A walk around Singapore with the Hassie and a roll of Cinestill 50D

One of the vintage public housing estates in Singapore

I realized when doing the math at the end of the year that in 2018 I did not shoot much medium format film. I must say that my only working condition camera is the Hasselblad 500 CM which is not so easy to grad around for my casual shots.

A traditional flowers arrangement for a shop opening in Singapore, to wish success. Now binned

One of the consequences is that my film box contains now mostly 120 film, some starting to be expired for more than two years. Not that I think that the are going to be wasted, but it is never a good sign.

 

Hong Lim park

So I have now decided to bring the Hassie along for casual shooting. There will probably be less people in the coming rolls as it is not greatly suited for “street” shots, but probably more city views from a local tourist.

Hong Lim park

Hong Lim park

Hong Lim park

Bollywood Dhoom on Circular Road

Mustapha shopping center

Mustapha shopping center – with people

Allenby House : a colorful building at Jalan besar

I think this is my last roll of the Cinestill 50D, part of the Kickstarter package. I quite like this film in the end as per my last post, it s quite punchy, is easy to scan. And slow speed is fine in good weather and daylight. I am not sure I ever shot many films with the Hassie at night or dusk.

The thyme at Merci Marcel in Tiong Bahru. I love the light bulbs.

One thing the lead of the film is gooey so when you remove the lead you will often end up with some parts of the back that take up the film being sticky, and some goo ending up on the roll as in the first Hong Lim shot.

 

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Bye Bye Dakota

For the last post of the year, I will show you pictures of a small walk I did at Dakota Crescent estate in Singapore.

Like Rochor Centre, Dakota is supposed to be demolished at the end of this year (so pretty soon). The estate belongs to the public housing administration (HDB), it was built in 1959 during the British area.

The blocks have some interesting feature, some inherited form modernist lines. The most well known feature is the “dove” play ground.

The estate is made of 17 blocks, some high rise, some lower rise, located closed between Old Airport Road and the Kaland river. Old airport road s the road that was leading to the airport that was used prior to the opening of Changi in the 1990’s I think.

As this time the buildings are more or less empty, ready to leave way for a new development (I ignore which). There will be more pictures of Dakota as I  went there again last week. But that will be for 2017.

Color shots done with Leica M262 and Summaron 35mmF2.8; Back and white with leica M4 with Voightlander Color Skopar 21mmF4 or Summitar 50mmF2 on odak TMY 400 film.

 

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House is surely one of the most iconic buildings in par with the Eiffel Tower. For our first trip in Australia I select Sydney as our first landing point not to miss it.

If you stay close to Circular Quay the building is always in view.

I am not going to copy wikipedia but quickly the building was the work of danish architect  Jørn Utzon and was opened in 1973.

If you walk around the Rocks market during the week end you can see some vintage shots of the construction which are quite interesting.

We took the tour to visit the building which I highly recommend, but be warned, I find it pricey at 34$ per adult.

On top of having a guide that tells you the story of the building and describe its architecture, you can see some of the show rooms and inner pieces or architecture.

Definitely one of the nicest views is from Harbor Bridge.

All shots with the Leica M262 and M6 for the Black and White picture.

A Landmark on the go – Lavender Food Square – Singapore

The famous Lavender Food square is now closed and demolition work has began. It will be replaced by a 30 levels commercial and habitation building. At the moment it is the opportunity for street artists to show their talent.

Camera: Agfa Isolette III (85mm F3.5)
FilmKodak Portra 400NC

A few weeks before I happen to be there already; at the right place a the right moment. I just pass by the Lavender food square when the demolition work started, but I was still able to walk through.

This was my first Roll with CineStill 800. It’s not bad, I think I like it. But a bit expensive for casual shooting though. Also the AF of the Nikon F4s seems to be broken so I had to use a manual focus lens which defeats the purpose of having such a huge camera.

A last customer for the Mixed vegetable rice

The olf famous fish ball noodles shop.

The film was shot at 640ISO and processed at 800; colors are a bit funny as it is a tugsten film, but it has its charm.

For those who are interested I bough the film in the Lomo Shop in Chinatown (16 dollars yuck!)

CameraNikon F4s

LensNikkor 50mmF1.4 AIS

Film CineStill 800T