Red Hot Flash

I mentioned in my last post that my holga 15b flash broke down over the weekend. I was pretty mad/sad about that. Mad that I killed it and had to buy a new one. Sad that I couldn't take pictures of the night with friends that I don't see nearly enough because they study overseas. We are meeting up again this Wednesday so I knew I had to get myself a flash by then because they are high-tailing back to the UK and Korea soon. I trawled ebay, blogshops and local forums the whole weekend but couldn't find anyone selling it. The only option left was to go down to thirtysix, the toy camera store in Singapore. I have never been there actually because I usually buy all my stuff from ebay. The store was amazing, all the analogue and toy camera goodness that you could ever want. I felt like I was stepping on sacred ground! Unfortunately today just wasn't my day. I should have known from this morning when I had to double back for some documents that I had forgotten. 1) The black flash wasn't available, 2) the lomography xr redscale film sold out earlier that day, 3) I didn't have enough cash on hand and had to search for an atm machine because the nearest one was out of order. Well, Mercury is in retrograde so I have to expect some bad luck now and again.

Also picked up a roll of Lucky B/W film. I have big big big plans for this roll of film! Oh and photos were taken on my iphone and processed with the ShakeIt app. The first photo is kind of ugly, isn't it? My room is terribly lit and doesn't do justice to how awesome my camera looks now!

grad trippin' in south korea #6

Happy weekend, everybody! What is everybody up to? My weekend so far has been great. I met up with friends at a game cafe for dinner on Friday and today I met one of my best friends for an afternoon mani/pedi pampering session and then for a little shopping at the mall. Tomorrow, I will mostly be running errands. Hopefully I can finish them early and continue working on the blog. The only blip on my weekend so far has been discovering that my 15B flash had died.  But there's a silver lining, I get to go down to the camera shops and shop! Hee! :)





Right on to Roll 08! In here, I spend my last day in Gyeongju (we only spent 1.5 days there in all) and took the train back to Seoul! We had to rush like crazy to make the trip to and fro Bulguksa temple, which is a little farther away from the Gyeongju city centre, to get back in time to catch our train. We almost almost didn't make the train! But with super human strength and speed, we managed to race into the station with 4 minutes to spare! We got to Seoul in the afternoon and after checking into our hostel, we went for a stroll around our neighbourhood and Cheonggyecheon.

 more lanterns to feast your eyes on!

the time that we arrived in Seoul.

i just realised that i am in the picture too, find me!

love that pop of red!

heigh ho heigh ho...

it's off to work we go...

hey dopey!

someday my prince will come...what! that's him?!

roll 8, holga 135bc, fuji superia 200

grad trippin' in south korea #5

Happy Wednesday, everybody! It's only the end of Wednesday but I feel as if I have been at work for five straight days. Soooo tired! I came home a little early and for once, I have a little time to blog during the week.





Roll 7 features my favourite place in Korea, Gyeongju. It was the capital of Silla, one of the ancient kingdoms that ruled the Korean Peninsular. Because they are many ancient cultural relics and sites scattered around, Gyeongju is known as an open air museum and have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Gyeongju is slightly off the beaten track for most tourists but I really recommend that you go there if you are in South Korea. You won't ever see anything like it in the world!

Gyeongju is full of this little hills. They are actually tombs of the ancient Silla kings, queens, 

royalty and officials! They are the Gyeongju equivalent of the Egyptian tombs

Cheomseongdae, the oldest surviving

astronomical observatory in East Asia! Every

piece of brick was used with a purpose!

The best way to get around in Gyeongju is by bicycle!

And which such cute bikes, who wouldn't?

Queen Seondeok's shrine, the first queen of Korea.

The sunset was gorgeous that day!

And this is me, HI! :)

all sweaty and gross after a day of cycling!

roll 7, holga 135bc, ektar 100

grad trippin' in south korea #4

And we are at Roll 06, just about halfway through for all the rolls of film for my graduation trip! Roll 07 continues the adventure in Busan with places like the Jagalchi Fish Market, Beomeosa Temple, Gwangali Beach and us leaving Busan for Gyeongju.

This roll was taken on day 5 of the trip. We started the day with a trip to Jagalchi Fish Market...

And then went on to Beomeosa, constructed in the year 678 and one of the leading temples in South Korea. The temple was getting ready for the celebrations of the birth of the Buddha by covering the temple with thousands of lanterns. It made for really gorgeous images. In fact, all the temples we went to had all these lanterns hanging about. So beautiful!

how the magic is created...

A lady by the roadside, near the temple

After the temple, we went to Gwangali Beach for some nightlife! That is one happening by the beach street. Little pubs and coffee shops line the beachfront, with seaside jazz performances and fireworks setting off all the time. The vibe was amazing! And there's the Gwangali Bridge, which changes colour every few minutes, gorgeous!

Bulb mode, long exposure, all without a tripod!

And then we had to leave Busan for Gyeongju the next day via a train journey.

don't you just love surprisingly awesome multiexposures? :)

And soon, we were in Gyeongju! We stayed at Hanjin Hostel, which is a really old and a Gyeongju institution in its own right. There really isn't much choice for digs in hostel for backpackers unless you want to stay at a motel which is seedier...

More of Gyeongju in the next couple of rolls...

roll 6, holga 135bc, kodak ultramax 400