35mm Camera Film in South East Asia

Living in Australia film costs are astronomically high from around $10 AUD for a Fuji Superior 200 up to $40 AUD for Fuji Velvia in 35mm format. Although the price of film in Australia is high, its not too difficult to find in the cities. My next travel adventures took me around South East Asia. Before leaving I ordered enough black and white and colour print film to keep me going, but I was unable to find any slide film at a reasonable price. Thinking that there is a big community of film photographers in South East Asia I thought I could would pick some up once I was on the road.

After some initial google searches in where to buy film in the main cities. I noted down the addresses intending to visit a few of them. I hope to turn this in to a useful and up to date listing of where you can and cannot find decent (by decent I mean not Fuji Superia or Kodak Colour Plus) film supplies in the main cities and tourist destinations in Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. I hope it provides some use as many of the forum threads on this subject are heavily outdated and upon visiting some of the places mentioned I have found that the shop no longer exists or they no longer supply film.

If your not familiar with the cities below you may wish to take a taxi directly to the address. I have spent far too long on foot searching for some of these shops hidden down quiet empty streets or in the basements of shopping malls. If you find any of this information incorrect, please email me or leave a comment and I will update the post.

Malaysia

Information correct as of June 2011.

Kuala Lumpur

Fuji Superia 200 and 400 and Kodak Colour Plus available in nearly all camera shops.

It was closed when I visited, however this place seems popular in recent internet forums and blog posts.

I got really lost when looking for this place. It’s in the basement of an old shopping mall and no one had heard of it. When I got there is was closed but it looked like a professional lab and they had plenty of slide and B&W films in 35mm and 120 in a fridge.

Georgetown, Penang

Fuji Superia 200 and 400 and Kodak Colour Plus available in nearly all camera shops. All of the camera shops I visited were on or around Jalan Penang.

• Illford XP2, HP5 and FP4 in 35mm
• Lomography Colour X-Pro Chrome 100, Slide / X-Pro 200 and Redscale Negative 50-200 in 35mm

• Kodak Tmax 100 in 35mm
• Ilford FP4 in 35mm
• Ilford HP5 in 35mm & 120
• Fuji Superior 200 and 400 in 35mm
• Lomography Colour X-Pro Chrome 100, Slide / X-Pro 200 and Redscale Negative 50-200 in 35mm

Note: All these films where in a mixed box behind the counter which I asked to have a look at, you may need to dig deep to find what you are looking for. The Lomography branded films where all on display in the shop window.

Mentioned in many internet forums as a film supplier. I was only able to find the standard Fuji Superior and Kodak Colour Plus in 35mm.

Mentioned in many internet forums as a film supplier. I was only able to find the standard Fuji Superior and Kodak Colour Plus in 35mm.

Surprisingly I found a stash of Fuji Velvia 100F 35mm for only $7.50 AUD. This was the only film in stock and the staff advised me that they stock film occasionally.

Stocked a fair amount of Kodak Ektacolour in 120 as well as the standard Fuji Superior 200 in 35mm.

Stocked a fair amount of Kodak Ektacolour in 120 as well as the standard Fuji Superior 200 in 35mm.

Thailand

Information correct as of June 2011.

Bangkok

Fuji Superia 200 and 400 and Kodak Colour Plus available in nearly all camera shops.

• Fuji Superior 200 & 400,Neopan SS in 35mm
• Kodak Gold,  Ultra Max, Colour Plus in 35mm
• Illford Pan 100 & 400 in 35mm

• Ilford HP5, FP4, Pan 100 and Delta 100 & 400 in 35mm
• Fuji Provia 100F in 35mm and 120
• Fuji Velvia, Provia 400X, Colour Pro 160 S in 120
• Kodak Tmax 100 & 400 in 120
• Kodak Ektacolour in 120
• Kodak Tri-X 400 in 35mm
• Fuji Superior 200 & 400 and C200 in 35mm

Chiang Mai

Fuji Superia 200 and 400 and Kodak Colour Plus available in nearly all camera shops.

