Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Going back in time, Kampong Lorong Buangkok

You all probably know about the last surviving kampong on mainland Singapore, Kampong Lorong Buangkok and I'm kind of glad that it's only a few bus stops away from where i live.

My parents always fed me with stories of their life as a kid living in a kampong, i had seen a few photos but never really saw it in person myself so together with a few friends, we had been planning a trip there for a damn bloody long time and we finally made it happen last week with Angie and Yingzi.
*I actually passed by the area awhile ago and snapped a few photos but didn't go into the kampong.*

This is Lorong Buangkok, the stretch of road along the kampong.
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While on the way in you should be able to spot a few houses on this stretch of road.
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Once you reach a certain point, you should be able to see a sign saying 'Surau Kampong Lorong Buangkok'
follow the sign and you're on your way in.
Surau Kampong Lorong Buangkok, Singapore

Some artsy installation by the villagers.
Do take note that you are now on someone else's property so try not to disturb the residents there.
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The stretch of Kampong houses, roads were rocks and dirt.
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We were surrounded by vegetation, the air is clean but it carries a bit of smell from the chickens and animals reared by the villagers, the smell of kampong i would say.
The Last Kampong on Mainland Singapore

Old power lines that we don't see very often.
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We came to one house where the kitchen is actually outside the house. Best ventilation you can get which whipping up a nice meal eh?
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Also the different ways the villagers decorate their houses.
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It's said that the whole area is about the size of three football fields and i felt like we only covered probably half a field. It was a rich experience and we didn't get any mozzie bites probably because it was a really hot and sunny day.

Now here are the some photos of ourselves, well, i was behind this camera so the two probably got more photos of me so better start stalking them!
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I shot mainly using my rangefinder but i did bring along my DSLR and here's one shot of us to end the post
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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Shot on a Rangefinder Part Two

It's had been around two weeks since i got the Zorki 4 and i had been shooting it at shutter speeds 1/30, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500 & 1/1000 because the slower speeds 1s-1/60 are jammed, probably been damaged by me on the first day i got it, now if you got one of these rangefinders or you are planning to get one, remember to change the shutter speed only after cocking the shutter.

Being unable to use the slower shutter speeds didn't bother me much and i had already shot and developed four rolls of films with the Zorki, now here are the photos and basically it's gonna tell you what i had been doing recently!


Fuji NPZ 800 (Expired) :

First few shots are actually during the evening after i met Leon.
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I also did a hipster through mirror shot later that day
Hipster shot

Also met up with Evan to do some videos.
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We went to Beauty World Centre's hawker centre to have dinner, i remember i was still in primary school  the last time i went there, the place didn't change much over all these years.
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And there is also Jo's birthday surprise from his awesome bandmates from SIXX over at the Hard Rock Cafe where he was gonna perform. Anyway do checkout the band! They are really awesome!
 [check them out]
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I was also invited by Esther to attend launch by Lomography Store which i unfortunately didn't take any photos using the Zorki except for a shot of Ruiting with her Diana Mini , Check out Esther's blog to see what the launch was about and also check out her awesome lomo shots!
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Kodak Ektachrome E100G (Expired) :


Went back to school to help to shoot for a debate tournament and took a picture of one of the old playgrounds which is still standing in Singapore while on the way home
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Bought it out for a picnic with my friends at sentosa
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Well, focusing was somewhat easy i guess, i can do it, Yongwei can do it i guess anyone can do it!
Credits to Yongwei for helping with the shot of Mint and me.
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Also here's Angie with her Diana Mini. For some reason i was like more anxious than her to finish the film and get it developed. :P Anyway, her first roll is done and up! Check out the album HERE and also please like her page too while you're at it!
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Met up with Angie again so we could finish up the our films and get them developed.
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We went around orchard, then slowly made our way to Bugis/Rochor.
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Angie wanted to take a picture of the colorful blocks over at Rochor Centre which was at the other end of the street. I randomly said to her "by the time you reach the other end of the street your film would be used up" and it actually did after she took a similar shot below while going up. Hahahah "Shit Just Got Real"
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That's all for now but there are more photos on the way so make sure visit often!
Thanks for viewing!


Thursday, June 14, 2012

Shot on a Rangefinder

Recently got my hands on an old Russian Rangefinder, a Zorki 4 which is a Leica copy and it also came with a Jupiter 8 lens (50mm F2). It's made in 1963 and this means that the camera is actually 49 years old, Fenny and Angie had me thinking how many times this camera had exchanged hands and how the previous owner(s) are like, kind of creepy when i think about it.

Creepy thoughts aside, i just love the vintage feel this camera and now it also allows me to change the shutter speed up to 1/1000s and also aperture from f/2 to f/22, having more control over the settings means that i can now shoot more and not feel as restricted as other cameras i have had fixed aperture and shutter speeds which limits me and makes me think more before i shoot.

It's a pretty good camera to bring around for day or night shots, the only downside is it's heavy weight from it's full metal body construction.(Feels solid thou, i even dropped it once :x)

Here's a photo of the lovely Zorki i took the other day.
ZORKI 4

And so i met up with Leon for the first outing with using this camera and he was shooting with my Diana Mini. Alright, enough talk, Look at the photos!
Here's Leon with my Diana mini, Shot this at F2, Bokehhhhhhh!
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Well we decided stroll around Bugis area to do some street candids and maybe shoot people in their faces but for me, most shots are shot from distance since i was using a 50mm lens.
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And we came across a street with lots of pigeons and we tried our luck and see if we could snap any of them in flight and i got lucky!
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Also took photos of the interesting things around us and applying the golden rules of Lomography.
Looks at the Mazda and think, Well... Close enough!
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Well, we spent most of the time taking photos of each other i guess.
Try to spot him taking a photo of me below.
Leon Spotted

All the photos are shot using expired Kodak Elitechrome ED 200 and later cross processed, The roll says 24 exposures but i managed to get 25 shots *Inserts Victory Baby Meme*

By now you should have realized that i only uploaded 7 shots here, click HERE to view the other photos i shot that day!





Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Cross Processed Slide Films

Guess what! I just got back with my first two rolls of slide films developed!

I had been shooting with negatives for all these while and i decided to take the next step and venture into slide films.

At first I had no idea what the difference between the two kinds of films so i did some research and thus found out that slides is instantly a positive image when developed. The next thing i learnt was cross processing, which was to deliberately use the chemical which was intended for another kind of film for processing, eg. using the chemical used to process negative film to process slide films. The end result is some really high contrast image with very strong colours.

Different kind of films tend to have different effects when cross processed,
The shots below was taken with my Diana Mini with the Fuji T64 and cross processed.
Spread the wings
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The photos below were taken using the Expired Afga CT Precisa 100 Slide film, cross processed too.
Photos turned out differently, some are greenish, some are really warm and some have a very cool tone, this is the kind of photos you will get with expired films, you never know how each shot will turn out.
Chinatown, Singapore
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That's all for now! For more photos check out my Flickr Set HERE *scroll to the bottom for the latest uploads*