Hits and (mostly) misses

Something I saw reminded me of taking photos with the instax, and i went looking at my old pics. i still don’t really know how to you the various settings on the camera. as you can see, my photos come out with varying effects:

At the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland on a cloudy winter’s day in December

Near Mussenden Temple – the sun had come out for a bit and the colours on the digital camera were great, but no so here (here’s the digital version)

At Dunluce Castle – the instax makes the ruins look even more grim than they actually do (see here), and the Hello Kitty border is unfortunately very incongruous!

I think it worked pretty well on this graffiti dinosaur in Belfast – its a dino wino!

Think the film also gives Universal Studios a rather other-worldy feel..

It was threatening to rain when I took this. I was expecting the images to come out clearer, but I obviously didn’t succeed!

chinatown escapades

i was missing playing with my instax camera and decided to bring it out with me when i went to chinatown.

chinatown’s a good place to go with an instax as there’re so many bright, bold colours there – provided you remember to press the “dark” setting, which i forgot to do for most. all my photos came our overexposed, but fortunately still more or less okay.

this one probably didnt need the “dark” setting – and was the only one i remembered to turn it on for :P interestingly i’ve never noticed the half-mask on the side of that building, despite having gone up this street many times:

i was attracted by the variety of colours at the Sri Mariamman Temple, but unfortunately the colours didnt turn out so well here. i wish the sky came out as well though..

I was also surprised by the sheer number of white people at chinatown today. i’ve never seen so many caucasians in chinatown, and they were all gathered at this one particular place – the corner kopitiam. except they were, of course, drinking beer and not kopi:

and here’s my favourite picture of the day. i was surprised – so many surprises today – to see the rainbow flag hanging off a building in chinatown (of all places?), which i noticed while admiring the picture of an emperor on the wall next to the upper storey balcony.

i was trying to snap a shot of it when these two blokes walked into the frame and just stood there while they looked down the street trying to get their bearings. it was such an awesome coincidence and they seem like poster boys for the rainbow:

haji lane

surprisingly i’ve never really checked out the boutiques at haji lane, although there’re far fewer than i thought there were. quite a few nice things there, although my favourite shop Pluck – i love their ice creams - was closed :(

i saw this on the wall though. note to self, that on a bright sunny day i should choose the ‘dark’ setting as this came out over exposed:

and this was my find of the day – a pink bicycle with the centre bar covered by what seemed to me at first to be a feather duster. you know, the fluffy kind that’s meant to attract dust by static electricity? i ventured a feel, and it seemed exactly like a feather duster! i have no idea why it’s there, but it was a hilarious sight:

fuji instax mini – hello kitty

i was given this before leaving japan and am quite fond of it cos it’s the hello kitty version:

i like that the box and camera are super cute – i’m not a huge fan of hello kitty, but some of its products are undeniably attractive and adorable! this is one of them :)

i wonder how much this hello kitty camera costs in singapore, as the cheapest fuji instax mini below, which is slightly bulkier than the Hello Kitty version, was 6000yen in japan (less than $100) but is retailing for $150 in most shops. film is not cheap either, going for $12.50 at a Fujifilm shop in Simei.

i’m still playing with the camera and trying to figure out the settings and effects of the instax film in different lightings. at the moment, what gives me the greatest pleasure is the super kawaii hello kitty film – check out the borders on that one with me plugging koppaberg pear cider at IKEA:

and the other two below are from YOG’s women artistic gym finals; i really love the film’s borders:

i’m not sure what i was trying to do with the one on the left – i think i was intending to take a shot of audience in the gym in general, but it didnt occur to me that the flash will fire and light up the foreground and dim the background. although the flash is meant to fire only if it’s not dark enough, it has fired on all the occasions that i’ve used it so far – even in the well-lit IKEA restaurant and my room when the lights were on.

but i kinda like how in the other picture, the lights in the far distance seem to be superimposed into the italian (irish?) flag that was pretty close. pity about the bar that i didnt notice; i think i need to have better aim since this picture is horribly skewed! despite the cost of the film i do feel the urge to venture out and play with the camera though :P