• Fomapan 100 in 35mm
• Kentmere 100 & 400 in 35mm
• Lucky B&W 100 in 120
• Kodak Ektachrome E100 VS in 35mm &  120
• Fuji Velvia 50, Velvia 100 & Provia 100F in 35mm & 120
• Fuji Superia X-Tra 400 in 35mm
• Lomography Slide / X-Pro 200 in 35mm

• Fuji Superia X-tra 400 in 35mm
• Kodak Gold 200 in 35mm
• Kodak Ektachrome E100 VS in 35mm & 120
• Fuji Velvia 50, Velvia 100 & Provia 100F in 35mm & 120
• Kodak Tri-X 400 in 35mm & 120
• Kentmere 100 & 400 in 35mm
• Kodak Tmax 400 in 120 & bulk 100ft
• Fuji Color C200 in 35mm
• Fomapan 100 in 120

Laos

Luang Prabang

• Kodak Elite Chrome
• Fuji Superior 200
• Fuji X-tra 400
• Lucky SHD 100 (B&W)
• Kodak Color Plus 200
• Kodak Ultra Max 400

Cambodia

Coming Soon!

Vietnam

Coming Soon!

Related Posts:

• Cape Tribulation – Port Douglas
• Whitsunday Islands, Australia
• 2010 in Retrospect, What now?

I completed my 88 days one day before my visa expired and hopped on a plane to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia leaving my girlfriend on the farm for two weeks on the promise I’d meet her at the airport in Bangkok. This is how the next three months backpacking around South East Asia started.

Between May-August I started a whirlwind trip overland (and water) through Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Time was spread very thinly, about two weeks in each country except Thailand which was 4 weeks and Cambodia which I loved so much I spent 3 weeks there. I’ve never had so many crazy unexpected experiences in my life. My highlights included: Scootering through the Bolivian Plateau in Laos, Living life on Otres Beach beach in Cambodia (Eat, Drink, Swim, Repeat), Eating everything in Malaysia, Cycling around the Don Dhet (4,000 islands, Laos) and drinking plenty of $1 beers with all of the fantastic travelers I met on the way.

Khaosan Road, Bangkok

Koh Ta Kiev, Cambodia

Financially I lived on approximately $5,000 (AUD) between February-September. This is big for me and quite liberating. After September I had a job again and I have no idea of expenses when I’m getting a regular pay check, as long as I’m contributing to my savings plan.

I’ve read few books this year, notably Lonely Planet’s Short Travel Stories, Fortune Hotel: Twisted Travel Stories, Mr Nice and Bangkok Freefall. I started reading Perfume and Shantaram but haven’t found the time or been motivated enough to pick either of them back up. Something I plan to fix in 2012.

I’ve been back in Sydney since the end of August on my second year’s working holiday visa. I’ve settled in to city life again, and based myself back in Newtown and working at my old job at the University of New South Wales. The end of the year was full of celebrations, with a morning swim on Bronte beach for Christmas day and new years sat in a park on Sydney’s harbour side watching the iconic fireworks.

I’m continuing to working for the next 3 months, enjoying the summer, the beaches and the typical laid back aussie lifestyle that I’m already preparing myself to miss. I’m leaving Australia (probably for good) in June. In April I’m heading back up the east coast this time with my girlfriend, over the top and then driving from Darwin down to Perth where we will fly out to Asia for a two week holiday en-route to England. We then have a flight booked in September to Montreal in Canada where I hope to spend 2013 (As long as my visa paperwork goes through). That’s the plan anyway, as with most plans, they usually change

Here’s to another fun packed adventurous year. I can’t wait.

I’m going to write a separate post on my photography in 2011 and what plans I have for 2012. So stay tuned.

Related Posts:

• Visa challenges
• Farm Life, getting back to nature
• 2010 in Retrospect, What now?

