more films part III // spoilt $20 camera

 

Yes. I wear shoes, and socks to the beach. 

But that's not the point. Third blogpost for more films, simply because I felt I should split up the films accordingly to the cameras. This time, it's a $20 camera I bought from Plain Jane Cafe while I was out with Xuan. The camera looked really cute, and it was only $20 so I thought it would be a good idea. Long story short, it was not a good idea. 

First off, the flash did not work. Well at least for mine. Shannon bought one as well, and her flash worked just fine. As the cafe was all the way in Serangoon, I was lazy to go all the way back there just to get a refund. After all, the roll of film was already loaded in. So I did the best I could, I would just use this camera in sunlight. 

the photo when I realised the flash did not work

Next up, the camera body got increasingly sticky over time. I'm not exaggerating. It honestly felt like the body was melting, which made it kind of gross to hold. But I'm not one to complain about ergonomics like this one. The number one cause for my regret was... the camera broke down halfway. I wasn't even done with the roll. Maybe halfway? But the shutter button just stopped functioning. (Shannon's one worked all the way till the last shot by the way) 

But not only that, the rewind button was broken as well. Which meant... the film was trapped in there. Shannon's camera had this problem as well. But good news is, Whampoa Colour Centre can manually remove the film for you without damaging it. What you will get however, are light leaks when the photos are developed. For me personally, that's a win. I love light leaks, and they are impossible to get unless you deliberately open the back of your camera and expose the film to sunlight. And you'll see in all of the photos here that there are orange bits at the sides, those are light leaks. But there are others who think light leaks ruin the photos and their opinions are valid too. 

Anyway, colours wise, I didn't really like how they turned out. It was way too muted for my liking. And this post is to simply serve as a warning to not buy way too cheap film cameras. But since it was only $20, I'll simply take it as a lesson learnt. I'll be sticking to my disposable cameras from now on for sure. They never ever let me down and they produce the aesthetics I want all the time. May go back to the Kodak M35 from time to time, but I'm not the biggest fan of loading and rewinding film on that camera, it's way too difficult. 

But enjoy whatever photos I managed to get out of this camera and the light leaked goodness. Cheers.

shan bought all the food

nuggets

me and my socks

socks II

shan's camera

sleeping... in this hot weather?

just light leaks, nothing else

Cafe Hopped (no not really)

Located somewhere down the alley of a certain road in Johor Bahru, there lies a cafe called Bev C Cafe. And it's a cafe that's tricky to find because it's hidden on the second floor. I walked around the block so many times, not knowing that it was upstairs. If you were expecting a review, don't. Let me stop you here right now. The pasta I got was filled with chili oil, and I died from the spiciness. I can't even remember the drink I got, perhaps it was a mocha. But it wasn't fantastic, there are much better ones out there. 

I just wanted to take the chance to show you the food photos that I took while I was there. They can be improved, without a doubt. But I'm just a newbie at this, so go easy on me peeps. The photos were actually edited with Mango Street's Cinematic Lifestyle preset, slightly adjusted to suit the photos more. 

I'm not really good at food photography, but it definitely is one genre of photography that I wish to get better at. You see, I've got this dream of taking photos for Kinfolk one day. Or write for them even. Whichever I can get. I'm not there yet, but I'll hone my craft till I finally make it there. 

Matcha, Matcha, and More Matcha

Azukiiiii

Before I start, disclaimer: I don't do food photography so this is just me playing around. A collaboration with my dad if you might, he helped me with the light (just my iPhone 7) while I shot. No idea on how to edit either, so I went with my usual style of editing just with a different preset. For some reason, the photos turned out darker and moodier than I'd imagined, but hey, makes the food look a little more dramatic eh?

I am no food critique so I'm not gonna tell you how the cream bun explodes in your mouth with unicorn sprinkles and gives you a roller coaster ride of flavours from sweet to bitter. I'm just here to tell you that there's this shop at Tanjong Pagar Centre (above the MRT) that sells these cream buns.

Really like their packaging though, it's so lovely

Really wanted to try the custard flavour but they were sold out on that, so we went with one Azuki and three different matcha flavours. Matcha cream bun (original), matcha rich, and matcha melon. Rich like the word already says mean it's not poor. No, I'm kidding. Unless you have a love for matcha, don't get this one. It's way too thick, and kills the whole taste for me. Matcha melon does not contain any melon, much to your disappointment. The melon actually stands for the crust (?) of the bread being rocky like a rock melon (probably). You can take a look at it below. My favourite was probably the normal match cream bun, for it had the right balance of matcha. And also because that melon crust ain't my thing. 

