ROLL 2021#15 FAREWELL, MY VERY LAST SINGAPOREAN ROLL

The uncle he is a busker

That’s public now , I am a quitter, after 14 years I am leaving Singapore. I am moving to new horizons but that’s a story for later. The recent tightened measures are not facilitating farewells and the mood is not to party.

Last Sunday, I wen out but my shooting buddy Ez, founder of the Hasselblad User Group Singapore (HUGS), for a last photo walk. We met in Joo Chiat and then walked to Kalang MRT along Geylang road. Quite a walk under the hot sun.

Camera of choice was the Hassie, loaded first with a roll of Ektar (Still to be processed) and here with my fav film : the Rollei Retro 80s, processed in Caffenol.

Its been a very satisfying morning, walking with my friend along the charming Joo Chait road, then turning into what used to be the last red district of Singapore (Still a bit seedy in 2021).

Geylang has a very rich architecture, remains of better days.

Why does the uncle cross the street

Eggs business

A rare close up shot, never really satisfactory to my taste.

The house with the Sikh guards on the pillars.

HUGS man.

A closer look at the HUGS man with a wrong T-shirt though.

I could not have dreamt of a more satisfying last roll and Ez promised I can keep posting on the HUGS groups even when overseas, so all is good; it just a goodbye.

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MiniExtraoddinary on Cinestill 50D

 

Last Sunday Mini Cooper sponsored a “street art” event in Joo Chiat area in East Singapore. I thought it was a good opportunity to go and burn some film.

I did not really read what it was about, but let s say that it brought some art in the streets and back alleys of Joo Chiat.

Windows of pastry shops got all rainbowed.

Best work in my opinion was the above by AikBeng Chia, a local photographer. Streets shots of the area print on T shirts set on the local version of drying lines.

The set-up of back alley sized sports facilities was also quite interesting.

While the lady above is responsible for the discreet weeds growing from the concrete pillars.

Finally the giant hopscotch above seemed to have been quite popular. I ran out of film when I got to the Tea bar. But I shot some 35mm with the M6, so it will be on a next post.

Joo Chiat is extraordinary even without Mini, an easy place to burn film

One roll of Cinestill 50D, shot at 50 ISO with Hasselblad 500Cm and Planar 80mm F2.8. I managed to get only 11 shots my Hassie back has a spacing problem.

The 50D is quite nice, fine grain, can pack a bit of punch even in this overcast weather. I used my old Gossen Bisix 2 meter (bought in 1989) which proved to still work quite well. Scanner is the Epson v800.

“I want my picture in your magazine”

 

So I was standing in Joo Chiat road with a friend and her children with the Hassie in my hand and this young chap came to me and said something about the camera. I took me a couple of exchanges to get that he thought I was taking pictures for a magazine and he wanted his portrait in there. I did not want to disappoint him but, hey bro, I have no magazine, but I can put your picture on Flickr, my blog and maybe even Facebook, so here you go.

After all this guy had the good taste to associate Hasseblad with professional-magazine-photographer and not with crazy-middle-aged-Ang-Moh ( white guy in local dialect).

I did not use the Hassie since the holidays in Sri Lanka in march but I am frankly amazed by the quality of this roll.

Camera:Hasselblad 500cm
Lens: 80mm F2.8 Planar
Film:Kodak Tri-x 400 ISO
Digifilm:Epson v500+Adobe Lightroom 3.6