Streets on Sunday

Although Singapore is small and quite restrictive in terms of places to go, it is still considered a nice place for streets. The public has in recent days gotten more acceptable to street photography that shooting strangers on street is easier.. :)













My personal favourite picture for the week!

A walk thru the museum

My first roll of Tmax 100, its really a wonderful fine film...
Pictures were taken with my M2 and the canon 50mm f1.8..









A real vintage photograph...

Rock a baby

RFSG outing July - Abbas Photography

This month outing was to visit the Photo exhibition of Abbas which was held at Singapore National Museum.



Abbas, an Iranian transplanted to Paris, has dedicated his photographic work to the political and social coverage of the developing southern nations. Since 1970, his major work, published in world magazines, includes wars and revolutions in Biafra, Bangladesh, Ulster, Vietnam, the Middle East, Chile, Cuba, and South Africa with an essay on apartheid.

His famous quote was "My photography is a reflection, which comes to life in action and leads to meditation. Spontaneity - the suspended moment - intervenes during action, in the viewfinder."

Abbas joined Magnum Photos in 1981 and became a full Member in 1985.
You may wish to check his Photo works here

Frankly speaking, i didnt really know much about him and in fact, this was my first encounter with his works. It was quite amazing..the things he see thru his lens, the picture he took..He was a great photographer.

I brought my camera along but the film speed wasn't fast enough for the dimly lighted gallery..but still i couldnt resist taking photos here...





I was quite surprised that the response from the crowd was quite well...and i noticed that not all who were present was a photographer



Tell me about panning on a RF..:)








There was a particular picture that caught my eye..it was a motion blurred picture called "Shaman" where it shows a Japanese Shaman beside the river...the picture showed nothing but just blurred motion...it was such a great picture i personally felt..



Apart from the gallery, the outing was great..i met old friends like Patrick, David, jamila, Ben there..and some new RF members as well...
Because of that, i spent almost half as much time chatting with David over the pictures and cameras...which in the end, i didnt really concentrate much in appreciating the pictures.

I went back again the next day while waiting for my negative at triple D..but this round with my Yashica 124G...loaded with trix(pushed to 1600)

It was a little challenging to shoot with my TLR especially the lowest aperture that i could go was f3.5...but then again...i love it alot..it was so discreet in capturing your subject...







TriX was amazing!


This was my favourite shot...

While waiting

There is always an opportunity to snap some pictures anywhere anytime, even while waiting for someone...Its being a long time since i last shoot with a DSLR...and it really seems alot easier to use compared to my RF..but then again...its missing something...if i get to choose, i would still prefer my RF...









Shooting with panning is a must on DSLR...

Shoot with anything

Before i venture into Rangefinder, i was shooting with a lomo camera..a LCA. Its basically a point and shoot film camera that was created back in the USSR days. The communist took them as their entertainment and leisure.

Now, in local lomography community, this has been term as the grandfather of Lomography cameras.

I took it with me to alot of countries, which included China, Taiwan and even my last Mount Bromo trip.
The fun of shooting this camera is, you can just shoot and don really need to think much...no need to bother much about the technical specs of the camera and start calculating the exposure required since this camera is pretty much automatic.

Here's some picture i took at Mount Bromo, film used was elitechrome and i got it crossed process..
Its one of the highest "favouurite" pictures that i have received from flickr. So how do you find it?

Testing out canon 50 f1.8 LTM

Its been awhile since i last met Bin Yan. He was the person who sold me my first Rangefinder, the Yashica 35 GSN. Still remembered the day when i went down to compasspoint to meet him.

Thou the camera is no longer with me, we are still in contact. Just met him last friday to have a chat over the lens and cameras...and he was very kind to bring his canon lens for me to try it. As well as lending me the lens to do some testing...

That's him with nice bokeh from the lens at f1.8


I did a zone focusing on the train while going home...spot on at f2.8


And using it as a portrait lens


Sadly i didnt have the chance yet for a test on color negative. I am trying all the old lenses in search for one that can give a nice color feel..
Like the J8, this lens is an under rated lens that turns out to be a performer!

Reading in Kino

When i was reading in Kino, there was this young little jap boy reading beside me..

Everything seems nice for a picture..and i took this picture with the J8 lens on my trusty R2A loaded with colorplus200...

A cheap setup...yet wonderful colors and image!

Chanced upon a lost cultural trade

It wasnt in my plan to visit the temple and that it was pure coincident that i passed by this temple and decided to walk in.
This dance troupe was hired by this couple to perform for the deities in giving thanks to answering their prayers.

It has been so long since i caught something like this.













A diminishing trade these days, and its rather comforting to see that it is still around..let's just hope this trade will be passed on to the next generation.

My love...Twin lens reflex

They called it TLR...and i am really in love with them so much that i sold off all my SLR and fixed lens rangefinder in exchange for them.

These cameras are built with a character of its own and the lens produced excellent images...even that "problematic" minolta autocord that i have, can throw out images as sharp as or even sharper than the RF lenses..

Its very amazing carrying these TLR on the streets, instead of pointing the camera at a person, you are looking down into the camera viewfinder and before the subject noticed, the picture is already taken...they are also known as "magnet", they attract attention and people are more willing to smile for you :)

These days, Its not easy to find one in a good working condition. I have given up the challenges to look for a nice working TLR where the value is not overpriced by the market demands.

I am glad that the copies i owned are still operating well.

Indoor candid shots

Weather too hot to walk the streets these days...i actually decided for a change to take some pics indoor.

At every place i stop by, i will look for an interesting subject for a picture

Mr Baker!


While having berry's yoghurt


Drinking at Mac..(lala and ting, both move aside for this pic)


While watching angry bird challenge at Ion