For nearly three decades, Lester V. Ledesma has roamed the backroads and bylanes of Southeast Asia, capturing its cultures through his camera lens and words.
His stories have appeared in international travel magazines, and his photographs have chronicled everything from sunrise over Bagan to the quiet rituals of life in Malaysia kampungs. His love for coffee led him to start his own specialty coffee farm.
‘Brewing Nostalgia’ Photo Exhibition @Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre
Lester’s latest exhibition, “Brewing Nostalgia”, turns the spotlight on an enduring icon of Southeast Asian life — the traditional kopitiam. Taking place at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, the exhibition will run from 2 December 2025 to 30 April 2026.
Brewing Nostalgia’ is a tribute to the region’s rich coffeehouse heritage, sadly a way of life that is gradually vanishing. The exhibition will feature 24 black-and-white photographs of vintage coffeeshops across Asia.
We reached out to Lester to learn more about his creative process, and what keeps him inspired after 30 years on the road.
What first drew you to document Southeast Asia’s old coffeehouses?
This project puts together three of my favourite things – namely coffee, cameras and old places. It’s also my gut reaction to the current cafe craze that’s sweeping the world these days. You see coffee nuts doing their cafe hopping expeditions to the latest trendy/vintage/artisan cafes. Yet many of them ignore our old school kopitiams (coffeehouses) that have withstood the test of time.
I guess part of what drew me to them is my search for authenticity. These kopitiams are truly authentic in a way that a carefully curated, commercial “vintage cafe” can never be.
Why did you choose to shoot the Kopitiam series entirely in black-and-white film?
This is the only way to shoot the subject, man! The organic quality of film, plus the slow, deliberate way of shooting that they demand (especially with the vintage manual cameras that I use) results in pictures that better capture the mood and feel of these old coffeehouses.
I find digital imagery to be too clean; there’s no grit, no realness in the photos they churn out. And I feel the shooting style they encourage is too fast and too visually bold for the subject.
You’ve been traveling across Southeast Asia for nearly 30 years. How have you seen the region change?
Southeast Asia has changed a lot, especially with the advent of the internet and social media. Despite being the region in the world with the most cultural diversity, I feel we’ve become a bit more homogenized. Back then I remember having countless “stranger in a strange land” experiences simply because I crossed a border.
These days everything seems almost but not quite familiar, like you’ve seen it before. On the other hand, the region has also developed greatly. Infrastructure has improved and the standard of services are on par with the rest of the world.
In today’s world of café chains and “third-wave coffee,” what do these old kopitiams mean to you?
Kopitiams are the heart and soul of our Nanyang kopi tradition. I see them in the same light as other, supposedly more “prestigious” coffee cultures elsewhere.
From Italian caffès to Turkish kahvehanes, coffeehouses are a global tradition. They bring people through coffee and conversation.
What can visitors expect when they see the exhibition?
Good photography that hopefully makes them feel nostalgic. I hope it makes them appreciate our old school kopitiams so much they’ll want to head there and order some kopi and roti kaya 😛
What’s the most memorable experience you’ve had while traveling?
After almost three decades doing this, my God there’s plenty. I’ve gotten in trouble so many times. Thankfully, I have been fortunate where I meet a local who will out of his/her way to help me out.
Last January, I was with my wife and kids in Tokyo when my youngest son fell ill. We brought him to the nearest hospital only to be told that they couldn’t treat kids there.
Apparently, not all hospitals in Japan have a children’s unit because of the country’s aging population. Anyway, we were desperate to find another hospital and boarded the first taxi we found. We struggled to communicate with the driver, an older gentleman who did not speak English.
He asked where the destination was and we didn’t know what to say. But here’s the amazing thing – when he heard the Filipino we spoke, he quickly switched to Tagalog! Turns out he was married to a Filipina. After that, we had no problem finding a hospital that would treat our kid.
In a country where not everyone speaks English, what are the chances of finding the RIGHT person at the EXACT time you need him? Things like this have happened many times to me, and I think they point to an unseen hand guiding my travels. I have learned to go where this unseen hand guides me.
How do you envision your work evolving in the coming years?
I’ve seen so much that so many “new” things often remind me of something I’ve experienced before. Because of that, a lot of things don’t impress me so much anymore. Wow, that makes me sound old!
I’m looking to do epic things; things that I’ve never done before. They don’t have to be big productions – I just want a bigger subject that I can pursue with passion. ‘Brewing Nostalgia’ is one such example of this.
What keeps you inspired?
Things around me keep me inspired. People around me keep me inspired. Little things like the guy who keeps his father’s shop going because it’s a piece of heritage. Big things like the dude who’s on a mission to visit every country in the world. People who do things that matter. Inspiration is everywhere.
“Brewing Nostalgia” runs from 2 December 2025 to 30 April 2026 at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre Concourse. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
