an amazing start to the week.

i just got some super awesome news this morning! i won a bunch of super rare slides films organised by a member of singapore's local lomography forum! my friend texted me about it but i was so busy at work this morning, i didn't have a chance to glance at my phone. she finally caught me on messenger when i logged in and told me the good news. she was congratulating me and i was like "what for" while i racked my brains furiously. when she told me i won the film lottery, my mouth dropped open and stared at the screen for the longest time. ScotchChrome 640T Kodak Ektachrome EPJ 320T Kodak Ektachrome ESD 100 Kodak Ektachrome EL 400 Kodak Ektachrome EPP 100 the rules were to pick a number from 100-999 and the organiser would ran a code to determine the winner. i picked 387 which really means March 87 (my birthday!). the programme picked 384 and i was only off by 3 numbers! i am still really flabbergasted that i came that close. oh, and i also won a small sponsor spot on the art of staying up all night just by retweeting. i so couldn't believe it either when andrea tweeted it. thank you so much, i am treating all these as my early birthday presents from the gods! with my april and may shaping up to be truly exciting months. i can't believe how lucky i am at the moment.

[cambodia 2010] bantaey srei, in redscale

cambodia travel diary day 2

after trekking all over angkor wat, we went back to the van and headed up north to another temple called Banteay Srei or Citadel of Women. i adore Banteay Srei and i imagine it's the perfect little temple for female deities to flit about. if you want to read more about Banteay Srei, go check out my lomo-locations article on lomography! (so excited to finally submit and publish an article!)

oh and remember this post when i mentioned that the fisheye is a little light sucker? it was really sunny by this time so i used the lomography xr redscale film, hoping for the red-gold and yellow tones that the film produces on low iso. but as you can see, i got the heavy red tones produced at the higher iso, which means there wasn't enough light to expose the film to achieve the lighter tones. some of the images are also rather grainy, another sign that the image is underexposed. i need more light than usual to achieve a smoother grain and the lighter redscale tones i was after with a fisheye.

(p/s: i hope i managed to explain myself coherently. i always worry about whether i am clear enough in my writing. pp/s: the last three photos give me a headache.)

say hello to my cameras

inspired by rhianne's post about her amazing camera collection and a twitter convo we had, i decided to document my camera collection as well.

01. all of my cameras
02. lomography fisheye 2, holga 135bc
03. fuji instax mini 7s, powershovel golden half
the holga 135bc was my first camera that i bought in april last year to bring along for my grad trip. after that i added the golden half, fisheye 2 and fuji instax mini 7s to the collection. go here to read about how i acquired the fisheye and here for the golden half's story.

04. pentax espio 140m, twinway star panorama
my mum found the pentax espio 140m after spring cleaning recently. i need to find a compatible battery for it to check if it's working. also, there's a roll of film still in it which makes me really excited to find out what did we last use the camera for! the twinway star panorama was picked up for $3 at a thrift store. it's able to take both normal and panoramic pictures. i have tested it once and it takes pretty decent panoramic pictures. good bargain!

05. nikon fm, canon canonet 28
the nikon fm was my father's who handed it down to me after he discovered i was into film photography. unfortunately, the shutter malfunctioned on the second roll i ran through it. it has to go to the hospital soon :( the canon canonet 28 was given to me by a friend's mum. it has a cloudy viewfinder so i will have to send that for a check too. otherwise, everything seems to be in order.

so that's all the cameras i currently have! currently being the important word in that sentence. i am sure i will add to this little collection before long. but at least not in the next six months. i imposed a six-month camera no buy on myself because i haven't had enough chance to learn my way around all these cameras. also i need to save some money! :)

do post up your camera collection, nothing more i love more than ogling at cameras! :)

[cambodia 2010] bantey srei

my lomo-location article for bantey srei got published at lomography last Sunday, so head on over there to read more about this charming and tiny temple.

holga 135bc, fuji sensia 200

golden half, solaris 400





p/s: this means i have accomplished item 14 on my 20 things to do in 2011 list!