Halong Bay Sunset, Vietnam

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Kayaks, Halong Bay, Vietnam

Cruising through the bay, Halong Bay, Vietnam

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

S-21 Prison, Cambodia

S-21 Prison, Cambodia

Killing Fields, Cambodia

Otres Beach, Cambodia

Otres Beach, Cambodia

Don't hit the fall. Don't break the fall. If something broken you must pay 100 US$

Mui Ne, Vietnam

Sand Dunes, Vietnam

Hanoi Beach, Vietnam

Hanoi, Vietnam

Koh Nangyuam, Thailand

Related Posts:

• Malaysia, Thailand & Laos – iPhone Photo Highlights
• Sydney Life – Hipstamatic iPhone
• Blue Mountains and the Hipstamatic iPhone app

Here are a few highlights so far….

Abandoned House, Tioman Islands, Malaysia

Tioman Islands, Malaysia

Tioman Islands, Malaysia

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Pai, Northern Thailand

Tiger Kingdom, Thailand

Pai Streets, Northern Thailand

Pai Streets, Northern Thailand

Pai Tees, Northern Thailand

WWII Bridge

Hired Transport, Pai, Northern Thailand

Luang Prabang Streets, Laos

Slow Boat in to Laos

Kung Si Waterfalls, Laos

Related Posts:

• Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam & South Thailand – iPhone Highlights
• Sydney Life – Hipstamatic iPhone
• Blue Mountains and the Hipstamatic iPhone app

It’s been a big year and the last 4 months working on farms has been challenging, before that I was working in Sydney, albeit not very hard and I was living a very relaxed lifestyle but it was still work and it was still nearly every day.

So it’s time for a time out. Using the tax back I have received from the Australian government I’m on my way to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia starting a 3 month trip heading around Malaysia to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. I have a rough idea about what is in store and a loose plan of where I’d like to go but I’m going to be travelling day to day again thinking on my feet and I can’t wait.

I’m traveling alone around Malaysia meeting up with Audree in Bangkok on the 5th of June continuing the adventure together. It will be the next step in my relationship with traveling and my relationship with Audree. Wish us luck!

Related Posts:

• Buying camera film in South East Asia – Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam
• 2011 in Retrospect, What’s in store for 2012?
• Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam & South Thailand – iPhone Highlights

I had a total of 106 days to complete 88 days of regional work. After those 106 days my visa expires and I fly out to Malaysia. I thought I would be safe enough but knew it could come close if I had to move on. I’d be working 6 days a week with one required day off, so I checked out the details on the immigration website which stated “Full time workers may include weekends in calculating the number of days worked. I was therefore under the impression that any forced days off would be counted.

I was wrong, none of the days off I took counted and I contracted a viral stomach infection which left me unable to work for 6 days again not counted. This being my first farm I asked the other workers how their previous farmers counted their stay on the visa forms. All replied that they had had all their days counted regardless of sickness and time off, but it really is up to the farmer.

After some calculations I’d come to the conclusion that if I where to stay here I would not be able to complete the 88 days in the time I had left. I had been on the farm for 63 days with only 50 days on the official paperwork.

It came to crunch time when the farmer told us rather passively that we would be taken to the nearest town for 4 days and will not be working on the farm while he and his family go away for a long weekend. This meant I would be losing more valuable time and wasting money staying in a backpackers that I’d already planned to spend in Asia.

I really, really, really want a second years working holiday visa for Australia and again I have already counted on getting it as I have booked a flight back from South East Asia at the end of August in to Melbourne.

As if it was meant to be, Audree who has more time and flexibility in her plan than I had been planning to move to a new farm for a few days. After sending an email to a potential new farm explaining the situation and seeking clarifying on what would and would not count we had a new farm to go to, and we would be picked up the same day we were dropped in to town. I’d probably be working every day until my flight out of Australia, but at least I have that option.