//

Well, the food isn't the main point. The lighting is. I was actually receiving a simple lesson on lighting up subjects from my dad. My house doesn't have the best lighting when it gets dark, with orange light and whatnot. I don't have a speed light either, so my iPhone's torch is all I got. I'm not very familiar with using lighting like this, so I shone it straight onto the bun. That's when my dad came in, telling me to try shining it from the side. I did, and instantly the photo looked better. So he explained to me about the shadows creating depth for the photo rather than shining it straight making it look flat. From there, he took over the light and showed me various ways of lighting up a bun while I took some photos. And I think that last photo of the matcha melon bun was the one with the best lighting. We shone the top / back of the bun, casting the shadows forward.

I'm probably gonna take what I learnt today and apply it on portraits in the near future. Lights make a huge difference like I saw today. 

Matcha rich as you can see, exploding with matcha

The matcha melon that has no taste of melon

Growing Older

I had my first cup of coffee when I was about 5 years old, and it puzzled me as to why my parents and grandmother loved the hot bitter drink so much. I preferred to gulp down cold drinks in the shortest possible time. It didn't matter if I got a brain freeze from doing that, it never deterred me from gulping down my drink again and again.

But recently, I find myself picking hot drinks over their cold counterparts. It could be a cup of coffee with milk, teh tarik or even milo. Perhaps my changing taste is a sign that I'm growing older. Or I've picked up the lifestyle of the old folks after working with them for the past six months. It's not just the preference of drinks that has changed, the way I live my life has changed slightly too. I'm living life a little slower, sipping my drinks instead of gulping, and enjoying the little things. Whereas in the past I would prefer to sit on the inside of any restaurants / cafes / coffee shop, now I choose window seats or seats that are nearer to nature in general. I really do sound like an old man now. I walk slower too and I don't run for the traffic lights anymore. Instead, I make sure that I take in the view around me, be it flowers, buildings or just looking at people walk by. I never used to like taking walks around gardens or beaches, but now, I want to bring my girlfriend to these places for frequent walks.

I guess slow living has helped me relax quite a bit, and has taught me how to enjoy life the way it was meant to. But hopefully, I don't start finding joy in playing bingo too soon.

.

P/S: If you're ever in East Coast Park and you want to buy drinks at Killiney, don't buy their coffee. You can buy any other drink but their coffee. My parents got their kopi-o (coffee black) while I went with kopi-c (coffee with condensed milk), and we couldn't drink more than 3 sips of it.

Prince Coffee House | Lunch with my Mummy

A few weeks ago, Nicolette and I went to have lunch with my mum near her workplace. We went to this place called "Prince Coffee House", which was highly recommended by my mum. I honestly thought it was a Thai restaurant when I first entered because of the way it was decorated and because of the staffs' uniforms. My mum had to explain to me that it was not Thai and was in fact inspired from the early days of Singapore and the Singapore Airlines (SIA) uniforms. I was quite surprised to know that this place has been around for over 30 years! 

We decided to buy a Western set meal each and share among ourselves. Since my mum can't eat chicken due to her Chinese medicine, I got the fish and chips, Nicolette got grilled fish and my mum ordered pork chop. Each set meal includes the main dish, a drink, a soup and dessert (ice cream or fruits)! The price is reasonable too, around $10 for one set, especially when they give you so much. The taste, was without a doubt, very good (thumbs up). Their mushroom soup was damn creamy and good. Being a huge fan of mushroom soups, this one was beyond satisfying. Just looking at the photo while I'm typing this is making me crave for their food. That's how delicious it was.

I would definitely go back there again with Nicolette in the near future to try their other set meals (most probably the chicken ones, sorry mum). Prince Coffee House is not just known for their affordable Western set meals, they sell Hainanese / Chinese food as well. I might try those too in future haha. But what they are really famous for, is their chicken pie. It was a shame that we didn't get to try that (partly because I didn't have any room in my stomach left for more food). I'll just have to add that into the list of food to buy there. 

A closer look at my fish and chips

Ice cream!

After lunch, my mum told us to take a walk around Haji Lane and take some photos since Prince Coffee House is located there. We strolled around for a while before my mum had to go back to work, so Nicolette and I walked by ourselves. We found ourselves entering 'Grammah', a shop that sells female clothing inspired by what our grandmothers wore during the 70s and 80s. They also have an assortment of old school goodies inside the shop, which takes you back in time. Nicolette saw a blue long dress that she really liked and immediately went to try it on. After trying it on, she decided to buy it because she really loved the dress. We didn't stay at Haji Lane for long and we went off to Tanjong Pagar to talk.

Prince Coffee House

249 Beach Road

Nearest MRT: Bugis

Grammah

66 Haji Lane

Nearest MRT: Bugis