The Frame (1974) is an example of one of Tan Lip Seng's many experiments with colour photography. This photograph was taken at the Singapore Polo Club (next to the old Police Academy along) and the silhouetted frame in the foreground of the photograph was produced from laying a wire mesh over the transparency slide. Tan spent 42 years as a medical photographer at the National University of Singapore. Many of his works have won numerous awards internationally and show a strong graphic and stylistic sensibility. Tan is also the first Singaporean to be awarded a fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society of the United Kingdom in 1970 for his colour works. Conferred the Cultural Medallion in 1985, Tan recently published a retrospective of his works, ‘Light & Shadow: Tan Lip Seng’s 50 Years of Photography’ in 2009.
