A Tourist in My Hometown

A city of skyscrapers, a home that I've been away from for almost half a year. Much had changed in this city of endless construction, with unchanged little places tucked away in corners of the streets.

Asia Square Tower 1, Downtown Core, Singapore

Tan Hock Seng Traditional Chinese Pastry Shop

Metro 2033 Downtown Line, Singapore 2016

2016

Another year had passed. Rummaging through my stuff, I found a roll of undeveloped film, and a bottle of long expired Kodak HC-110 Developer. School's great, with school, comes school holidays where you are totally free to explore.

Expired film, expired developer, fixer with unknown shelf life, why not have a go at it?

I figured I should test the potency of the developer before anything, dropping the end of the film I snipped off into a rather concentrated developer solution, the film turned black after a few seconds or so. On hindsight, I should have used a working concentration to get a better feel of it's potency. 

Nevertheless, the developer still works and I set off to develop my roll of Ilford Delta 400 B&W Film. With some guess work from how quickly the film turned black when dumped into the developed, I used about 1.5 times the recommended developing time and hoped for the best.

Here are some of the better results, with some minor edits. :)

Majulah Singapura, Forward Singapore - Singapore's Coat of Arms on the gate to the Istana

Singapore's current President, Dr Tony Tan and his wife

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Since I'm at it, why stop experimenting? Here's a roll of expired Lomography ISO 400 Color Print Film from my wife, developed using the B&W process.

Pleasantly surprised by how some of them turned out. Taken at the now demolished King Albert Park McDonald's.

Before Sunset

Operating the camera is tough with gloves on.

One last shot before heading home while there's still light.

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Taken on the Nexus 6P, I really appreciate the fact that I could operate the camera using physical buttons.

Lightfield Magic

If only I've gotten a few falling snow flakes as well..

The snow had stopped, it would have been too cold for me otherwise. Gotten new gloves today, will I be able to stay out longer tomorrow?

Play

First day of Snow

And also the first post in more than a year.

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So much had changed since.

There are still a few beautiful places in Singapore

Took a short stroll at Lower Pierce Reservoir on Friday, a slight mist/haze (it's kinda hard to tell the difference these days..) covered the far bank of the reservoir, giving the sunset a little extra dash of magic :)

Was even lucky enough to catch sight of a white bellied sea-eagle circling over the reservoir! Albeit all I had was a blurry shot with my 18-55mm lens that was clearly unsuitable for the job. (Digitally zoomed and cropped as much as possible) 

Am I (Are we) spending too much energy on what's unimportant and missing out on what truly is? Do i really need my steady day job to be happy? That being said, how I wish I could afford this expensive big fat telephoto lens (and of course the skill) to capture the majestic eagle in it's full glory. After all I'm only human.

Back to Usual Work

And a really hectic few weeks had passed with me preparing materials, teaching and arranging for other speakers, in a class of secondary school student an introduction signal processing. It was also my first ever attempt in teaching a class of students (other than 2) with completely zero programming experience how to program in Python.

While exhausting, I had a great time with the students and I definitely think that I could do a far better job in teaching. Perhaps I will make available my teaching materials here after some tidying up.

Rewarded myself, and my dear, with a relaxing weekend together for walk in an old, to-be-torn-down estate in Toa Payoh, with one of the last few sand pit playgrounds and the assembly of my first RC airplane!

Mailboxes, a photo by moodoki on Flickr.

Dragon!, a photo by moodoki on Flickr.

My New Toy, a photo by moodoki on Flickr.

Midnight Blue

Midnight Blue, a photo by moodoki on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
The Southern Cross with Centaurus arching over it. Rarely in Singapore do I see so such clear skies.. Even so, the city is so bightly lit at night that we don't see much stars anymore..

Jellyfish @ S.E.A Aquarium Sentosa

S.E.A Jellyfish, a set on Flickr.

Beautiful, delicate creatures aren't they? Poisonous too!

Sea Nettles: (Chrysaora fuscescens)

Moon Sea Jellies: (or Aurelia aurita)

Filmstrips

Filmstrips, originally uploaded by moodoki.

Via Flickr:
Taken at the [Outside]In exhibit at the ArtScience Museum, Singapore.

Everyone shoots with their iPhones nowadays... I wonder who still uses a 'real' camera, let alone film.. But they are beautiful right??

Reaching up

Reaching up, originally uploaded by moodoki.

Via Flickr:
It was said that the original plans for the garden was much bigger.. I wonder if the trees would have been bigger and taller...

Works in Progress

Works in Progress, originally uploaded by moodoki.

Via Flickr:
Working out a proper film workflow

First scans after getting a relatively cheap scanner capable of scanning film, Epson Perfection V330 :)
While setting up a darkroom to do traditional prints is kinda prohibitively expensive, developing my own films and scanning them is the next best thing.
Films seem to have a higher dynamic range than my scanner though.
HDR film scanning? Hmm..

"Don't mess with me!"

"Don't mess with me!", originally uploaded by moodoki.

Via Flickr:
"There he goes again…"

九份

九份, originally uploaded by moodoki.

金黄色的小镇

铁路的终点站

铁路的终点站, originally uploaded by moodoki.

太阳也快下山了
Via Flickr:
台北，青桐车站

A Pensive Stray

A Pensive Stray, originally uploaded by moodoki.

Taipei Afterdark

Taipei Afterdark, originally uploaded by moodoki.

Via Flickr:
squeek… squeek… squeek…

Figures in the Rain

Figures in the Rain, originally uploaded by moodoki.

It's been a really long time since I brought my camera out with no other purpose than to take photos...

Lillies

Lillies, originally uploaded by moodoki.

Seems like the lilies at the lilly pond outside the Art Science Museum are a hit! Bees and humans alike :)