Black and White in Melaka

Ali: Hey, isn't it dull if your photos are without colors.

Baba: Hello, its black and white and there are 2 colors there. Black and white.

I kinda agree with Baba. Black and white are colors too and its kinda interesting.

Check out some of my photos taken in a wonderful town, Melaka:

Pictures taken with a Nikon FG coupled with Lucky B&W 100.

Taking photos in black and white ain't easy. Imagine, u lose the option to show interesting colors through your lens. All you see is black and white and all the tones in between. There are only 2 colors for you to manipulate around. If you are using film, that's even worst. That's why, contrast is very important. When we are not focusing on the colors of the photo, our eyes tend to be more sensitive to the light intensity. We will naturally pick up areas of contrast. That's how we distinguish one thing from another and bring information to our brain on which to focus or which is important. Do not forget to seek out scenes that naturally show signs of high contrast and your black and white photos will be as interesting as a photo with full of colors.

Next, texture is very important too in black and white photography. It's just a form of contrast but its perceived in a different way. Textures in a layman's term for me is like patterns on a surface, whether is regular or irregular. Its like the surface of an old tree, the surface of an old building or the surface of my post pimple infested face. Lol.. All these are great for black and white photography as there are no colors masking the interesting surface you would like it to shine. With a layer a color on top of it, there will be another extra layer of complexity and thus you can't show the true colors of the texture.

Practice makes perfect but do remember that processing black and white film will cost more. (For those that are processing in Fotosun SS2, RM19 for develop and scan. You need to wait for a day or 2 to get it done)

Jason, I hope you know who am I after seeing these photos. :)

With Love and Peace,

Filmmy

To: Filmmy / More Olympus Trip 35 coming soon

Hi.. Filmmy, please stop bringing us suspense and play hide and seek.
I am kinda bored with it actually. Just tell us who are you and end of story.
Please!!!


Anyway, to all camera lovers. More Olympus Trip 35 coming soon and there may be some legendary Minox too. Just maybe. Not a sure thing yet. So, stay tuned for more classic cameras.

From your favourite trusted seller,
Jason

Not a Compact. Not an SLR... It's a PEN

I am now in a quest of getting a new digital camera. Been doing a lot and a lot and I mean a lot of researches on which camera to get. Currently, there are 3 cameras  in my mind, which is the Olympus E-P2, Nikon D3100 and the Sony Nex 3. Olympus E-P2 is leading miles ahead now.  :)

Why I like the Olympus E-P2?

1. I am not a very pro photographer and I am kinda sure that I will not spend too much money on my hobby. There will always be a limit for me on my spending for my hobbies. So I will not get a DSLR and spend more money in the future to get more lens. So, I will just get a E-P2 and maybe if I really want more lens in the future for the camera, I can get those cheap OM lens or even vintage Russian lens. Cheap. 
2. Manual focussing is fun. Just like those old skool camera. 
3. I am very much in love with the retro look of the camera. The camera body is like an old skool film camera and with the metal body, its a portable tank that fits in your pocket (a big pocket).
4. The dual control dials and lots of buttons for external control. Its easy to access to most of the functions.  
5. The size of the camera compared to the DSLRs. 
6. The art filters. I really love the art filters a lot. Especially the cross process and grainy film. I saw some of the photos uploaded in Flickr and its very nice. 
7. I can get the electronic viewfinder for it in the future and the electronic viewfinder is very well built.
8. Great DSLR like image quality.
9. In body image stabilization.
10. And lots of other stuffs to play with especially the high quality video mode and to take videos coupled with the art filters which is very interesting.
11. Very cool Kevin Spacey advertisement.  :p  Camera chow, picture wow.
12. Nikon D3100 does not have the Auto Exposure Bracketing function.
13. Nex 3's big LCD screen that will consume the battery very quickly. The body is too small and feels like a compact camera. No dedicated buttons and involve lots of digging in the menu to get to the functions you want. No hot shoe for flash too.

Anyway, I am still waiting for the rumored Olympus E-P3 too. 

So, what do you think. Any Olympus Pen user here?


From your favourite trusted seller,
Jason

To: Jason

Oh Jason. I am a very very very hot girl indeed.

My clue to you, Go look into the mirror and you will find me.

:)

With Love and Peace,

Filmmy

Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha

To all our Muslim friends, Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha from me and Jason.

To our non Muslim friends, have a great holiday..

A picture from me.

With Love and Peace,

Filmmy

My story

Its been quite some time since I own a digital camera that functions properly. My previous digital camera was a Canon prosumer. The camera is way before the G series. Its the PowerShot A80. The camera cost my dad RM2000. It was a present for me when I was 15 and it also function as my family's camera. The camera is to replace my dad's film camera, which is a Canon AF35m2 (The camera is still with me, lying somewhere in the cupboard, waiting to be tested with some slide films).  

These are the pictures of the camera:

Canon AF35M2

Canon PowerShot A80

Although both cameras are from Canon, my dad is not really a big fan of Canon. He just buy whatever he feels is good and worth the money. During those time when we bought the Canon PowerShot, digital cameras are still a very new thing. Imagine we paid like RM2000 for a camera merely 4.0 megapixel. 4.0 megapixel is a very big thing that time but now, even a handphone surpass it. I still remember the camera in handphones those time were just 0.3 megapixel. Technology is something improving in a very very fast pace and we really cant catch up for most of the time. Just buy something you feel it could fulfilled your needs and stop chasing the latest item hot from the oven. It's a never ending process.

Reflecting back on those time owning the camera, I feel I seriously under utilize the camera and seriously wasted the investment my dad put in me. I never learned anything about photography and holding that camera in my hand just brought me pride, ego and arrogance. (owning a digital camera those time was a big thing although its a 4.0 megapixel camera) Reflecting back, I felt missing a lot of great opportunity to learn and develop a skill in life that brought many joy and sense of fulfillment to others. It was a great loss.

