Hello! Good day to all. Was surfing www.rangefinderforum.com and I came across an interesting link posted by a fellow forum member, Petronious. He started a project some time ago. For the one whole year he would only shoot with a single camera and film. You can check out his work on his blog www.rollei35andpolypanf.blogspot.com . Of course I was very interested in his project. You see, most photographers would have more than 1 camera in their drybox (if they have one) be it film or digital. Next we have the lenses. All the way from the superwide to the supertele (for those who can afford it la). For my Nikon film system, I know I have from 28 mm all the way to 180 mm covered ( all primes *wicked*). And I know too that I don’t use them often. So I got in touch with Petronious. I asked about the project and how he dev his film. The dev part was interesting too. This is because he is using stand development method. Normal dev technique usually takes about 8-15 mins depending on the type of developer and film used. Stand dev uses small amount of developer and long dev time. Another fellow forum user Tang Yi Ming aka Neoro uses Rodinal 3 ml with 500 ml of water. But his aint a stand dev method coz the process is complete in 13 minutes. Film development is like a cooking class. Different people have different method and recipe. But it all for tryout. I don’t mind experimenting. Here is a recipe from Petronious. Do check it out.Credits to Petronious.

Some words about my stand developing method:

• I use APH09 developer, which has the same formula as Rodinal
• Dilution is 1+100; my tanks are from JOBO with plastic reels (One daylight Tank 2400 for one film, one system 1000 tank for max. five rolls)
• After filling in the developer I invert the tank 15 times and let it stand still for one hour (longer time doesn´t harm the film in my experience)
• I don´t use stop bath, only water after the developing (two water changes with five inversions each)
• Then fixing with Adofix (or similar fixer)
• Washing method: Water in the tank, five inversions; water change, ten inversions; water change 20 inversions; final change, the 40 inversions.
• I take the film from the spool and strip off the water with a paper towel (no pressure, only to get the drops off)
• Then I hang the film for drying

Note: This is by no means my own invention, I only combined some advices from the net; the drying by paper towel is not recommended by many people, but I found that the Polypan doesn´t scratch as quickly as often mentioned.

I think I ll start shooting with one camera and one type of film and prob one type of dev too very soon. Try it out. After a year, review your work and see if there is any improvement.

Selamat Hari Raya!~ Since it is public holiday, I think I ll spend sometime to rewrite this blog entry. When was the last time you remember you had a naked photo of you taken by your parents? I dont remember mine. Hahaha. But I remember cousin Wayne has one. All the cousins had a good laugh whenever we saw the picture.  Took this pic after her bath session in the morning. She looks forward to the massage session after bathing. Odd for a 1 month plus baby, she can raise her head well above ground level when placed on her tummy. Cute or not? Hehehe. She is now very responsive towards people. She giggles in a funny way and has her own baby language. Sometimes she goes ‘ooh-ooh, ah ah’ and some other that are just too cute to describe. She even knows how to cry out or call out for our attention. She absolutely loves people’s attention and talking session. Looking forward to more interactive session with her. Cheers!~

It s officially One month and one Week old. Yes. Time flies. Baby Nathania has gained weight and length. She is about 3.9 kg and 52 cm now. Yes…The benefit of breast milk. The only thing with breastfeeding is, you are like a portable vending machine. The bonding between mommy and baby is at another level all together. I kid you not. Yee Woon told me the milk will leak out on its own whenever she thinks of the baby. I guess this is how mother nature works. I m trying hard to have a good bond with little Nathania. Can’t nurse her of course. But I let her lie on my chest or tummy and sooth her to sleep. She kinda likes that. I guess a big tummy comes in handy in such situation. It ’s funny, but she cries every now and then. I think I would rate her as a semi high need baby. It ’s especially difficult at night when she needs someone to carry and sooth her all the time. This can be tiring as whenever you try to lay her on the bed, she will cry. Yes..Fatigue. Both mental and physical. Sometimes I pity Yee Woon as she has to wake up a couple of time at night to feed the baby and sooth her back to sleep. But I guess it is all worthwhile when you know the baby will be healthy. Little Nathania loves people who gives her full attention. Mom and mom in law love talking to her. She takes it all. Cantonese, Mandarin, English and Hakka. Hahaha. Here is another picture of her sleeping peacefully.

Fast asleep

Tiny socks- Basketball

Third blog post for the night. Baby is sleeping. So I took the the op to go through my Flickr’s sets. Was browsing my Crossing Bridges 5 set. Found some pics which I think its worth sharing (Although some may beg to differ). Anyway as usual, did some conversion, Yes!~ I am a Black and White freak. This shot was done with Lighting Guru Mr Ted Adnan. Besides being an accomplished strobist, to my surprise, Ted is equally knowledgeable in Landscaping. The idea of using the trees and branches as frames was cool. Only thing I had to figure was how to balance the exposure. I think I used a Gradual Neutral Density filter. Cant remember how many stop it was. Must dig my archive again. I think I still have some presentable shots in the hard disk. With my minimal photochoping skills, I hope to take better pics and process better pictures next time.

“Strolling By”

Good Evening folks!~ Crossing Bridges 7 has just been announced on PhotoMalaysia. This year destination is Philippines.  Organized by 5 online photography forums, the annual event is exclusive to only 15  chosen photographers from the each country (Singapore-Clubsnap, Malaysia-Photomalaysia, Indonesia-Fotografer.net, Vietnam-Photo.vn and Philippines-Photomanila.com).  Crossing Bridges is an annual photography trip aimed at fostering relationships with photographers from around the various online Photo Forums in Asia. This year’s trip will be about 8 days covering Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo. Don’t ask me where are those places. I m stoked up about this trip and applied because I have not been to Philippines before in my life. So lets hope the Photomalaysia admins consider my application.

In 2008, my application to join Crossing Bridges 5 in Cambodia was approved. My first shooting trip overseas. Overjoy and unprepared actually. I went there but didnt really shoot much. Maybe it was the culture shock. First time shooting with so many photographers. The more out going and adventurous photographers had a field day shooting in Cambodia. I came back with a few keepers. This young monk’s picture is one of them. Thanks to good direction from Dr Teh, we got the young monk to sit at the staircase. Up the attap or ceiling, the light rays were shining down. He looked up and voila. You have a good catch light in the eyes. He smiled and I pressed the shutter. Kee Chak!~

The Smiling Monk