(:

Wow, this is a bloody depressing blog (:

SO! I've been doing quite a bit lately...

Such as going out with my sister for an entire day and spending more than $200 on clothes, for a wardrobe which is filled to bursting point. Getting clothes in it involves a lot of pushing and shoving and perspiring. I guess shopping gives me a workout at home too. I've also been "spring cleaning" it, which basically involves pulling most everything out... and then deciding I want to keep 99%, of which i only wear 30%. I am somehow getting very worried about moving back to my homesweethome cos the wardrobe there is about... 1/2 of this one...

BUT anyway I've been up to some stuff (:

Such as knitting this hat for my dad:



I think he wanted a robin hood look here. And, he's wearing shorts yes.

I've also, lately, been wanting to tear out someone's hair. Specifically, someone from Ruby Photo (or who develops the film) cos this is what happened:



Its dreamy yes, but its also known as bad development.

I like to be positive though. I tell myself its another reason pointing me towards buying my own darkroom equipment. Hehe (:

Photos were taken at Borobudur, Indonesia.

I love the colours here:



The monster is unbelievable. I love it, i love it, i love it!



I don't know if I'd ever sell this camera. As much as I want a Hasselblad (just for its good looks)

And my favourite all-time monster photo:



The chendol man at Malacca!! This guy's chendol is unbelievable. Me and my dad we eat two or three each visit to the shop. Which probably explains why I leave Malacca scared of chendol hehe (: His stall is... I think a mangosteen or a coconut. Oh wait that was a decade ago ):

Wouldn't mind one now!

6x6

I really love medium format. And, I really love square format.

I really love my Mamiya TLR. And, I really love slides.

Here are some photos from a roll exposed a few months ago, and only developed yesterday (:

Not really in order...














Giving double exposure a try (:











The best thing about shooting with my monster, is that it slows me down so much that I usually have a "hit rate" of 10 out of 12 frames. For this roll, I loved all except two, the one of the tree root, and the blurred swan. I think I still need to figure out how to frame tree roots..

Cycling @ Pulau Ubin

T'was a crazy day cycling at hilly and rocky Pulau Ubin (:

I brought seven rolls of 120mm film, all excited to shoot!! But because of all the cycling, guess how many rolls I finished!

ONE ROLL!!!! One roll has 12 exposures by the way. Haha good golly (:

It was fun though, mild ache in my butt.

We ended at Chek Jawa accidentally, cos we cycled to the wrong side of Pulau Ubin!! Haha (: We were planning to hit the quarry first. And then when we went down to see, we realised the tide was rather high. We then decided to cycle to the quarries before heading back to see Chek Jawa again. Unfortunately, the NParks person told us that during this month, the tide would never recede low enough to see the lifeforms on the sand! February is apparently the best time to visit Chek Jawa, so visit Ubin then instead.

So we started on the mangrove boardwalk...



Where I got real bored and shot the sky (:

The boardwalk is the perfect place to shoot macros, there are many insects there: spiders, jumpers, cotton stainers, and grasshoppers! Well I brought my monster instead of my macro lens. So you won't be seeing any insects!

Instead, you get photos of YS shooting insects (:



He's carrying my heavy 1l orange Nalgene bottle with the Spongebob and Jellyfish stickers!! What a sweetie.



Do you spot the jellyfish? (:

Then, we finally reach the coastal boardwalk!



I call this, naked tree and dead tree.

This one's: balding tree, dead tree, rock and boardwalk.



Boardwalk and skiessss (:



It was really beautiful and sunny during our daytrip, and only when leaving did it get real cloudy and gloomy.

Fortunately, I was wearing the cycling helmet the whole trip (yes very mountain turtle) which provided me shade AND kept my head cool in that glaring hot sun (:

This is what I looked like, walking around with a cycling helmet hahaha.



A couple enjoying the boardwalk.