I can’t help but feel a little annoyed amount the whole situation, but I know I am partly to blame for not having a contingency plan. I have learnt a few lessons, the most important one is to always planning in extra time for things to go wrong especially when counting on something important such as getting a visa extension. I really enjoyed my time on the herb farm and would have happily stayed if the visa situation would have been easier going. I ended up leaving on good terms with the farmer and I hope to go back on day without the added pressure of working for a visa.

Related Posts:

• Farm Life, getting back to nature
• 2010 in Retrospect, What now?
• 2011 in Retrospect, What’s in store for 2012?

So I’ve headed down to the island of Tasmania to work on a herbal tea farm. The farm is situated on 520 acres of land on the side of a valley between mountains. The landscape is very green and plush with rainforest and grasslands, it reminds me a little of the English countryside and is nothing like the landscape I have seen in the rest of Australia. Breath taking sunrises and sunsets and on a clear night you can see a million stars.

The farm was established 28 years ago by a New Zealander called Greg and his wife Libby. Everything here has been created by them. There are 3 main gardens packed full of different herbs and vegetables, a dam which you can swim in, a sauna hut.

They produce some of the finest herbal tea I’ve ever tasted. Tea blends include Stress Ease, Digest Ease, Pregnancy, Lemon Light which contain herbs such as Peppermint, Spearmint, Lavender, Camomile, Liquorish, calendula, Nettle, Angelica. They also make natural beauty products, infused and essential oils for medicinal use.

On the farm there is a Pony called Tom, he thinks he is a human and in between eating he likes to try and help out with the days work. There are also 3 sheep, and 13 chickens which we get fresh eggs from everyday. The chickens are protected by one very stubborn rooster who I’ve had a couple of confrontations with when going to collect the eggs.

I live in a wooden hut (much like a shed) on the side of a hill in the forest. It can get very cold at night getting down to around freezing so I use plenty of blankets to at least try and keep me warm.

I start most mornings at 6am when the sunrise and birds wake me up. I work 6 hours a day with half an hour’s break, the work is hard and physically demanding but rewarding. It’s really nice great to be outside everyday working with the land instead of inside an office environment. It’s taken some getting use to but I feel like I am reconnecting with nature, what I am doing feeling natural and beneficial.

Work so far has included; Harvesting plants such as red clover, nettle, peppermint, calendula, building and removing fence lines, Weeding peppermint/spearmint/nettle; Digging up thistles, Splitting firewood, rubbing nettle and hyssop. I’ve also completed a promotional brochure design and some web development.

To help relieve the stresses of the physical work there are opportunities to practise yoga and meditate daily.

Daily dangers include; Tiger snakes (3rd most deadly snake?), leaches, giant ants. So far I’ve had 7 huntsmen spiders and a couple of red backs visiting my hut in the evening. Other cool wildlife is Bubble bees, dragon flies, frogs, grasshoppers and wallabies.

We cook on a wood burning stove. The food here is vegetarian and the majority of it is grown in the vegetable garden. Everything which can be made by hand is made by hand, there is no such thing as processed food here. We use solar energy for power and to heat the water, when possible some of the stored energy is sent to the main power grid.

Life here is very remote; to show you how remote here is a link to a Google maps satellite image. There is no mobile phone signal or internet connection. If I want to send or pick up any messages I can hike for an hour and a half through the rain forest and up the mountain or I wait until my weekly day off and get a ride to Launceston city where I also pick up my emails at the “On-line Access Centre” in the local library. Being this cut off from communicating regularly with the outside world is both challenging and liberating at the same time. Things are completely different in comparison to living in Sydney or any big city.

I’ve completed 34 days out of 88. It’s going to be challenging to see this through to the end; one thing that is keeping me going is that in just over 2 months I will be on a flight to Kula Lumpar the starting point for 3 months of travelling around South East Asia. Exciting times.

Related Posts:

• Visa challenges
• 2010 in Retrospect, What now?
• 2011 in Retrospect, What’s in store for 2012?

What is stand development?

