snow play and ice sculptures.

We would have liked to capture the memory of the experience with our cameras. But, sadly, Snow City does not allow visitors to use their own cameras, and members of the staff are ever ready to stop anyone from whipping out a camera.

I even saw a visitor arguing with the staff over this issue.

A few in-house photographers mingled with the visitors but the photos they took were posed, and lacked the atmosphere of fun and spontaneity.

At the end of the visit, we were shocked to discover that a 20cm by 15cm print costs $20. To get soft copies, one has to order five prints, which would come up to a whopping $100.

After viewing our photos, many of which were not well taken, I selected one.

When I got my print, I found that the image in the photo was skewed too far to one side, unlike what I saw on the monitor.

I had to advise the printer to follow the rule of thirds that is often used in photo composition, and get a reprint.

Perhaps Snow City is adopting this no-camera policy to keep its entrance fee of $15 a person low.

However, I believe many visitors would rather pay a higher entrance fee and shoot their own candid photos (and videos).

Ong Tok Lwee

This article was first published on June 27, 2015.
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