Steal life photography: Straight photography that shows a genuine vision and often concentrates on a single human incident, or an object possessed by a human soul, stolen at a burlesque, compromising, or poignant moment.
The seat belt sign lighted. A disembodied voice, fighting roaring engine, announced a turbulent ahead. I belt-up. And for no reason, snippets of Mr. Mister’s ‘Broken Wings’ played in my head.
I was on Mandala’s morning half-past-ten flight to Denpasar airport, Bali, Indonesia.
Above: The Jokhang Temple in Tibet.
It takes you at night. Or it takes you early in the morning.
It takes you from your birthday party. Tells you to leave your candles at your cake.
It takes you without warning, or it gives you fifteen minutes to say goodbye.
It takes you with your family’s blessing. It takes you unwilling. And it might take you alone. Read the rest of this entry »
May 2, 2012: 4:00PM. Dull day.
Brought camera out to Chinatown. Performed normal and waist-level photographing. This camera feels and acts like a basic camera without the overly-fuss of modern tech. Works best in analogue viewing mode. Very quiet. Starts up very quickly. Faster than Ricoh GXR+S10. Discovered camera’s manual focus system is for zone-focusing used in traditional street photography—not for precision manual focus.
From top: Zone focus waist-level (hipshots) shots. Below: To err is human. And is X100.
May 3, 2012: 6:50PM. Clear evening.
Brought camera out to Little India. Adjusted to ISO1600/3200 for evening scene. I could picture my shots in my head: a pictorial of four-to-five photographs showing how those flower garlands are made by hand. Mixture of warm setting sun with neon signs.
But DAMMIT! Battery flats out after two shots. I swear I saw battery indicator showed two bars in the afternoon. They were in white—not red. When using this camera in analogue viewing mode, one such overlay is uncluttered and simple. But battery indicator doesn’t show.
Above and below: The battery fell flat on me after these two shots were taken.
May 4, 2012: 6:45PM. Dull evening.
Brought camera to Little India. Adjusted to ISO1600/3200 for evening scene. Decided not to follow yesterday’s plan, but to photograph mindlessly. Besides images, I have taken two clips of two-minute videos by accident. The button to select “drive” mode (single, bracketing, video etc.) is placed at the same location as Ricoh GXR’s exposure compensation. So I sometimes activate exposure compensation without knowing.
For someone like me who doesn’t use/buy a lot of cameras, the X100 is very enjoyable to use for snapshots and street. I got used to its controls sooner than with my Ricoh GXR. And despite being a fixed-lens, and smaller-than-35mm-sensor camera, I can tell that the X100 evidently has the DNA of a M-body and ease of use all over it.
Postscript: I borrowed the camera from Lean Jun Wei. Thanks!
Above and below: Shots taken through the window from inside the bus. Kind of alright, don’t you agree?
My earliest childhood memory is high school.
Back then, I have many things: a Y-brand folk guitar and a N-brand camera from my dead uncle. A VHS tape of ‘The Labyrinth’. Three breakdance MTV videos dubbed from TV. A pair of Reebok sneakers. Bodybuilding magazines of Lou Ferrigno’s workout. And several unfinished sketch pads.
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