Stand development is a film processing technique where instead of agitating the chemicals during the development stage, you leave the developing tank to stand for a long time. This can produce a negative that is well balanced between the highlights and the shadow detail, with super smooth grain, and bring out shadow detail which would have otherwise remained underdeveloped.

How does it work?

The most active parts of the film during the development stage are the highlights. This quickly exhausts the developer, so once the highlights of the film have developed the shadows which are the least active parts of the film will continue to develop. Therefore it is important to remember to expose for the highlights if you are intending to stand develop your film. This method can be especially useful when shooting a high contrast scene.

Developing times start at around 50 minutes, so you have plenty of time to do other things (sleep, go shopping, watch a movie, have a beer) while you wait patiently for your negatives to develop. To compensate for the extended development time dilutions are typically a lot higher than standard starting at around 1+100 and this can be extended to much higher dilutions (1+200, 1+500) and longer developing times.

Due to the high dilution of the developer you could choose to skip using a stop bath all together and go straight to the fixing stage as the rate at which the negative is developing is so slow I doubt that using a stop bath would be at all beneficial. So it can be a very economical way to develop your film.

If you choose to skip using stop bath I recommend that you replace this stage with water which will help prevent your fixing agent from being contaminated with the developer solution.

Which developer should I use?

I would start with Rodinal, its a fantastic developer and easy to use. For more info on this developer see a previous blog post: An introduction to Rodinal. My favorite combination is using Fuji Acros 100 rated at 80 iso developed in Rodinal 1+100 for 50 minutes.

The manufacturers of Rodinal recommend that for consistent results you use at least 6ml of Rodinal. So if you are diluting 1+100 and do not need 600ml of developer, pour the rest down the sink.

You can use any developer, some are better than others. See the stand development flickr group to checkout what developer/film combinations the flickr community are using. Digital truth also have some good starting times.

Examples of stand development:

Olympus OM-1, Fuji Acros 100, rated at 80. Stand Developed in Rodinal 1+100 for 50 minutes.

Olympus OM-1, Fuji Acros 100, rated at 80. Stand Developed in Rodinal 1+100 for 50 minutes.

Olympus OM-1, Fuji Acros 100, rated at 80. Stand Developed in Rodinal 1+100 for 50 minutes.

Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim, Kodak Tri-X 400. Stand Developed in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour.

Olympus OM-1, Fuji Acros 100, rated at 80. Stand Developed in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour.

Olympus OM-1, Fuji Acros 100, rated at 80. Stand Developed in Rodinal 1+100 for 50 minutes.

Olympus OM-1, Fuji Acros 100, rated at 80. Stand Developed in Rodinal 1+100 for 50 minutes.

Further reading:

• http://www.flickr.com/groups/stand-development/

Working with chemicals can be dangerous, use common sense. I recommend that you wear eye protection, gloves and an apron. Do not eat, drink, or smoke in your working area and keep it well ventilated. All photo processing chemicals should be kept out of reach of children. Ensure that you dispose of any exhausted chemicals in an environmentally friendly way.

Related Posts:

• Introduction to Rodinal B&W film developer
• Paris – 2009
• Introduction to Redscale film

Photographic film (C41 colour print) is usually made up of 3 colour emulsion layers, with each layer being sensitive to a different light colour. The bottom layer is red, sensitive to red light, next is green and the top layer is blue. Underneath the blue layer is a yellow filter which removes the blue light and allows the green and red layer underneath to be exposed. There is also an Anti-halation backing which prevents light from bouncing off the back of the pressure plate (camera back) and re-exposing the film.

All of the layers are sensitive to blue light, however the blue light is usually removed by the yellow filer before it hits the green and red layers. So when we reverse the film and shoot through the red emulsion layer first the blue layer is no longer exposed.

(For much more information on film layers for colour print film see wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-41_process).

The Anti-halation backing of the film is very think, in order to penetrate this you will need to expose your shots from at least +2 stops above the the films box speed. E.g. Film rated at 400 iso, shoot it at 100 iso. The more the film is exposed the yellower it will be. There can be substantial differences depending on the brand of film used.

