SOFT LOCK-DOWN WEEK 5

5 weeks ! No much shooting this week. I still go out once a day to keep my sanity, but the repetition kills the creativity (if there was ever any).

The cocks and hens are also wandering in our park (fort Canning), but it seems as if they also feel that something is amiss and retreat in the trees (I learned a few years back in Eater Island that chickens like to fly and rest on trees, I am a city boy, I would have never guessed,…)

Marina Bay Sands viewed from the grounds or our condo displays its love for the country, but the 1 North Bridge Road building hides the middle pillar of MBS and the letter … guess.

We had a nice walk along the river Saturday when the light was going down and the sky and river were beautiful (if it was not for the crowd of joggers and cyclists on the walking path).

My wife noticed that the Fullerton hotel was for once only displaying the national flag, is it national pride or just the lack of foreign customers?

The last two shots in the CDB show how nice the light was on the office buildings and how a lens build around World War II can perform nowadays (even if back focusing).

The building replacing Golden Shoe

All shots with Leitz Summitar 50mm F2.0 on Leica M262.

Keep safe.

 

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Medium format on the Beach : “Le cabanon de la plage” and more

Summer holidays in France means for me taking an odd camera out of the cupboard in my parents house. I must say I am always tempted to take the Dacora Digna  which gives me quite some quite consistent results. Its lack of settings, its Lomo / Holga style rendering (yes but a Free vintage Holga mind you) always make it for interesting results.

Le Cabanon de la Plage is an extremely nice good restaurant with an amazing setting on the border of the beach in La Bocca just outside Cannes on the French Riviera.

La plage

I also became partial to using slide film with it. This makes the price per shot quite high indeed but actually I really like what I get in return.

Nice is nice I think “Nice is nice” is part of lyrics of a song, this made us laugh our heads out when we were teenagers.

Finally, a subtle hint of posts to come, picking one one of the “odd” camera was quite challenging this year as I carried from Singapore my beloved Leica M4 and also my new long awaited toy, a pristine M6 Classic black with a Summaron 35mmF2.8.

A tour at Wessex Village – Singapore

A few weeks back an Art Walk was organized in  Wessex Village here in Singapore.  Wessex Village  is an area of  old colonial style apartment blocks. Originally they were used to house British soldiers, but a few years back they have been offered as residential and studio space for artists.

The buildings are apartment blocks with an external design similar to Singapore black and white colonial houses. The blocks have name of cities, regions or countries. I suppose they are name of regiments or cantonment cities of the British army.

Aden

Aden is one of these magic names that sparks ideas of exoticism and 19th century adventurers to my mind.

Noé was posing for this Japanese painter whose apartment / workshop we visited.

Aden – Arabie

A very easy homage to Paul Nizan book “Aden Arabie“.

What do we seek when we travel? Do we need to go to Aden to seek the truth about where we live? Aden is here anyway.

More down to earth you can imagine this is the score of a soccer match !

Marne

This was the week before the International Commie Camera Day, so I took the Kiev IV loaded with an Ilford PAN 400ASA with the Jupiter 8 50mmF2 and Jupiter 12 35mmF2.8. As you can see on my post about the Kiev I had to tape the body to avoid light leaks; got a couple funny looks.

Mons

I love the black and white of this set of pictures; particularly the black of the tire on this one.

Camera: Kiev IV
Lens: Jupiter 8- 50mmf2
Film: Ilford Pan 400 ASA
Digifilm:Epson V500+Lightroom

Nuwara Eliya – Sri Lanka

The fish stall

I am still going through the pictures of Sri Lanka but at the same time rolls of films are pilling up (so to speak) in the hard drive, new cameras have arrives and lenses to try are expected and the  next trip is just around the corner with plans for the second half of the year in the making. I have told too much already, haven’t I? Well, ok, the new camera’s are a Kiev 4 with a 35mm and a 50mm Jupiter lenses and I already done two rolls with it, the other one I’m not supposed to use as it’s my present for the upcoming Bday, it’s a beautiful Leica IIIC, but I’m having a test roll at the moment just to check you know. Ok and the upcoming holidays are 5 days in Taiwan, I plan to shoot on  film only.

