Lomo fun part 2

Lomo fun is back again! This time I was using the black and white film - Ilford 400. Processing the B&W film was more expensive than the colour films but it was worth it. This time, I was much more pleased with the end results. I had finally understood how the range focus works. I had a few blur pictures though, but that was because I tried to shoot in low light conditions without a tripod.



Obviously the Lomo LC-A+ was built for colour. The colour pictures were much more vibrant but the B&W fared not badly either. I have not tried taking pictures with the LC-A+ in daylight conditions yet.

Fishing in Bourewa, Fiji

I miss lunchtime at Bourewa. Besides gazing out into the ocean while eating, I had the occasional pleasure of watching the Fijian villagers fish at the nearby shallow reefs with their horses. What a sight! To see the horse streak across the shallow waters to the turquoise blue reefs.



I will post those photos in the next post, but first up are the photos of the fishermen. When the time came for me to take my lunch break, I immediately grabbed my camera and waded out towards the fishermen.



They were very welcoming and encouraged me to get closer to them so that I could take better pictures (I had only my wide angle zoom lens). The boys even posed for me and I love the first picture.



After posing for me, they went on their way and I snapped a few more pictures before heading back to shore to eat my lunch.



I see groups of them, all men, heading to the reefs to fish nearly everyday. Sometimes they come by horseback, and other times by foot. The horses were a sight, especially when they run across the waters. Coming from a place where the only time you can see a horse is either at the zoo or at a racing track, seeing horses this free is an amazing feeling.



The reefs nearer to the shore were almost all dead. The Bourewa beach is a beautiful sight but during low tide, it is not ideal for swimming. Further offshore, you can see a strip of beautiful turquoise blue with the waves lapping at the fringes. Gazing at it everyday while there is a memory that I will always keep with me. And one of the things that I missed most.



Sometimes you can see many groups of men, all the out at the reefs, fishing. From where we sit at the beach, they looked so tiny, that sometimes I had a hard time distinguishing whether they were fishermen or just boulders.



I wanted to wade out into the reefs but it proved too far. Now......if I had the horse......

Fiji - The Kids

One memory that I will always carry with me of Fiji is of my time with the kids in the Fijian village that hosted me for two weeks while I was there on an archaeological dig. They welcomed me with open arms; all of the villagers did, but the kids were especially cheerful.



And they were such a joy to photograph! All of the kids were very willing to pose for me. In fact, some of them have their "trademark poses" ready for me everytime I press the shutter button, as you will soon notice in the following photographs.



And after every shot, the kids would scramble to view the picture on my camera and took delight in seeing their faces and of their friends on my screen. I am just going to post the photos below:

The Lomo LC-A+ experience

I went out and got my Lomo LC-A+ recently and immediately started shooting using the Fuji Film (ISO100) that came with the camera pack. The Lomo LC-A+ is known for its vibrant saturation of colours, the sometimes-funny focusing and the vignetting at the corners.



Among the lomo/holga/"toy cameras" that are so hype today, the LC-A+ is not the cheapest, but I have read good reviews about this camera, so I thought I would give it a try since I have been wanting to experiment taking pictures with them.



As you can see in some of my photos here, I still have a lot to learn about using the zone focus spec in this camera. But still, it was a fun experience, just shooting and trying to find as much colours as possible (I wanted to see the colour saturation).



Out of the 36 possible pictures, only a few turned out sharp and in focus. The rest were blurred, some awfully but for some, the blurriness seemed to enhance the pictures even more. I let you be the judge of that:















So, I will keep on trying till I understand how this little camera works (it looked deceptively bigger on the computer screen) and I will post the results as I shoot.

Mum and sis

I really love this picture. At first I thought this picture was doomed because I took it without adjusting the settings on my camera so the picture came out really dark. But since it is a digital file, I could manipulate it and saved the picture!

Arghhh......It is CNY and I am not home :(

A Lovely Wedding

A dearest friend of mine got married recently and I was lucky enough to be there with some of my closest friends to celebrate the occasion with her. It seems like yesterday we were in high school together and now, she is entering the next phase in her life.



It was a very colourful affair. Colours were just everywhere, which was wonderful. The celebration took two full days in Taiping, just before Christmas. It was my first time attending a Punjabi wedding, so I was excited. Plus Woan Chiun and Joyce (and her family), managed to make the trip back, so that tripled the fun.



The first day was the oil ceremony which took place in the bride's home. The groom and his family came only on the next day for the wedding ceremony in the temple.



There were a lot of bhangra moves that night! Her house was transformed into a mini disco complete with flashing lights! All that was missing was the mirror ball...



I have not seen the groom prior to the wedding. The cons of being far away from your friends. So I had to go and introduce myself as I was busy taking his pictures!



Sharon was so lovely that day. Beautiful and radiant, as a bride should be :) And of course, Prithipal was just as handsome.



I was really happy to be there. I missed my other friends' weddings and I was determined not to miss this one as well. To Sharon and Prithipal - Thanks so much for sharing your special day with us. Wishing you both lots of love from the bottom of my heart! Hugs.....