Here are a few of my experiments with redscale film.

Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim on Kodak Gold 200 35mm

Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim on Kodak Gold 200 35mm

Olympus OM-1n on Fuji Superia 400 35mm

Olympus OM-1n on Konica 200 35mm

Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim on Kodak Gold 200 35mm

Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim on Kodak Ultra 400 35mm

Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim + Blue filter on Kodak Gold 400 35mm

Olympus OM-1n on Fuji Superia 400 35mm

The above information is based on my understanding, if anything is incorrect please let me know.

In my next post on redscale film I will cover using colour filters, cross processing redscale, redscale with slide films (E6) and re-shooting exposed redscale the correct way.

How to make redscale film:

• http://fmphotocourses.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-to-make-redscale-film.html

Futher reading:

• http://www.flickr.com/groups/redscale/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redscale

Related Posts:

• Cape Tribulation – Port Douglas
• Fraser Island, Australia
• Paris – 2009

2010 is up there with some of the best years of my life, it’s been a whirlwind and flown by. Here are a few of my highlights….

Fraser Island

The worlds biggest sand island. I was followed by Dingos, lost the 4×4 keys, swam in lakes, ran down sand dunes, watched the sunrise.

Fraser Island

Whitsunday Islands

Sailing on Apollo a maxi racing yaht. I spent my 25th birthday drinking champagne and eating strawberries on Whitehaven beach, scuba diving on the Great Barrier reef, swam with turtles and met Nemo and his friends.

Whitsunday Islands

Sky Diving Mission Beach

Jumping out of a plane at 14,000 ft attached to some guy I’d just met. So much fun, I’d do it again.

Cape Tribulation

Where the rain forest meets the Great Barrier Reef. Skinny dipping at night in Crocodile waters (Ooops!), dealings with the police, bad hostels and no sleep.

Cape Tribulation

Sydney

Living and working in one of the worlds top 10 livable cities. Meeting up with long lost friends, making new friends, finding a beautiful girl, partying all night in Kings Cross, Beach life and Billabong gardens hostel.

Me in front of Sydney Harbour

What now?

Newport beach, New years day.

New Years Day

My time in Sydney is coming to an end. On the 28th January I will be entering the 3rd and final stage of my first year in Australia. I have booked a flight to Tasmania where I will be working on a herbal tea farm for 3 months to get the paperwork I need for a second working holiday visa. There is a requirement by the government that you must complete 88 days of regional work while you are on your first working holiday visa. My time scale is really tight with only 2 days spare to leave the country before my first visa expires, so I won’t be able to roll in to my second years visa right away, I will need to leave the country.

I plan to go to south east Asia for 3 months. With just a couple of thousand dollars and no return ticket my trip is going to on a shoestring. I plan fly in to Singapore, catch the train through Malaysia in to southern Thailand work my way up to Bangkok, across to Cambodia, Vietnam and Lao. I was hoping to end it with a holiday in Fiji but looking at my budget it could be a bit far fetched. All going well I will then fly back in to Australia or head to New Zealand.

Photography

I’ve shot approximately 60 rolls of film, developed 30 and scanned only 2. So I’ve seen 72 of the 2160 frames. I doubt I will scan or develop anymore of what I have until I settle somewhere for more than a couple of months. The cost of studio hire here is very expensive and when I eventually get the time and the equipment it will be very nice to look back on those photo’s I’d forgotten I’d taken.

My photos have been displayed in 3 exhibitions in Bristol, An Open Theme from Second Look, FlickLgrapique and Phone-ography.

This year I hope to take more pictures, particularly black and white candid portraits. I have the idea of buying 30 rolls of Kodak Tri-X and working my way though them. I should really buy some film, I only have 1 roll left!

