Roadtrippin' - spring break countdown begins!! (Shot on Ilford XP5)

I'm in a strange mood today..
Then again, feeling strange ain't that strange anymore..

In between researching for a report and trying to actually do the report, i decided to happily (and successfully) distract myself by surfing online for birthday present ideas for a guy friend of mine.

The age old question of "what do you get a guy as a present??" is one that rarely finds its resolve unless i'm somehow magically saved by another person with some semblance of a bright idea (and they're all bright ideas in comparison to my 'no ideas'.. heh).

Me : So.. what should we get him for his bday??
Tim : Dunno.. what would you like? You like kinda boy-ish stuffs..
Me : *blek*

Hmmm.. worth giving that thought a go.. okay, so if i were a guy, what would i like? I reckon i would like gadgets, tools, shiny stuffs, shiny cars, big tough manly stuffs and a huge garage to keep all of em in... Yeap, think i would be a gadget freak kinda guy, possibly automobile obsessed too... either way, i want a big big garage - always have, always will..

Speaking of shiny boy toys (not toy boys), i came across this website that's got yummy storage solutions for garages and stuff. Was researching storage units for a project i'm working on at the mo and got distracted by the shiny shiny gadgets and storage units they have at that website. Ooh i really like the sexy red set they have there.. hehe been having a sorta "red" phase these days.. *sigh* everything in the photos on that site look so neat and perfectly polished!! Grrr...... they've got all sorts of gadgets and storage bits to satisfy my inner-OCD... finally, a place to store everything... :D

Now all i have to do is find a place to store the storage units *sobs*.. My room is in a complete state of disarray now.. Suitably post-project-design-studen-ish with random pieces of stuffs sticking out everywhere... grrr really do wish i had a garage to chuck it all in. Heh.. then i can just close the door and make everything magically disappear *poof* ... maybe then i'd have a place to actually STAND in my room... *blek*

This post is sponsored by Carguygarage...

Labels: black and white, Ilford, photography

Taken at the boardwalk @ Darling Harbour, Syd one lazy Sunday afternoon..

I love lazy days where i feel alive and free
and can believe that anything is possible...

This song has been buzzing in my head the whole day.. but i don't mind, i like it! Dale sent it to me the other day when i was feeling down and i have to say it's quite infectious in a hippie-make-love-not-war way. My mom always tells me that i've been born too late since i'm into weird old stuff like snail mail and vinyl records and yes i do love flowers in my hair *happy sigh*



Been in such an amazingly happy mood today.. i think i've been getting enough of sleep :) it's the loveliest thing to wake up to blue skies, spend the morning talking to friends and family, have a slow walk through uni when it's quiet and you can hear the leaves rustling as the wind blows, gorge yourself on fish and chips with some friends under a tree in a little park and watch the beginnings of an early sunset, have warm milo when your fingers are freezing... then go home and zzzzzzzz and wake up when it's dark and have the house to yourself so you can sing happy songs like no one cares... *tra la..*

tis simple things that make me happy...

Labels: Australia, black and white, emo, Ilford, photography, street photography, Sydney

Tried some panning shots that day.. didn't quite get the ones i wanted but i think this one isn't too bad. Skaters@St. Mary's Cathedral.. (Ilford HP5 ISO400 with a linear polarizer filter)


The Woolworth intersection in downtown Sydney has got people crossing straight across the road and diagonally, as well. I took this during rush hour after work and it was such a busy area with so many ppl walking up and down. and yet, as i set the tripod to shoot, this sea of people parted instinctively around me. Felt like Moses really. It's amazing what you can do with a camera :) (Ilford HP5 ISO400 with a linear polarizer filter)


There seem to be a few things wrong with this shot.. but i don't know why i still like it so much. Maybe it's because it's in black & white or maybe it's because of the slight vignette but somehow, this shot looks like an old photo.. i like that :) (Ilford HP5 ISO400 with a linear polarizer filter)

McDonald's cheese burgers have got to be the saddest burgers in the world..
I'm looking at one now and i can't bring myself to photograph it to show you how sad it looks cos that would look too sad.

Even after i chuck on some extra ketchup and cheese.. it's still a small, sad little reminder of how absolutely daft it is to pay money for this sad sorry little burger... at least i had a coupon :D

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Nuff bout my burger woes. I've recently started shooting film again for my black & white photography classes. Did a roll of Ilford XP2 and recently shot some Ilford HP5 ISO400.. It was the single most frustrating thing ever to move back to film after shooting digital. I didn't realise how reliant I'd been on the fact that i can switch ISO between shots, adjust saturation & contrast settings digitally, PREVIEW, get all your exif data stored immediately (manually logging your aperture, shutter speed, etc. for every shot is very VERY annoying) and have control of your white balance. You suddenly realise that every shot you take is precious, you've got to be more creative to figure out ways of getting the results you want, and you need a load of filters (or some nifty sunglasses or coloured glass to use as fake filters).

Shooting my first roll of Ilford HP5 was such a depressing experience that i was quite reluctant to go develop it myself the next day (tho i'd been looking forward to working in the darkroom for ages). Surprisingly tho, it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. sure i had only about 8 - 10 usable shots from the 36 exposure roll but when i considered the fact that i usually only get a few good shots out of a digital CF card of 300++ shots, i felt much better. It was also kinda fun to wait and wait and wait to find out how your film turned out. Just the experience of handling your own film from shooting to developing to printing your own photos is really quite cool :D Besides, the grain you get is so lovely it's enough to make bad photos look better (sometimes - p/s: Please click on the photos above to open them in full-view in another window.. seriously, full-view it and check out the nice grainy dotty bits that the film gives, worth a look to compare it with the smoothness of the skater photo "Take|Off" that i shot on digital in my previous post :D ).

Shooting film sort of make me think twice about what i'm shooting, how i'm shooting it and whether or not i really want to shoot it. It's good in a way, you have only that many frames and you try to make all of them count for something..

Labels: Australia, black and white, film, Ilford, photography, skateboarders, street photography, Sydney, urban life