Nov27

Old Singapore Playgrounds

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Old Singapore Playgrounds

this would probably look creepy at night?

We went searching for old playgrounds in Singapore over the weekend. Armed with my Leica M3 and a roll of Lomo 400 film, first stop was the distinctive dragon playground in Toa Payoh Lor 6. While these dragon playgrounds used to be a common sight in HDB estates, there are probably now just 1-2 of them left today. This one in Toa Payoh and probably another in Ang Mo Kio area. 

last few dragon playground left in Singapore  hopscotch

Next we headed off to Dover Vista at Dover Road. The playground is just behind the coffee house that I used to frequent back in ACJC. It is in pretty bad shape. The original metal merry-go-round has been removed, swings were gone too. What's left is just a pelican, a turtle and a rabbit structure. 

abandoned playground @ Dover

Shooting with my Leica M3 was such a pleasant experience. While I'm definitely a little too slow with all the manual focusing, aperture control, etc that makes it almost impossible to catch my little monkey in action, all the manual work is certainly forcing me to think harder, frame better to get a overall much better shots. 

Nov26

Speed up iPhoto

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Speed up iPhoto

Useful tips I found to speed up iPhoto

Vacuuming iPhoto database (MacWorld)

Using a terminal program, get into the iPhoto library directory, then run this command

for dbase in *.db; do sqlite3 $dbase "vacuum;"; done

Rebuild iPhoto Library

Hold down <Option> and <Command> when starting iPhoto. When greeted with the Rebuild Photo Library dialog, check the “Rebuild all of the photos’ thumbnails” and the “Examine and repair iPhoto Library file permissions” boxes.

Rebuild iPhoto Library

Nov20

Shooting with Natura 1600

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Shooting with Natura 1600

Phuket Intl Airport

Just got my first roll of Natura 1600 developed and scanned. Not too sure if it's because the studio scanned it at fairly low resolution, I quite puzzled with the end colour and pixelation. I did have to do some minor tuning within iPhoto, but with that, the pictures are still over saturated. 

Phuket Intl Airport SilverKris Lounge, Phuket Intl Airport

It's a huge difference if I compare to the digital ones taken with a Olympus E-P1 using Voigtlander 40mm f/1.4.

Next step, I am going to try shooting with non Natura film, and maybe invest in a negative scanner to see if I can get better color out of the same roll of film. 

Karon Beach, Phuket Karon Beach, Phuket

Left: Fujifilm Natura Classica + Natura 1600
Right: Olympus E-P1 + Voigtlander 40mm f1.4