A few of my favorite shots taken this year on the Hipstamatic iPhone application…

From Brighton looking at Melbourne CBD

Wolloomooloo, Sydney

Sydney Opera House

Design

I’ve designed and new logo, colour palette and layout for this website/business cards etc, I’m around 50% through coding the wordpress template. I’ll try to get it finished before I go farming, but don’t hold me to it.

Happy new year!

Related Posts:

• Phone-ography Exhbition @ The Photo Gallery, Bristol
• Sydney Life – Hipstamatic iPhone
• Sydney and the Hipstamatic iPhone app

Located in Chippendale a stones throw from Broadway and Central station and pretty close to Glebe and Newtown. For neighbours we have buddhist monk tattoo artists, a photography studio, and a guy that makes Manchester linen.

It’s a complete contrast to staying in a hostel, its been so long that I have forgotten what its like to have your own space. I’m really looking forward to spending the holidays here, so far it’s been very relaxing I can sit down at the laptop and not have any distractions, read a book or play music as loud as I want to

Warehouse Apartment Courtyard

Warehouse Apartment Courtyard

Warehouse Apartment Courtyard

Warehouse Apartment Courtyard

Warehouse Apartment Living Space

Warehouse Apartment Living Space

I’ll be making the most of my quiet time here. We have to move out on the 17th January as we are looking after this place for a couple who are on holiday. Also pretty soon after we move out I need to get farming in order to qualify for a second year visa.

Related Posts:

• Sydney times….
• Phone-ography Exhbition @ The Photo Gallery, Bristol
• Sydney Life – Hipstamatic iPhone

Newtown Festival

Newtown

Newtown

I’m been staying in a backpackers since September called Billabong gardens. As far as hostels go its pretty good, there is a pool, big kitchen, music, free internet and cheap wireless internet. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly and most of the rooms are fairly spacious, cleaned everyday and some are en-suite with a balcony. The room I have been “allocated” is what I believe to be the smallest room in the hostel and with 6 boys in one room, you can understand what I mean when I say thing are not always smelling like roses. There is little room to put your things without using up valuable walkway space and I often fall over bags, cables and shoes on the way to the bathroom in the dark.

However I care not! This Friday I will be saying goodbye to my two and a half month stay at the hostel and I moving in to a warehouse house converted apartment with my girlfriend (more on this soon) for one month over the summer. It’s conveniently located 10 minutes south of central station and only 20 minutes walking distance back to Newtown and 10 minutes to Glebe and Victoria park. I will post some pictures once we have settled in. It’s also working out $105 cheaper to rent the apartment than staying in the hostel as they are charging an extra $135 over the 10 days Christmas period.

We will be looking after the place for a couple who are going to Bali on holiday. I am looking forward to some privacy, peace and quiet and catching up on a lot of sleep!  No more having to get dressed in the shower room I am certain that after a few days of peace I will be craving some company and will no doubt be going back to the hostel for some chit chat but safe in the knowledge that I have a quiet peaceful placed with a bed to return to.

I work for the global sector of  University of New South Wales (UNSW). The job is “Pretty crusiy”. I look after the websites and marketing materials for a group of businesses who provide pre-university courses primarily targeted at students from Asia. I work on campus about 20 walk from Coogee beach and have a view across Randwick  racecourse towards to city.

Office View

Coogee Beach

Coogee Beach

From Friday I have just over two weeks off work for the holidays! Albeit unpaid leave as I am a contractor. I can’t wait! With average temperatures of 30C and clear blue skies. I don’t feel remotely festive! I will spend my time between the park, the pool, beaches and the BBQ, drinking ice cold beer kicking back and soaking up some rays. A few friends from the hostel are renting out a house up on Sydney’s northern beaches (Palm beach where Home & Away is filmed) so it’s likely I will head up there for a day or two.

