I'm well and truly obsessed with photography again. I picked up yet
another camera last week and have been trying to learn how to use it.
While I'm not new to 35mm cameras, I've never used a camera that only has
manual focus. I didn't learn photography on one of the classic cameras
like the Pentax K1000 or the Canon AE-1 etc. I learnt my photography
mostly on a Minolta Dynax 500si. I'm not counting the cameras I used for
snap shots before I started learning it in school. :)
I loved my Minolta and I shot hundreds of shots on it. If I remember
correctly, you could turn off auto focus on it but I mostly relied on the
autofocus. I did, however, shoot mostly on manual because that was
encouraged in class and I was a serious student. :P
So..... a few weeks ago, I found a roll of exposed film that I had forgotten about. Thing is this film was shot something like 20 to 21 years ago. Haha! 😅 So by the time I got it processed, the colour dyes have already faded and I got some really funky colours.
I did some cleanup and "developed" it in Photoshop. After which I made a Black and White version which I feel actually looks quite cool. There's a lot of grain which is not always desirable but it this case, the grain actually helps to make it look quite romantic and mysterious.
I'm honestly not sure what film I used. I'm guessing it's a Kodak film of some sort. After I got the roll of film back from the lab, the edge code was no longer even visible. I'm also not sure where this roll of film was shot. I'm guessing that it's on the road trip I made along the California coastline on Highway 1.
There is another shot on the roll which looks like the Bixby Bridge. I'll work on that shot on another day.
If you wanna check out my other shots on Instagam, you are welcome to. And I welcome comments and critiques either in the comments section or on IG. 🙂
I've come to realise the importance of storing negatives properly. I
failed to do so in the past because I just assumed that I would not be needing
them anymore because I didn't have access to a dark room and still
don't. I once bought a flatbed scanner that can scan negatives but I
never got around to using it to its full potential because I was really very
busy.
This is when Covid19 helped me. Although, I think it would have been
better if this virus didn't come into the world. Still, it did give me
more time to do things and one of the things I did was finally go through all
my old photos, negatives and learnt how to use my Canoscan 8800f. I also
subscribed to Adobe's Photography Plan and finally started to learn how to use
Lightroom and Photoshop properly after so many years of wanting to. I
really never needed to use either properly because my work didn't require it
and it remained one of the things I have always wanted to do.
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Its been ages since I've blogged but I'm finally back again. This isn't
the first time I've stopped and started again. Things happen and life
gets in the way. :)
There were many reasons why I stopped blogging
for such a long time. Mainly it was because I started a new job back
then which was soooooooooooooooo ridiculously busy and draining that it
finally made me reassess everything about my life and I made some very
important decisions.
I was thinking I might tweet or mobile blog more today but I had some trouble getting a mobile SIM card and then had trouble getting it to work. By the time that was done it was time to meet my friend for dinner.
I ate at one of my favourite places to eat burgers in Tokyo, although I went for the steak today. :)
I am waiting for my flight to Tokyo right now. So glad for a short break from work. :)
This time it's only going to be a short trip. It is pretty much just a concert run to catch the opening two lives for Kalafina's "far on the water" lives. :)
Okay....gonna chill for a bit...it is too early in the morning. :)
It was a really eventful day today. After I touched down at Narita, I got my mobile SIM card settled and then rushed to Tokyo Station to put my luggage into the locker before heading to Machida to meet two Singaporean friends for lunch. It was kind of amusing for us because we hardly meet in Singapore and here we were having lunch together in Machida. :)
I had gyoza for lunch in Machida. Pretty tasty. The food on Singapore Airline was pretty tasty too. They had this chicken satay in a wrap thing for a late night snack. I really liked that. :)
I would like to write about the new Kalafina single First Light. But on the move a lot now.
I am now at the airport waiting to board my flight to Japan. :)
This time it is to attend Yuki Kajiura Live vol.12 in Tokyo and also to travel a little in Japan.
I actually found the Butterfly Garden in the transit area this time. :) But as it was at night, I couldn't see most of the butterflies. I did see one though. He was so still, I wondered if he was still alive. LOL.
Okay, that's it for now. Will attempt to blog more after I get to Japan. :)
Aside from being quite busy at work, I have been having some fun trying to build my own tabletop studio for as cheap as I can possibly make it.
