Colour Film: Sticky Shutter Problems

It is Fri-yay! It has been a long and tough week. Work has been quite unfulfilling and on top of that, a stupid my fellow grad made an incredibly selfish decision which has directly impacted me. But he is full of bloody excuses and acts as though he has done no wrong. On top of all that, I went to develop a roll of film and I came out feeling very unimpressed. Firstly, rude staff. Secondly, I have a massive scratch in my negatives. Luckily for them, the roll was already subpar so nothing was really ruined, but I was fuming. I know they scratched it when they were removing the film from the canister. Incompetence.

This roll of film wasn't the best. I was so disappointed. Unbeknownst to me, I have a sticky shutter and this has resulted in each frame to be half exposed. I actually don't know how long my camera has had this problem as I haven't developed a film from this camera since I was in Germany late last year. I have since shot around 5 rolls after that. I am a little worried that those rolls (when I do get around to developing) will all have the same problem. I have basically a brand new roll of film in there which means that I can't inspect the shutter. I have mentally written off that roll too. I just hope it was a very very recent problem.


Helensburgh's Sri Venkateswara Temple. Very disappointed that this photo didn't come out. My first Hindu temple and an incredible experience.


Live Italian music at Leichardt Italian festival a few weekends ago.


Gnocchi!



Passive area! Brings me back to my childhood.


Another shot that is ruined :(


The sticky shutter isn't so noticeable in this shot. Maybe because it doesn't take up half the frame.

Double exposure

What is funny is that I used to use textures like that for my icons and banners back in my Photoshop graphics days.

In other film news, I have purchased 10 x Kodak Tri-X 400 and 5 x Fujifilm Superia Xtra 200! I am still not a fan of Superia Xtra 400, and hopefully I enjoy 200 a little more (it was the cheapest colour film available on the site).

Colour Film: A Roll from Three Years Ago

Film photography is usually quite similar to a time capsule. The period between when I take the photo and when I develop is usually quite a while. However, I have to say that this roll takes the cake. These photos are over three years old. I wrote about it here which is when I went to Thredbo back in July 2012. I am no longer friends or in contact with anyone that I went on that weekend trip with. This really was quite the trip down memory lane. I actually don't even remember taking my Olympus Trip with me.












I am so glad to be finished with uni!

Colour Film: Floriade (Canberra)

During the Labour Day long weekend, I headed to Canberra for the day to visit Floriade. The last time I went to Floriade was when I was 6 or so (17 years ago...) and the last time I visited Canberra was when I was 11 (12 years ago...). In short, it has been a while.

For the past month or two, I have been spending most of my weekends eating out and doing typical weekend activities. Although they have been fun, heading to Canberra triggered a different feeling; I guess I really do miss heading out of Sydney and seeing "new" things. I miss travelling.

I was in Canberra for around 4.5 hours and got a little bored very quickly. I guess it might be the planned nature of the city, but it reminded me a little of the US. It must have been the wide roads which were largely deserted. 

Naturally, I chose to shoot in colour rather than black and white. I shot with Fuijifilm Superia X-Tra 400 as it was the only film sold at the camera store near my work. I am actually a little disappointed with this film. I still have two rolls to go, but from this roll the shots are all overexposed (I have adjusted it after scanning which is something I have never done before). In addition, the place where I have gotten my colour film developed for the past 5 years has been sold and I'm not too impressed with the new staff. Firstly, I really dislike the fact that places don't sleeve negatives anymore. Secondly, not only were the negatives uncut, but they had rolled 3 of my negatives together into one film canister. No. No. No. That's just asking for my negatives to be scratched (which they were) and to have dust on it (which they did). Not impressed. I will take my money elsewhere.

Colour Film: London

I feel like colour film captures the true colours and mood of the situation more than digital does without postprocessing. I didn't realise until I got to London that I had accidentally brought one roll of colour film (the other 5 were black and white). As I was scanning in this roll, my heart ached a little. Although there is something quite special about black and white, colour just looks and feels amazing.












Reminds me of EVE from Walle.


I have stayed at this hostel twice now.

BW Film: Paris

Paris looks amazing in black and white. That is all.














That is one crazy swingset.

BW Film: Edinburgh & Dublin

After a few years, I have finally invested in a decent 35mm negative scanner. It is actually amazing, although it did cost me over $300. Yikes. When I went for my 2 month Grad trip in 2014/2015, I took my Canon Rebel Ti (300V) and a few rolls of film. When I was in Berlin, I got 3/6 rolls developed and nearly 10 months later I have scanned those ones in!

These are all shot with my Canon Rebel Ti with Kodak Tri-X 400.















One of the many reasons why I love this camera, it allows me to easily take multiple exposures.

From this first batch, it is quite evident to me that there will be a learning curve for me. Firstly, I need to figure out my ideal settings for the scanner (what resolution do I really need). Secondly, I need to think about my shots a little more carefully with special emphasis on what it will look like in black and white. A few of my shots are quite flat (not pictured), a consequence of being black and white, but I am super eager to have more of a play with my camera.

I was a little hesitant to take my film overseas as I had to go through a lot of bag scanners and it was a little nerve wrecking knowing that each pass could/would subject my film to damage. Luckily, I don't see any damage to the rolls developed (although I still have 3 yet to be developed which was subjected to even more X-rays) however it does appear my negatives are quite scratched. I'm not sure if it happened in the manner it is currently stored or during development.

I really do love film.

Kit Kat, Japanese & Choux

For the past three weeks it has been quite hectic at work. It has been a little hard to keep up with my blog which has bothered me a little. But I think I will be back in the swing of things soon.

This is a compilation of a variety of notable food that I have consumed within that period.






1 // Customised Kit Kat from the Kit Kat Studio @ Westfield
I honestly can't quite remember what my combination was; dark chocolate with dried mango, salted caramel popcorn and maybe .. honey comb? Like the Magnum popup a few years ago it is more for the novelty factor.




2 // Yayoi
My go-to place for dinner is The Galeries, notably Ichi-ba Boshi. There are two new Japanese restaurants there now which seems slightly excessive. I have now been to both - Lotus and Yayoi  (pictured above) - and nothing to really write home about though.





3 // Choux
I have been seeing these from I Miss Choux for the past few weeks and was intrigued. I actually had no idea what choux was and assumed that the 'choux' was a profterole. Not quite. Choux pastry is the type of pastry used for profiteroles. Mmm I liked the green tea & black seasame one better than the Gaytime which was slightly too sweet, which is surprising since I'm not a fan of green tea/matcha items.

I have also been back into the swing of film photography, in particular black and white. I'm trying to shoot mainly with film which is a little challenging. It requires a lot of commitment on my part as I don't have the ability to see the photos that I take instantly. I know that I will have more of a delay between when I take photos of my outings and when I write about it which is also a personal challenge. But it is all good!