Photo Essay: 37 Emerald Hill

10 minutes at Patong Beach, Phuket

After a long and nerve-wracking day of presenting my work at the International Water Association conference, my friend and I headed to the beach opposite the hotel to unwind. The conference was my first ever, and I had to give a speedy presentation of about five minutes to a group of scientists, which left me feeling jittery. However, I was grateful that it went well and my nerves dissipated once I started speaking.

As soon as we arrived at the beach, I was struck by its beauty. The light was simply breathtaking, casting everything in a golden glow. Despite the fact that I was wearing all black, I was enticed by the fresh air and decided to take some photos with my camera. Unfortunately, I accidentally switched to panorama mode and lost some of my shots, but I was still able to capture some stunning images of people enjoying the beach. I love these photos because they perfectly capture the essence of the beach and the beauty of the golden light. I barely had to edit them, except for a bit of cropping and rotating.

Portra 400 on Fuji AF600

I jumped at the chance to experiment with Portrait 400 film, a highly sought-after choice among film photography enthusiasts, using my trusty point-and-shoot camera. During my shoot, I focused on composing my shots instead of obsessing over overexposure, since I wasn't traveling at the time. I took a leisurely stroll around my neighborhood, capturing snapshots of some of my favorite subjects, such as elderly individuals, abandoned shopping carts, empty chairs, and anything that looked out of place.

Despite having used this camera for a few months, I've repeatedly encountered one issue: accidentally switching on the panorama mode. It took me two rolls of Portra 400 film to realize that I had been using the panorama setting all along, which was disheartening due to the high cost of film these days. Nonetheless, I adore how lightweight this camera is.

Writing blogs is not my forte, so please bear with me if this post reads more like a photo journal. However, I've included two photos of myself at the end of this post. As I'm notoriously camera-shy, I'm rather pleased with how these two images turned out.

Ilford XP2 Super 400

I took up photography as a hobby, not labelling myself as a photographer. So I will not do an in-depth review of this film stock by Ilford. I don’t think I have taken many black-and-white photos, perhaps because I am worried I cannot compose the picture nicely. Think about it: there are no colours to draw attention to. But as a challenge to myself, I decided to try two rolls of it to improve my composition.

I have tried a few black-and-white films before, and I was bummed when I got back my last roll of black-and-white because the grains were so rough, and I couldn’t make out what I was taking. I was, of course, very disappointed and didn’t dare to attempt any more black-and-whites. But I was very relieved when I got my scans back. I was immediately drawn to how small the grains were and how soft the highlights were. Even when there isn’t much natural light, the film held up pretty well. Images from this film stock are also incredibly sharp, even when paired with a point-and-shoot. As a hobbyist, it’s sufficient for me, and I love it.

I did say this is not a film review, so I will stop talking about my thoughts on this film stock. In other news, I am now months into the third year of my PhD program! While I am glad to be titled ‘PhD candidate’ and not ‘student’, I am obliged to write more academic papers and run more experiments and analyses. That is why folks at Apartment coffee (following three pictures) will be so sick of me. Perhaps it is their coffee and hot chocolate that are increasing my levels of inspiration or that I love to work anywhere but in the office; I am always so productive at the Apartment. I never thought I would come this far academically, but I cannot picture myself working either—adulting problems.

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While expanding the types of pictures I take, like incorporating a lot more humans, I still love taking pictures of weird inanimate things that look like they don’t belong there—for example, mannequins, abandoned trolleys, and empty chairs. I often wonder what GrainsandSuch would think of me whenever they develop and scan my photos. That said, I am glad I find joy in taking pictures. I am exploring my neighbourhood a little bit more, trying to observe things around me, and thinking a lot more about composition. Like I’ve said before, I think I was upset at how unintentional I was with every frame I took with my DSLR.

So I am obviously still terrible with blogging, so I will leave you here and share the remaining pictures I wanted to share with you. Next time I will most likely share my trip to Phuket and Bali in December (more on that next time).

Venture back into film: Fuji AF600

I drifted away from taking pictures for two years because I was simply uninspired. Ever since I started PhD (I am currently in my third year), I couldn’t find the time to make pictures. Or perhaps when the world stopped due to COVID-19, which confined us in our home country (Singapore for me), we became unmotivated to go out and shoot. But perhaps due to my declining mental health, I didn’t have the motivation to do what I liked doing for many years; all I wanted was to stay away from people. Until I started seeking therapy, and a trip to the UK, I decided to pick up a camera and shoot.

I brought to the UK with me my digital DSLR, but I realised I wasn’t being intentional with my frames. I mean, I just have to fire the shutter, and one of the pictures will turn out nice, right? Not really; I wasn’t satisfied with any of my pictures. Perhaps it was the lack of intention, or the thought that “I will have something nice if I just take many pictures”, I stopped composing my pictures properly. It was so different when I used my 35mm cameras. I mean, films are expensive. And let’s face it, bringing a DSLR is like bringing a brick out. So when I returned to Singapore, I sold off my DSLR and decided to fall in love with film all over again by getting a new point-and-shoot (sorry I’m trying to start light, I don’t want another situation with my DSLR). I found Fuji AF600 and was immediately drawn to how compact it is, yet delivers very sharp images. And with a 28mm lens, gosh I love using it when I go out on the streets. I am not posting a review of the camera really, just go and find some on your own if you are interested.

I decided to use a cheaper film stock to test if the camera is working and so I picked up Kodak Gold 200. I feel like I might have used this before (or I might be confusing it with Kodak Colourplus), but I fell in love with it when I received the scans. The colours are pretty well balance, and even on a gloomy day the colours are not too muted or dull. And the images are really pretty crisp for such a tiny camera. And of course, I started taking pictures of things that look like they are not supposed to be there. In this case, some cones.

I can’t leave out some empty chairs, can I? I have found many of them over the last two years, but unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them cause I hated any pictures that I took. These might slowly draw me back in. Don’t get me wrong though, I think my pictures are pretty subpar, especially when compared to my inspirations in film photography (e.g., Joe Greer, William Verbeeck, Mark Forbes, Josh Wang, Sam Elkins). But these pictures make me happy, so I am just dumping them here.

Empty chairs just give you an odd feeling, don’t they? Like feeling left alone, awkward, and just curious how these chairs ended up there in the first place. I also have another series on abandoned trolleys, perhaps just to show how irresponsible people are for not returning their carts. That’s a story for next time.

I also moved to a new place, and with every new place I move to, I like to explore the neighbourhood. So here are some pictures that I took while exploring. I kind of love the new neighbourhood that I am in (Choa Chu Kang), but honestly, I still love the east of Singapore a little bit more.

I am now very tempted to get a medium format camera, but for now, I will continue to play with my point-and-shoot. I hope I will fall in love with photography again so that I can at least tell people I have a hobby.