[cambodia 2010] plants, trees, waters

holga 135bc, fuji sensia 200

isn't it just perfect that much love monday falls on the same day as valentine's day? :)

i ♥ my new moleskine ( i finally got it, one and half months into 2011).

i ♥ my best friends who lets me bitch and whine, but yet still love me as i am.

i ♥ sunday afternoons, relaxing in an out-of-the-way cafe, empty of all people but us, planning for our april adventure

since i am single girl, with many single friends. we are all going out for a very unromantic meal of korean bbq in a very unromantic family restaurant. we should have a lot of fun!

iphone processed with photo treats for the snowflakes effect.

[cambodia 2010] up and down

*warning: pictures may cause some discomfort. even the second one makes me feel a little dizzy.

i am not normally afraid of heights but not going to lie, i was really terrified while climbing up these steep stairs to ascend to the pinnacle of angkor wat. my heart was in my throat the whole time! i salute all previous visitors who ascended using the original staircase. the scarily steep staircase is meant to represent the difficulty of ascending to the kingdom of the gods.

holga 135bc, fuji sensia 200

[cambodia 2010] trick of the light

holga 135bc, fuji sensia 200

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[cambodia 2010] angkor wat in blue, glorious, blue

now this roll of film, i adore very much! these photos really came out amazing because they were taken as we were making our way out of angkor wat. by then, most of the clouds had cleared away for the blue skies to shine through. for the first three photographs, i was experimenting with the horizontal rule of thirds, pointing my camera up higher to only photograph the tip of the buildings and for more sky to fill the image. i think they came out really well, especially the first one which is my favourite!

from my research of the films i brought for the trip, i expected that the sensia 200 film when cross-processed would give off green and yellow hues but what came out was the most vibrant blues ever. i did also get some of the greens that i expected which i will share soon.  i had expected the agfa ct precisa film to give me the brilliant blues hues but it gave me greens. i thought that the sensia 200 would give me greens but it gave me blues! just goes to show that film will always always surprise you even when you thought you knew something. don't you just love the unpredictability? :)

holga 135bc, fuji sensia 200

replies (i am extremely behind on them, forgive me!)

from [cambodia 2010] my one true film love

nemar_774: me too! i am stocking them up!

hana: hello, thank you for visiting my blog. it's definitely a shame, i just hope they will continue to stock the other ISOs.

becca & elle: thank you!



from [cambodia 2010] a glimpse of angkor

barbara: thank you, agfa ct precisa is a gorgeous film.



from [cambodia 2010] angkor wat through the fisheye

cesar: thank you!

jihee: lol, you are so good for my ego. but this roll wasn't as exciting as i had hoped for when i had one of the most magnificent structures in the world right before me.

[cambodia 2010] angkor wat through the fisheye

01. angkor wat, from across the moat

02. angkor wat, reflection in the lotus pond

03. horsey

04. the lotus pond

05. rama, battle of lanka relief

06. within the central structure, angkor wat

07. the sacred mountain, mount meru

to be honest, this wasn't one of my better rolls. the light was extremely dull due to the heavy cloud cover (see 02. no blue skies whatsoever) and i was still learning how to compose with a fisheye viewfinder. thankfully, as the day wore on, the sun began to blast the clouds away and with more sunlight, the fisheye began to perform better. i can't say this enough, the fisheye is a little light sucker. this was shot with iso400 but most of the shots look underexposed. i will come back to this in one of my future posts.



fisheye 2, kodak ultramax 400 (expired)

the year of the rabbit

hello everybody,

today is the first day of lunar new year! i am going to take the opportunity to wish everyone a happy chinese new year and for the year of the rabbit to be a fabulous one for everybody.



the rabbit year is MY year! yes, i am turning 24 in a couple of months! on the one hand, it's a little scary getting older and having to step to adulthood challenges but on the other hand, i know that this new lunar cycle will be the most crazy and amazing one yet.



the weekend is going to be crazy packed.  my relatives are coming round to my house today for a whole day of diy popiah (spring rolls), mahjong, cards, clustering around the computers and television, and other assorted sins (gluttony + gambling)! we will probably be going to visit a couple of people tomorrow, then in the evening, a friend's place because she's leaving for australia two days later. and then on the third day, an all out party at another friend's place. so yes, exciting excitings!



(i am still not sure which camera to tote around because we will be indoors alot so i will probably need a flash but yet i will also be out and about sometimes. maybe i will just bring out all three! lol!)



this post have gone on long enough, i need to go back and eat my share of pineapple tarts before my brother and boy cousins pour them down their throat. i will try to upload some digitals tonight to share the celebrations! :)