This is one of the test shots. :) It is a photo of the small daruma figure that Asahi san had kindly given me when I visited his factory in Gunma.
I think me trying to get that post done before the Kalafina ring your bell CDs arrive is going to be impossible. :( According to FedEx, I will most likely get the package containing the CDs and the magazines by tomorrow afternoon.
Meanwhile, I am still on the train on my way home from work as I write this post to kill some time and take my mind off how cold it is on this train. By the time I get home, I think I will probably just crash out. Pretty tired today.
Actually, I also shot the Ieiri Leo CD unboxing photos using the new set up and it works pretty well. But I didn't have time to write that post.
Hopefully, I will have time to do the Kalafina unboxing post tomorrow night if the package arrives as scheduled. Looking forward to getting the singles and a couple of magazines.
Now I think I will play some Poke Toru on the 3DS....or maybe doze a little on the train if I get a seat on my connecting train.
Usually, when I go to Japan, I like to keep a relatively detailed mobile blog of the trip. I failed to blog about the last two days on the previous trip and this trip was an even greater disaster if we are just talking about mobile blogging. My Samsung S2 phone got really wet in the rain when we visited Ibaraki and was so unstable during the entire trip that all I could really manage was take photos and uploading everything to Facebook for safe keeping.
Hence, now, I really have a lot of stuff to try and catch up on on the blog. :( So I am going to try and mix blogging about the trip with some of the unboxing posts. I picked up some Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina related stuff, as well as some Mahou Shoujo Madoka stuff and I really would like to get to some of them... so we'll see.
First things first, I would really like to finish up the account of our first 2 days on the trip. It was a very eventful start to the trip... hmmmm... actually, it was a very eventful trip all round and it would be a pity not to write about it so that someday when I look back on this trip, I will be able to recall it better because I kept an account of it somewhere. :)
So here goes.... :)
After watching the tuna auction at Tsukiji Market, we walked quickly over to where the sushi restaurants were located to see if we could get into Sushi Dai but the queue was already very long even at 6am in the morning. We were really kind of tired since we had been more or less on the move since the previous day and haven't really been able to get a proper rest since we got out of bed on the morning of the 18th. We were also scheduled to meet Manami for brunch and also scheduled to make a trip to Katase-Enoshima for the fireworks festival. Hence, we decided to go to Sushi Daiwa next door instead. To tell you the truth, the sushi was quite good but I wasn't blown away. Maybe I was very tired, or still full from our morning McDonald's breakfast a few hours ago or just simply spoilt by the quality of the sushi at my favourite sushi restaurant at Meguro. I made this same trip to Sushi Daiwa two years ago and enjoyed it more than. Maybe it was because the sushi chef that made our sushi then was really friendly or that the Japanese customers were really nice to us then and that enhanced that experience. But on this occasion, it just didn't feel the same. In the end, I think one of my big regrets from this trip was that I didn't go to the sushi restaurant in Meguro. The next time I go back to Japan, I'll have to go back to my favourite place in Meguro. :)
Anyway, here are some photos of the sushi that we ate on that day. We ordered the set. While not blow-me-away sushi, it was still good sushi so I did enjoy my meal that morning. :)
We had to split our dining party up because Pam's friend Kat hadn't arrived yet and so Pam got out of the queue to get her while Evelyn and I went in to eat first. So Evelyn and I hung out around the Tsukiji area till everyone was ready and then made our way to our hotel in Shinjuku to ditch our luggage and meet Manami for lunch.
Yes, there was A LOT of eating during our first day in Japan. :P
After meeting Manami, we randomly picked a restaurant in Lumine and ate there. The restaurant's name is Brasserie Barbara and wasn't bad at all. Even though I was quite full, I has happy to eat more. :P
This meeting with Manami was shorter than I preferred but Manami had helped us get Ghibli Museum tickets and express bus tickets to Ibaraki and we had to meet on Saturday to pick these tickets up before our Sunday trip to Ibaraki. Good thing I was able to arrange another dinner meeting with her on another day while we were still in Tokyo. She's a very good friend and I think I would have some regrets if I was unable to meet her again on this trip.
