Wednesday Links + Instagrams Lately

INSTAGRAM SPAM! Snaps from the past few weeks.

ice cream + film pick-up / cubicle inspiration / artefact
singapore's night skyline / soup + sandwich lunch / potted plants
ice cream + brownie / heart on the street / leaving work
hot chocolate / the zoo / orchids
max brenner mocha / steamboat / glutinous rice with ice cream
my birthday / pasta soup with clams / aglio olio and scones
my first sake / sushi / la sardina seoul edition

New Reads
Being Young
Draw Coffee
Our Paper Shop blog (discovered via Chronicled)
What if I have a blog named "What If" (discovered via notabilia)

5 Before 25: Try 120mm Film + Go For A Photography Workshop

(instagram)

It's been almost two years since I started using film, and throughout this time I studiously avoided the medium format film and cameras. 120mm film was more expensive to buy and develop, making it hard to justify buying a medium format camera and then not using it regularly. But that didn't mean I wasn't curious about it. My original plan was to borrow my friend's Diana F+ but when I saw that Lomography Singapore was holding Diana F+ workshops, I immediately signed up. To make the deal a little bit sweeter, Sasha, a new friend I had met through the LoBlography challenge, would be conducting it! (Psst, the girl in black you see in the picture below, that's Sasha!)

(LC-A+, Agfa CT Precisa)

We began with quick introductions all around, it was motley crew of all ages which I found heartening because it's never too late to start Lomography! Sasha and Hakimbo (our esteemed Lomography Singapore store manager) then took us through a presentation about the Diana F+ and its functions. I am really glad that I attended this workshop because learning to load the 120mm is HARD. The learning curve for that is really steep and as the girl who destroyed 3 rolls trying to load 35mm, way back in the day, I am afraid to imagine how many rolls of 120mm I would have destroyed trying to do it on my own.

Sasha then taught us one of her signature lomographic tricks, strobe lighting and multiple exposures. I think I look really constipated in my first attempt but really, I was just self-conscious.

After the excitement of strobe lighting and choosing colour gel filters for our cameras, we were let loose on the population of Ann Siang Hill. As we stepped out, we bumped into this adorable little boy who was super curious about all the colourful Diana F+s we were holding in our hands. Of course, he had never heard of film before. I hope when he grows older, he remembers this little encounter and discovers the wonders of film for himself.

We shot on the 12 full frames option. And while I tried to be as selective as possible, I lost a couple of shots from leaving my camera on Bulb mode (when will you learn!). At least I corrected myself before the roll ran out and took a few photographs that I am really pleased with.

I can see why the Diana F+ is such a popular camera, the photographs are dreamy yet sharp. I would dearly love to own one of them one day (although I fear it may be more of a decorative item than a camera, which is why I have my eye on the Urban Outfitters Diana F+ Dreamer clone). Someday...

5 Before 25: Bake Something

I crossed the first item of my 5 before 25 list on 14th January when I decided I would bake some cookies for my friend's party that night. I baked together with my friend C (my partner in crime at Coffee Table People). We decided that we didn't want to do a conventional chocolate type cookie so we chose this Lemon Sugar Cookie recipe from my favourite recipe site Crepes of Wrath. It's a really simple recipe and we were done in no time. Both of us were really surprised by the taste of this cookies, it tastes slightly bitter and cinnamony but it's not unpleasant. We decided it was the lemon zest that was contributing to that taste. It's also a really crispy type cookie with the sugar on top adding more texture. So if you are looking for non-chocolate cookie, you might want to check it out.

a day at the museum

i had a day off yesterday and decided to take a busman's holiday to visit the national museum of singapore to check out the latest blockbuster exhibition in town - dreams & reality: masterpieces of painting, drawing and photography from the musee d'orsay, paris. it was exciting to get up close & personal with paintings by master artists like monet, degas, seurat and van gogh. it was intriguing to see how paintings are displayed against coloured walls, a point of discussion that i recently noticed about museums. however, i was a little disappointed at how it was curated. the way it was laid out was certainly very thoughtful but i had hoped that it would be a little more non-traditional since the paintings are being displayed in a non-european country.

01. outside exhibition halls 1 & 2.
02. the coloured ways, yay or nay? personally i like them, but i think it could also depend on what sort of exhibition it is.
03. claude monet, regatta at argenteuil, 1874
04. one of the few photographs featured. i am utterly in love with this photograph, it's eerie, gorgeous and serene all rolled up in one shot.
05. vincent van gogh, starry night over the rhone. the older brother of the more famous the starry night, i like how luminous the painting is and that van gogh didn't just drew random stars but decided to use the constellation ursa major.
06. theo van rysselberghe, sailing boats and estuary. ever since i read a readers' digest article about georges seurat and pointilism, i have been fascinated by this art technique. it just blows my mind.

everyday life lately, with the iphone

18 Nov - 6 Dec 2011

i have a bit of a history with instagram. when it first launched, i downloaded it and when i tried using it, it kept crashing on me. frustrated, i deleted it and resolved never to use it again when there were so many other awesome photography apps out there. fast forward to about a year later in melbourne when i saw the filters that my friend, tk, was applying to her iphone pictures. i was fascinated and when i had a wifi connection at the melbourne museum, i immediately downloaded it. since then, i have been obsessed with it! every picture i have been taking on my phone have been filtered through it and i am having such a blast! if you want to follow my photostream, my username is greenteafields.