I took lots of lousy photos and that was really a disgrace to the Canon PowerShot A80. During the second year owning the camera, I brought the camera to school to take some pictures of my friend. I put the camera in my bag and unfortunately, the bag fell off from the chair and upon using the camera after the fall, the hinge at the battery cover of the camera was broken and my camera suffered a lose battery cover for the rest of his life. Since that day, I seldom use the camera as I need to tape it with a tape to make sure it functions properly. It was ugly and it never brings me great pride anymore. I still use the camera till a few months ago but I think most of my friend never notice me of having that camera as I never bring it out. The batteries dead and I never replaced it yet, cause it may be some other factors that cause the camera not to function properly. I often rely on my friends' digital cameras these days if I need a camera. It's sad. 

7 years later, my parents promised to get me a new digital camera once again for my next birthday. This time, I will not waste this opportunity, I will treasure it. And I will not be someone that holds a camera that cost a few thousands bucks or hanging it around the neck just for the sake of looking cool and getting immerse in pride, ego and arrogance. I will fully utilize it and never let this investment wasted.

Any suggestion on which camera to get? Please leave a comment. :)

From your favourite trusted seller,

Jason

FIlmmy! Who are you? / Kinokuniya

Oh my god you Filmmy. Get lost and stop messing around in my blog. Sharing picture in my blog and wanna be emo + artistic here. And Momo is my friend, I bet he doesn't even know who the hell you are. And I hope you get his permission to share his picture here. If not, I sincerely hope you get sued.  :)


Seriously, I still dont know who's Filmmy and how the hell she (according to her/him/it) can post freely in my blog even though I changed my password. Must be magic. I think she's a stalker. My secret admire. Haha.. Just joking. I hope to get to the bottom of this ASAP. 


Where shall I start. I tried google but cant get any good results. I tried Facebook and these are the people I get. Look at the print screen.





Not bad, got a few pretty girls there but mostly are from Thailand. Savadikap, kap kap kap. If Filmmy is a pretty girl, I can forgive her. Its either Filmmy Chilliz or Filmmy Kongtum..  I'll keep my fingers crossed. Hehehe.. :p
Still in the midst of searching. Will keep you guys updated. Anyway, go check the 2 girls out. Should be a film lover.. lol..


Ya, one more thing. If you guys are heading to KLCC or anywhere around there, go check Kinokuniya bookstore. They are having sales for some old books and magazines at the second floor of their bookstore. You can get cheap books and magazines there. Seriously, very cheap. My friend just spent RM100 plus buying those books and old magazines, and the RM100 plus books and magazines look like RM300 plus worth of books. Its so damn heavy carrying those books and mags for him from KLCC to our place.


See what I got. One of the book i bought is this.





Sorry to my friends that can't understand Chinese. Its a book about photography and its from National Geographic. Lots of pictures, lots of words. And its a bit hard to understand. Lots of terms need to refer to google translate.


Kinda happy to get this book. I can learn and understand lots of photography stuffs from the book. And find out what's so fun about taking pictures. Hmmmph.. Are photography and lomography that fun?  
Anyway, the book only cost RM20.. Cheap rite. The promotion in Kinokuniya is from Thursday till this Sunday, so, act fast. 


From your favourite trusted seller,
Jason

Jason, stop acting stupid!!! / Arrivals and departures

Oh, my hilarious good friend, Jason. I am your female friend, I am not a guy. I do not have a keropok lekor. :P Stop being so funny and got frightened by me.

I am a very close friend of yours. Furthermore, you are always with me all the time. Are you really sure you dont know who am I.

You can try google. I think I am famous enough to be in Google or maybe Wikipedia. LOL..

Stop being a drama queen k Jason. The truth is out there and you will get to know me more soon. I bet you will, especially with this lovely blog.

Anyway, to all my Lomo and film lover friends out there. I am going to show a favorite pic of mine for these few days and moreeeeeeeeeedays to come. This wonderful picture stuck in my head for a few days already, It’s really mesmerizing and successfully hypnotize me.

Behold...

This picture has a soul. The color and the out of focus really match the mood of the picture. Train stations in black and white, Genius. The lonely feeling. Argh, feel.. I can feel the picture.

From what I saw in the picture, this is my story:

With trains arriving and departing, some will arrive and some will depart. Seeking for a new hope in a new place, never forget your roots, never forget those that you left behind in the last train station where you departed.

Picture taken by a good friend of mine. Shahir MOMO. Add him up in Facebook if you cant get enough of his artistic shots. Press here and add him up to have a great lomographer in your friend list :)

With Love and Peace,

Filmmy

Chills me to the bone

Who is this Filmmy guy?
I was just trying to check my pageviews after I woke up from a goodnight sleep and it really shocked me and woke me up completely. It felt like a cold shower in the morning, chills me to the bone.


Why is he posting stuffs in my blog. And how? You may be puzzled and wondering who's that. Believe it or not, there are thousands of question marks above my head too. 


I went to sleep last night at 11.45pm and the post from this Filmmy guy was 11.55pm.. Hmmph... Is it a coincidence or what...


Oh crap, cant write much. Gotta get ready and rush to work..


Someone, tell me who is he.. I might try Google later...

From your favourite trusted seller,

Jason

Wow... Yahoo

Wow.. I am sooooo happy.. A new place for me to share my thoughts, my work and my world..

Yahoo..

I can share all the pics I took using film here. And share my experience with everyone. What a fun world to be in.

I deeply hope more people can look at my work.. and love them..

I am Filmmy by the way. Nice to meet you guys. I will introduce myself in the next post and post some of my work next time. :)

With Love and Peace,

Filmmy