Marjorie Doggett

A selection of Doggett's photography was published in 1957 by Donald Moore, a British-born book agent, publisher, and impresario. Characters of Light: A Guide to the Buildings of Singapore was the first photo-book to capture Singapore's urban landscape and the first of its kind by a female photographer. Seventy-nine photos, taken with a Rolleicord, were printed on wood-free paper with short essay captions from Doggett, presenting the buildings in their historical context. The book differed from its contemporaries in that it was not primarily concerned with Singapore's natural landscape or social conditions. Rather, the photos were products of meticulous research and formed a valuable record of Singapore's architectural heritage. In the Foreword, Doggett expressed her gratitude to Carl Alexander Gibson-Hill, curator of the Raffles Museum, and architects T.H.H. Hancock and Lincoln Page. The first edition of the book was published two years before Singapore's first general elections, after which the country underwent rapid housing and economic development. In 1985, Times Book International issued a revised edition of Characters of Light with higher production quality and length. The original publication was expanded to include 38 additional photographs and more elaborate commentaries from Doggett on heritage and architectural preservation. In Conserving the Past, Creating the Future, geographer Lily Kong wrote that Doggett's photo-book recorded "the beauty of the pre-war buildings at a time of impending change." In 2019, NUS Press published Marjorie Doggett's Singapore, a new illustrated book that included previously unpublished photos of Marjorie Doggett, courtesy of the National Archives of Singapore, and an accompanying narrative on Doggett's life and legacy, penned by Edward Stokes, founder of the Photographic Heritage Foundation. It highlights Doggett's pioneering role as a female photographer, author, and book creator. Doggett's photos were also published in T.H.H. Hancock's 1986 publication, Coleman's Singapore and Julian Davison's 2019 publication, Swan & Maclaren: A Story of Singapore Architecture.

Doggett's photography matured in Singapore. Most of her prints were taken with a medium-format Rolleicord camera on a tripod to allow for slow exposures. Having no proper darkroom, she set up enlarger and chemical trays in her bedroom and washed films and prints in the bathroom. From 1954-55, she entered prints for the Pan-Malayan Photographic Exhibitions, organized by The Singapore Camera Club. She also made several expeditions to Malaya, photographing the eastern coast. There, she became acquainted with Ismail Nasiruddin Shah, the 16th Sultan of Terengganu and a pioneer of pre-war Malayan photography. The Doggett family continued their week-long trips to Malaysia until the late 1990s, which evolved, over the years, into a comprehensive lepidoptera field study. On 20 May 1957, a selection of Doggett's photographs appeared as Characters of Light: A Guide to the Buildings of Singapore, published by British book agent Donald Moore. The book features 79 buildings with detailed captions about their origins, architects, builders, and styles. It received positive reviews in the press and was praised in The Straits Times for being "exactly the kind of book that unknowingly we have been waiting for." The Sunday Standard described it as "a highly distinguished picture chronicle of the buildings of Singapore by one of the Colony's own photographers, who has also written the text with clarity and simplicity." In the 1960s, Doggett played an active role in the public debate about colonial architecture and heritage conservation. She wrote three lengthy letters to The Straits Times, remarking that Singapore would "be poor indeed if, amongst all its dynamic modern environment and recreational activity, there is no place for the thinkers and 'dreamers of dreams." The second edition of Characters of Light was published in 1985 by Times Books. The book jacket showed "Joshua", a Katong mansion near the Doggett's home in Amber Road. The new edition was spearheaded by Goh Eck Keng of Eastern Universities Press. Subtitled Early Buildings of Singapore, it was released in June 1985 with an initial print run of 5,000 copies. It was 46 pages longer than the 1957 edition and contained 28 more photographs. It also included an appendix for all the buildings in the book, sponsored by the Preservation of Monuments Board. The book received extensive coverage in the media.