We managed to get checked-in to our hotel rooms at 3pm but we only had time for a short rest before it was time to head out again. This time we were headed to Enoshima to take part in the Fireworks Festival. Yes, Kalafina was also performing that night at a school festival at Takachiho University in Tokyo and I really could have tried to go for it because I knew about it when they announced it. However, there were several reasons why I didn't even try. Firstly, the trip to Enoshima to attend the Fujisawa Enoshima Hanabi Taikai had been planned ages before Kalafina even announced that they were going to perform at Takachiho University. Secondly, I just couldn't ditch my travel companions on our first real day in Japan, that just wouldn't be fair. Also, I have never been to that part of Enoshima and have never attended a Hanabi Taikai in Japan before. So in the end, I decided that I will just have to end this year without attending a single Kalafina or Kajiura Yuki live, the first time I have not seen them live at least once in a year since 2010. Sniff...
That said :P , even though I would love to have seen Kalafina live, I do not regret making the decision to go to Enoshima that day. The fireworks festival was really very, very cool and they fired these fireworks so low that it seemed so close, so in-your-face, so just-above-your-head, so very very dramatic. It's the most exciting fireworks display that I've ever seen. Not that I've seen that many but most of them were quite high in the sky, this was really very dramatic and photos and videos just doesn't do it any justice. Also, the food at the festival was really unexpectedly delicious. We wanted to eat everything and we really bought a lot of food which I, unfortunately, didn't take many photos of. This is only my second festival in Japan. The first matsuri that I went to last year had a ton of people and really bad food. The worse takoyaki that I've ever eaten in my life is ironically from Japan and at that matsuri last year.
First up... photos of the crowds and the very cool looking Katase-Enoshima station, street food stalls and some of the things we ate at the festival. :)
Next up, photos of the fireworks and a short video clip. It was all shot on my Samsung S2, so the quality isn't the best, but it'll have to suffice. :P Also, I didn't shoot that many photos or videos and most of what I shot was in the first 15 - 20 minutes of the display. I spent the rest of the time just enjoying the event. Here you go, just a couple of snaps. :)
After the festival, it was one huge crush trying to get to the trains. There was a huge crush I think in part because it started raining and people decided not to hang around longer even though the food stalls were still opened. I think we would probably have waited a bit and finished our food or got another beer if the weather had been better but we also decided to leave the area as quickly as possible. We managed to get into a really packed train on the Odakyu line and managed to get seats a couple of stops later and I crashed out and slept quite soundly for some time. We only realized much later than we were on the local train and although I was feeling lazy and not too keen to change to the rapid line at one of the stations later on, I am glad that Evelyn and Pam decided that my laziness was a poor excuse and we switched trains and made it back to Shinjuku in much less time than it would have taken on the local line. :) Then it was a shower, some wind-down time and off to bed and that was the end of our very busy and quite ambitious first 2 days of our Japan 2013 trip. :)
I'm not sure what I'll blog about next... maybe a Kalafina or Kajiura Yuki related post first, then do the post on Day 3 of the trip and an interesting visit to the Hitachi Seaside Park in Ibaraki. :) For now... time for bed, tomorrow (Tuesday), I return to my normal life and it's back to work, OT and saving money for my obsessions and my next adventure. :) Good night!! :)
Ahhhh.... Kinokuniya in Singapore brought in vol.6 after all. It comes in a nice box too. Mine from cdjapan didn't come in this nice cardboard box.
I might have gotten it from Kino if i had known they were going to bring it in. At Sgd119.30 and with my Kino card, it would actually be very decently priced cuz shipping from Japan for this artbook was actually expensive. :(
Still... in the end, I was still lucky cuz my friend carried it back to Singapore for me so all things considered, I can do without that nice cardboard packaging if I save on shipping.
Now I just need to make time for the unboxing posts on vol.5 and vol.6.
Unfortunately, even though tomorrow is a public holiday in Singapore, I have to return to the studio to put in a day's worth of worth. Ah well... it's okay... I'll get paid and that money will go into my "save money for Japan" bank account which is looking quite pathetic right now unfortunately. :(
Anyway, here is a photo of my haul from this year's AFA. It's not as much as previous years and I didn't buy the t-shirts this year. I was really trying not to over spend this year because I really do need to put some money away for now and I already have several pre-orders pending. Most of them are Mahou Shoujo Madoka related. :) I'll definitely be using that lanyard, the One Piece lanyard that I use for my work pass is looking quite sad these days which is why I wanted the Mahou Shoujo Madoka lanyard. :)
I also wanted a earphone jack accessory for my phone and I would have loved the one of Kyubey but in order to get that, I had to buy these trading figure type boxes and I decided that I'll just get the one of Wooser from Good Smile instead.
