This January, we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary at Lake Leschenaultia. It’s a manmade lake situated in Chidlow, about 45 minutes drive from Perth. I packed a picnic for us and took my SuperHeadz wide and slim camera. 8 months later, I finished the roll of film and had it developed.

The thing about shooting with film, it’s a longer process as compared to taking instant shots on a digital camera. I usually make my roll of film last longer by shooting a couple of pictures and then saving it for another special occasion. I don’t get to see the photos until it’s developed many months later!

I’ve got to say that the SuperHeadz slim is one of the easiest film camera to use. The wide angled lens makes every photo look effortless and beautiful. The camera doesn’t do well in dark conditions but as a day camera, it’s perfect. The camera is so light weight and compact, it’s quite possibly my favourite camera at the moment!

Film stock used: Lomography 400ASA

Taken in Germany:

Film stock used: Lomography 400ASA & Fujicolour Superia 200

Taken in Paris:

Film stock used: Fujicolour Superia 200 & Lomography 400ASA

I’m packing for my holiday and I haven’t decided which of our film cameras will join us on the trip. I have a feeling we’ll be bringing more than one. I guess you could say Big Mo and I are really enthusiastic about photography. Even though we have digital cameras, we still love the analogue culture. There’s always an element of intrigue and surprise when you shoot on film.

I like nature shots and I like playing with patterns of light and shadow. Big mo on the other hand is more technical and experienced. He likes taking architecture and panorama. He also likes experimenting with long exposures. Sometimes when I think I’ve found the perfect object or a great spot to photograph, I see him sneaking up behind me to take the same shot. He likes to tease me that this is the “backup” shot in case I haven’t captured it correctly!

I’ve been meaning to blog about my camera collection for awhile and today seems like a good day to bring out all my toys!

Diana F+
This is the Diana F+ which I won in a Lomography photo competition last year. I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t gotten around to playing with her yet. The great thing about the Diana F+ is that she’s very versatile. You can attach her with various lenses to capture different perspectives (wide-angle, fisheye, telephoto, super wide to name a few). The Diana F+ uses 120mm film but if you’d like to shoot on 35mm film or on instant film, you can purchase different backs like the 35mm back and instant back. If you have the Deluxe Kit which is what I have, it comes with a full range of lenses and accessories for you to experiment with.

Diana Mini En Rose
When I first got into Lomography, the Diana Mini was the first camera that I purchased from the Lomo family. She takes dreamy, multiple exposures like her big sister the Diana F+.

One of her main features is that you can switch between:

square format

and half-frame.

The Diana Mini shoots on 35mm film and unfortunately her lens and her back is fixed and not detachable. I took this camera with us to Europe and it didn’t let me down one bit! I loved that it was so tiny and light weight to carry around.

The downside I had with this camera was when switching between square frame and half-frame, I kept getting confused and would forget to plan my shots properly or wind the counter correctly. I had a lot of shots that overlapped between the frames. Some looked pretty but some looked like a mess.

I’d recommend dedicating one roll of film in half-frame and shooting another roll in square frame just for ease of mind.

Sprocket Rocket
I bought Rich the Sprocket Rocket for his birthday. Not only does it take the most glorious panoramas, but it has a nifty reverse gear that allows you to rewind and remix your photos. This offers endless possibilities for overlays!

Superheads White Slim Angel
This is the SuperHeadz wide and slim. Anna from Much Love shoots most of her beautiful photos on the SuperHeadz. I’m a huge fan of her work so I decided to give this camera a try. It’s very easy to use, you basically just point and shoot and wind the counter to advance to the next frame. The beauty of this camera is the 22mm wide angle lens, fitted inside its slim and ultra-weight body! Fits easily in the pocket of my handbag!

Unlike the Lomo cameras, you can’t actually take multiple exposures on the same frame with a SuperHeadz. I know that if i rewind and shoot the entire roll the second time, I would be able to achieve this. If you know of a better way, you can tell me!

Smena 8m
And this is the Smena 8m, the latest addition to our analogue collection. A vintage 35mm camera manufactured in the Soviet Union. First of all, I love the minimalist look of this camera. I’ve read that it takes a mean black and white photo which I’m looking forward to testing out!

Stay tuned for more photos:)

Some snaps from our Sprocket Rocket. I really love this camera. Sometimes I forget how wide the lenses are!

Hay stacks and blue skies in South West Kulin

We spent most of our time filming on this stretch of highway for the Tin Horse Highway documentary.

A picnic at Lake Leschenaultia

Us at Lake Leschenaultia

Late nights at Richard’s gig. He’s on the far right.

Film stock used: Fujicolour Superia 200

Richard turned 30 earlier this month. I was excited for him to join the club since I had turned 30 in June. As expected, he was moody right up to the day of his birthday. I’m going to call it the ‘notwantingtoletgoofmytwenties’ syndrome.

I remembered suffering from that and it drove me crazy! I was so moody and shitty about turning 30 that all my friends and family, and Richard included couldn’t stop teasing me about it. I think it wasn’t just the fear of turning another year older, the fear was more about me; whether I had accomplished enough in my 20s and what was waiting for me in my 30s. Then there was also the fear of adjusting to reality, that I am now a 30 year old and do not belong in the 19 – 29 age group and that there are YOUNGER, COOLER and more BEAUTIFUL people out there than me. So yes…those were the fears that plagued me when I turned the big 3-0.

So coming back to Richard’s birthday, I could see him going through the same turmoil that I experienced and when I asked him if he would like to do anything for his birthday, he grumpily said no. I couldn’t let that happen so I organised an early surprise party for him by sneaking in a few phone calls to his mates. How I managed to get him out of the house without him being suspicious that night was all thanks to this new toy.