Related Posts:

• 2010 in Retrospect, What now?
• New Apartment
• Light Painting – Part 1

Light Painting

Light Painting

Light Painting

Light Painting

Related Posts:

• 2010 in Retrospect, What now?
• Sydney times….
• Sydney Life – Hipstamatic iPhone

Urban Spaces - October 2008

Urban Spaces - October 2008

Urban Spaces - October 2008

Urban Spaces - October 2008

Phone-ography - October 2010

Related Posts:

• Framing time lapse
• Phone-ography Exhbition @ The Photo Gallery, Bristol
• 2010 in Retrospect, What now?

I metered the scene, dialled the exposure values in to the camera and starting shooting, but I’d forgotten to take in to account that I was using a polarizing filter which reduces the amount of light entering the lens often by 2-3 f-stops (1/4 to 1/8 the amount of light).

The underexposure with a combination of the polarizing filter with the slide film (In this case Fuji Velvia 50) has created a dramatic black sky which I really like.

Castle Park Ferris Wheel. Pentax MX, 28mm f2.8, Fuji Velvia 50 Slide Film

Castle Park Ferris Wheel. Pentax MX, 28mm f2.8, Fuji Velvia 50 Slide Film

After a few shots I realised what I’d done and adjusted the shutter speed. Not a great exposure, but you can see the comparison.

Castle Park Ferris Wheel. Pentax MX, 28mm f2.8, Fuji Velvia 50 Slide Film

Related Posts:

• Cape Tribulation – Port Douglas
• Whitsunday Islands, Australia
• Buying camera film in South East Asia – Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam

I found this on youtube while searching for something else, I’d completely forgotten I had made it.

Related Posts:

• Exhibition Panorama’s
• Phone-ography Exhbition @ The Photo Gallery, Bristol
• FlickLgraphique – Photography Exhibition

I’m feeling inspired to try some more and hopefully some Solargraphy too.

Pinhole Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge here I come!

Some inspiration:

• http://www.flickr.com/groups/pinholers/
• http://pinholephotography.org/gallery/gallery.html
• http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/

A few shots of mine from the 2006 & 2007 workshops.

Pinhole Beer Can Camera

Pinhole Beer Can

Pinhole Beer Can

Related Posts:

• Introduction to Stand development
• Introduction to Rodinal B&W film developer
• Paris – 2009

Taken with a Canon 350D Digital SLR in 2006, relaxing on a hot summers day on Bristols beautiful Downs.

Grass Macro 1920x1200

Grass Macro 1600x1200

Related Posts:

• NYC – 2006
• Malaysia, Thailand & Laos – iPhone Photo Highlights
• Light Painting – Part 1

Sydney Opera House

A photo of the Sydney Opera House captured using my iPhone and the Hipstamatic app is being displayed in the Phone-ography exhibition at the The Photo Gallery in Bristol.

The exhibition contains inspiring images captured using a mobile phone camera and is curated by Jamie Durling and local fine-art photographer Jade French. I’ve seen a selection of the entries to this exhibition and they look brilliant!

The exhibition runs from Saturday 2nd – Wednesday 20th October 2010.

I hope you can stop by and have a look.

The Photo Gallery
Photographique
31 Baldwin Street
Bristol
BS1 1RG

Google Map: http://bit.ly/dtpWMy

The Photo Gallery: http://www.photographique.co.uk/gallery/

The framed photo is for sale, print size is 8×8 inches + frame, price £35 GBP. If your interested drop me a message and I can arrange for you to collect it at the end of the show, or get it posted.

Related Posts:

• 2010 in Retrospect, What now?
• Sydney Life – Hipstamatic iPhone
• Sydney and the Hipstamatic iPhone app

Here are a few more snapshots of this beautiful city, all taken using the Hipstamatic iPhone application.

I’m hopeful in getting some of my film shots online. I’m struggling to find a lab who make good scans or a studio scanner I can use, which doesn’t cost $60 a hour. Watch this space.

For more see my older post: Sydney and the Hipstamatic iPhone app.

Related Posts:

• Sydney and the Hipstamatic iPhone app
• 2010 in Retrospect, What now?
• Phone-ography Exhbition @ The Photo Gallery, Bristol