I'm thinking that I'll probably also use the Hello Kitty - TM Revolution cross-over accessory too. Not sure yet I'll I'll use the Madoka neck strap and the pen. The neck strap will probably be used with my Vita. As for the pen, I guess I'll just use it at home for now.
I did some unboxing photos which I'll put up in another post. I will probably work on more AFA2012 posts with photos tomorrow night after I get back from work. Today, I didn't feel like blogging for too long because I have to be up bright and early for work tomorrow. So that's it for today. :) Oyasumi. :)
Resting during a lull period at tonight's anisong concert. so far it has been fun. :) cool!!
I would like to write a fuller over view of the concerts and the festival on another post. In general, I really enjoyed this AFA... there were a few hiccups during the concerts and there was no Kalafina or Kajiura Yuki :P... but it was fun for me in general. :)
Updated with photos and edited some of the text. I had trouble posting photos via mobile blogging.
Woah!!!! Huge crowd today. Good thing my friend picked up our Mahou Shoujo Madoka tickets and collectibles early. It's a bit mad now.... am inside and it is crazy crowded!!!
Updated with photos and edited some of the text. I had trouble posting photos via mobile blogging.
I am about to meet up with one of my friends to go down to the festival to watch the Mahou Shoujo Madoka movies.
I didn't buy the tickets for these movies. Another one of my friends bought the tickets online for us, so he has to go pick them up early. This new ticketing procedure by the AFA organizers is so no ideal. After last night's ticket pickup debacle at the AFA, I hope he has no problems picking it up. I could have picked them up yesterday but I needed a copy of his ID, the letter of confirmation and a letter of authorization.... wah!!! So much documentation just to pick up the tickets at the venue itself.
I also found out yesterday that I have exceeded my picassa storage limit which means all the photos i upload from now must be 800x800 or less. This makes mobile blogging a bit of a pain too because I have to edit each photo before i upload it. :(
Anywayz.... that's it for now.... hope today we have loads of fun. :)
Woah!! So fun!!! :) I like T.M.Revolution!!! The ticket redemption was kind of sucky for people I think because I think a lot of people were still redeeming tickets when the concert started. Good thing I took half a day off from work to pick up tickets. :)
The above photo is of the concert venue as we were about to leave from a side exit. This venue feels bigger than the Suntec Convention Centre venue. I think so far, I prefer the Expo to Suntec. Our seats were on the far right of the stage, 9th row. It was a little hard to see T.M.R. from where we were seated but when I was able to see him through the sea of heads, we were close enough for me to see his face quite clearly.
The sound system was deafening where we were cuz the large speakers were really blasting away. Our seats aren't optimum so there was some muffling of the sound as well and I couldn't really hear what T.M. was saying most of the time... so we just cheered at whatever he was saying. :)
The concert was really fun and I jumped and danced so much I got really hungry after the concert and had to get something to eat. :P
The truth is I don't know all the songs but I know his Seventh Heaven album quite well. Its a funny story for me. Before I was a huge Kalafina fan, I was checking out their music when I chanced upon TM's Seventh Heaven album because I thought it was Kalafina's Seventh Heaven album. I ended up really liking T.M.'s Seventh Heaven album. Hahahaha... I just can't seem to get away from Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina. :)
Anyway, when they announced that T.M.Revolution was coming for AFA, I was quite excited and happy. The only VIP tickets we bought for this year's AFA was to T.M.Revolution's concert.
We were so high after the concert, bought some merchandise too. :P The Hello Kitty cross over is so cute. The towel is nice too. The small Hello Kitty is cute and it is mine. :)
They are setting up for tomorrow's festival. :) Can't wait for tomorrow's Madoka movie screening.
K.... going to go now!!! Got to make my way home
We are outside the halls right now.... lots of people waiting to redeem their tickets and to buy tickets. Good thing we picked our tickets up earlier. :)