I bought him a Sprocket Rocket which shoots on a super-wide panoramic lens. I passed him the camera in the late afternoon and used it as an excuse to get him out of the house to take photos with it.

We caught the train to the city, walked around and snapped photos with it. Then I took him to the local Korean restaurant where all his friends were waiting to surprise him. Oh how I wished I had taken a picture of my husband’s expression, it was priceless! He was shocked, stoked and overjoyed! I think my heart filled when I saw how happy he was!

In all the excitement, it felt like it was my surprise party too:) We were surrounded by good food, good friends and a huge cake. It was such a great night.

On his actual birthday, I cooked us a proper dinner at home. I made a German pasta dish called Spaetzle. I’ll share pictures of the dish and the recipe in my next post!

Oh gosh! Where do I start, I’ve been meaning to blog about lots of things that have happened to me this week! I’m still deciding if I should write a LONG post and cram every news inside or if I should break them up in smaller posts and share little doses of news with you!

Maybe I’ll start with my most recent adventure. This weekend I attended the Lomovember exhibition organised by Pigeonhole. It’s a wonderful lo-fi curation of colorful lomographs captured in Perth and around the world. The best images are block mounted and sold by silent auction, with profits of the sale going towards the Movember Foundation.

I had 3 photos selected for the exhibition, out of the 400 submissions they received:

Summer Sun (Strasbourg, France)

Twilight (At the back of my parent’s house in Stuttgart, Germany)

Kaleidoscope (Eiffel Tower, Paris)

Despite my excitement, I was actually nervous about explaining to my husband that his face was going to be in a public exhibition. I told him a few days before the event:

H: hey you wanna check out this lomo exhibition?
R: yeah sure…when is it?
H: they’re having a launch party on Friday. Uh…ah…some of my photos are in it…
R: yeah?? Cool!!!!
H: yeah…..but they are…erm…uh….ah….photos of you
R: WHAT??!
H: They picked them!! They must like the ones with you in it…
R: ………..

And we left the conversation at that. He had no idea which photos were being exhibited so it made for a nice surprise, as well as a pretty cool date for us

I loved every photo in the gallery, it was my first time attending a lomo exhibition, let alone taking part in one. It was amazing to see so many inspiring and happy accidental photos taken from a whole range of lomo cameras.

When they were getting ready to announce the winner for the Best Photo award, I remembered feeling a combination of tipsiness from the wine and also excitement for the winner. Then I heard,“…best photo…Helena Tay….Summer Sun”. I looked at my husband to see if he had heard it too, and he had this bewildered-proud-happy look on his face. I was speechless, I totally did not expect to win anything (I would have been contented with a raffles prize dinner for two!) So, I am totally grateful and humbled at being picked for the Best Photo award.

Thank you Pigeonhole for the generous prize and wonderful event! I think my new toy came at a great time too. Ever since I bought my Diana Mini a couple of months ago, it has rekindled my love in film and photography. It brought back good memories of my uni days when I was a Film student and we learned about composition, lighting and Mise en scène. I had big aspirations then of being a director and making pretty films. Whilst my goals in life may have changed, I think having my Diana and my new camera has encouraged me to get back into film and photography. I am excited to know that there are great moments waiting to be captured. I am also excited by the possibility that maybe one day I will make that pretty film!

Heya! I thought I’d write one last post and share with you my first roll of film from my Diana Mini before we leave for our trip!

I was a bit nervous when I collected my film because I’ve heard of horror stories from other lomo photographers about their first roll being a total disaster! But wow, I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I loved my photos for all its quirks and imperfections. I was lucky that most of my photos turned out well (thanks to my film enthusiast husband).

The first few photos I took overlapped or overexposed too much because I didn’t realise that I had to wind the counter all the way till it stopped, before taking my next shot. But some of the accidental exposed shots came out lovelier than I expected! The beauty of the Diana Mini is you can take endless multiple exposures, usually 2 or 3 is good enough. This one had 5 images overlapped! So do it at your own risk!

After I realised my mistake, I started winding the counter properly! Here are a few of my favourites.

Nothing beats a blue blue sky

On a good day during my lunch break, I like to take my packed lunch and sit out at the park or by the beach. I think this is the best view to look at when I eat my sandwich!

My first long exposure shot with the train and cars passing by. All I remember is shouting “one alligator…two alligator” while holding the shutter open.

With me that night was a very hungry and cold husband who modeled in for me while I played with my camera!

Last weekend we celebrated my birthday early and I requested a massively candle-lit cake

Niina brought back a suitcase full of toys from her recent Hong Kong trip

It was a great night!

Film stock used: Fujicolour Superia 200

My Diana Mini is here! Oh the torture I tell you!

I waited and waited for 2 weeks for the postman to bring my new camera, but he never showed up. Then today Richard collected it from the post office and called to let me know. I raced home after work, and rushed through the front door (unashamedly) to open my package! I’m almost embaressed to even blog about this!

It’s so pink! And so cute! And so tiny! I’m utterly and romantically head over heels with my Diana Mini Rose!

For those who haven’t got a clue on what I’m blabbering on about, the Diana Mini is an analogue toy camera from the Lomo camera family. It’s the ‘mini’ version of the normal Diana camera. Unlike the Diana, the Diana Mini shoots on 35mm film only and can take half frame shots and square frame shots. It’s very cute and gimmicky, almost like a fashion accessory really! And like all the Lomo cameras, the photos come out in an explosion of high saturated colours, dark vignette edges and lots of exposed and experimental shots in between. All part of the fun and charm of the Lomo experience!

I can’t wait to start taking photos with it…expect to see a lot of random shots on my blog as I test out my new camera:)

Some polaroids from our Easter break. It was a good one. Niina and I were a bit obsessed with flying on that day!

Today on my playlist I am listening to Iron and Wine.