 

For those interested 1st of May will be the International Commie Camera Day 2013, take out your Zorki, Kiew, Praktika and more. Check here on flickr : International Commie Camera Day 2013

 

Ok and now back to Sri Lanka.

 

Nuwara Eliya is a hill station as it used to be called, close to 1800m above sea level, the center of a region of tea plantation. The city itself is very touristy (by local standards) and did not seem to be so interesting, but the countryside and the plantations are worth the visit.

The road from Kandi is about 2 hours, steep and tortuous.

The Tea museum is worth the visit, stopping by one of the tea factories in activity for a commercial tour (and buying tea on the exit) is also worth the stop.

For those like me who like markets the  small food market in the center of town is also a valuable place to visit.

 

We stayed one night in the Langdale by Amaya, one of the boutique hotels on the other side of the city when coming from Kandy, something like 45 minutes drive. The hotel is built in a old tea estate and you can walk the plantations (if you have time). After Nuwara Eliya, we drive directly to Gallle (see next post), which took us the best of 6 hours, not the best day of the trip.

 

Traditional Dance show – Kandy – Sri Lanka (2/2)

Now is time to swallow fire ! Do not try this at home ….

Oh yeah and at the end of the show the firewalking…

 

Shots were taken with the D700 and the 80-200F2.8D, and 17-35F2.8D

 

Traditional Dance show – Kandy – Sri Lanka (1/2)

Next stop on our trip was Kandy; another Royal city in the middle of the country, at the foot of the hilly region where tea grows. Kandy is quite a large town that unfortunately, due to the pace of our trip we did not have much leisure to visit. There are two main things to see in Kandy: the traditional dances and the Buddha Tooth relic temple.

We arrived in town from Dambulla just for the 17:30 show. The one our guide picked up was held inside the Red Cross Society building, the room was more looking like storage or workshop, but as there is a stage one must assume it is a actual show room.

We were given a paper explaining the various stages of the dance, but frankly I just let go, enjoyed the show and fired 200+ shots.

Shots were taken with the D700 and the 80-200F2.8D, trying to avoid the screens of cell phones and digital cameras in front of me.

Dambulla – Sri Lanka

The Dambulla cave temple is also a must see in the region. In the city itself is the Golden Temple which is at the bottom of the hill where the cave temple resided.

Dambulla golden temple – Sri Lanka

The Golden temple has a massive gilded Buddha statue that towers over the temple compound and the road that passes outside. To go to the Cave temple, you have to climb the hill from there of be dropped half way by a vehicle, which we did. Importunately we met some rain on that day and the visit was not so nice nor the pictures from the outside overly successful.

The cave temple is made of many caves, along the same side of the hill, in which you enter through these beautiful while buildings.

Many statues of the Buddha in several positions and kings can be found there, supposedly they have been carved on the stone of the rock itself.

The caves vary in size and shape, the stucco style of paintings on the walls and ceilings are beautiful.

Luckily among the tourist, some devotees are also visiting the temple to bring offerings and worship. Note that some services are held in some of the caves at some times in the day and at that occasion the cave is closed for the duration of the ceremony.

All pictures are taken with the faithful D700, with 50mmF1.8D or the 17-38F2.8D close to max aperture as there is very little light inside. The place was quite busy when we got there and looking for the best pictures opportunity may take some time.

Polonnaruwa – Sri Lanka

The second most ancient of Sri Lanka’s kingdoms, Polonnaruwa was first declared the capital city by King Vijayabahu I, who defeated the Chola invaders in 1070 to reunite the country once more under a local leader (wikipedia).

The Ancient City of Polonnaruwa has been declared a World Heritage Site.

This is a very impressive site, better visited on bike as it is quite a long way from one side to the other. The archaeological remains and the temples here are quite impressive and frankly they make a greater impression than Anuradhapura.

The above is a pretty poor picture, but it reflect what is the most impressive in Polonnaruwa: partially standing buildings of more than one levels like than one which give a better impression of what the city could have been.