And then we left the boardwalk!! Lots of cycling. We had lots of water breaks too (: There was a time where we had a nice fresh sweet coconut at this stop after the Chinese cemetery. I had fun talking to the auntie in Chinese (: Well pronounced Chinese I might add. And she told me I was very fair ):

While back at the 'town' area and enjoying some cold drinks, I took this shot (: Its such an old school building. Abandoned I guess. And those are our rented bikes (:



Another old house, next to a big old tree! I've always always always wanted to take a photo of this house. I didn't manage the first time I went ):



Stack of boxes outside another old house.



That's all I have (: Till the next time I go shooting!

Singapore Botanic Gardens in B&W (Part 3)

Here's the continuation to Part 2.

This flower was about 2 cm in diameter, and I was trying to do a macro of it. When lo and behold! A bee landed on it. And so I happily depressed the shutter, only to worry about the possibility of wrong exposures and narrow DOF too late (:



Here it is, without the bee. I think I still need to practice on better macros with my monster.



The famous bandstand. The thing about digitising negatives is that, its so hard to get any shadow or highlight areas in which can be obtained by dodging or burning in the real darkroom. Hence the sky is blown out here, although my print still had cloud details.



Bonsai tree



A couple (?) enjoying time together under the shade of a large tree



Family leaving the gardens



This one's prolly my favourite image from the whole series. Its a frangipani flower, fallen into the bush. The photo's dark, the flower's decomposing... It just speaks out to me.

Slides

Fujichrome, otherwise known as slides. Or this roll, otherwise known as Fuji RVP 100, or Velvia.



I cannot begin to describe my love for slides. For Velvia, the ultimate of slides. Till I try Fortia perhaps (: Shooting slides is a whole different obsession from shooting B&W. A different way of looking through the lens is needed. The imagination of colour, or monotone. The knowledge that B&W can be dodged and burned effectively, while slides are a one-hit wonder.

Okay I think I'm ranting. The above and below are shot at Punggol.



I love how the railings are blue, with the torn parts white. The blue skies with puffy white clouds seems a reflection almost.

An old red scooter at the end of the path



I have a fascination with how people love to leave their mark on plants. Although plants don't have feelings, its just plain sad ):



The handsome boy (:



Lalang



I love this shot (: The photographer came to Marina Barrage toting this huge tripod and his gear, and it was pouring!! The clouds were already crazy dark and gloomy. Had to lift my camera up and kinda over the railing to get this shot. It was fun (:



Before it rained and I was chased to the shelter...

Singapore Botanic Gardens in B&W (Part 2)

Here's a continuation to the first part here.

It was at the Ginger Path where I ended, and ran to a nearby bench to put in new film before running back to my previous spot where I was kneeling on the grass timing my photo just before a family walked past.

This here's a pretty ginger flower alongside the path.





Then I walked on and spotted this lonesome looking bench against a plain backdrop of leaves. I was happily fiddling with my camera, when this girl came along. She saw me aiming at the bench, and saw that there were other benches, but she sat down on my bench of choice! WHAT LUCK. First I have an angmoh family parking themselves in my photos, making me wait forever for them to leave before taking a photo, and now I have a girl blatantly sitting there. Ah well, life throws you boulders sometimes.



Then off I went in search for a cool drink, being parched from the heat. I found an ice cold Snapple, and a pretty tree with leaves settled on its trunk.



Next stop was the Cactus area.



I cannot emphasise what suffering one goes through, juggling a monster camera, a huge spotmeter, a swinging sling bag, and a bottle of Snapple. Imagine what happens when you need to change the lens. AAAAAHHH. What a fun experience it was (:



Someone told me I could sell postcards upon seeing this photo (: he made my day!



It was a tiny white flower, and behind it was a bench. Where two banglas were sitting. And as it was low on the ground. So I had to figure out how to slant my camera really low on a tripod, bend my body like rainbow and peer at the screen, without letting the banglas catch a glimpse of my leggings-clad butt. Ah well at least it ended up nice enough!

Some random cactuses...



Vandalised ):



And we end with a lonesome bench! (:



Till the next post (: