Popagandhi

Photography is one of my favorite ways to see the world.

Check out my beloved camera collection, read about my workflow or my artistic vision, or buy my zine (coming soon).

Half Frames Around The Tenderloin

Published on January 4, 2023

The Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco frequently gets a bad rep, but I could not live anywhere else in this city. I live on a block where I get to speak my first language, the Teochew / Chiu Chow dialect of Chaoshan, with all of the Southeast Asian Chinese people here who own restaurants, grocery stores, and who mostly settled here after the Vietnam War.

Being in community and surrounded by the intimacy of language and culture has given me a different perspective on this part of town.

My photographs will often reflect this, and here I really like these half frame photos I took around here with my Kodak H35 toy camera.

The Burmese community comes out to City Hall often to advocate for help for their country.

The people who run this noodle shop not only sound exactly like my grandparents, they also make food like my grandparents'.

Photos shot on a Kodak H35 half frame toy camera and processed at Photo Plus, San Francisco, then lightly edited by me for color and contrast

Five Frames from Ceylon

Published on January 1, 2023

Between 2013 and 2016, I went to Colombo quite frequently for work and relaxation. An old friend of mine from school lived there, and it was such an easy flight from Singapore that I found every excuse to go there, really. The scuba diving is phenomenal, too.

This past year, Sri Lanka has been in my thoughts. The troubled island continues to have a difficult time economically and politically. I highly recommend my friend Rohini Mohan's book, The Seasons of Trouble, for a gripping read of the civil war era.

It's a beautiful country, and I hope to return some day.

I don't remember what camera I used here, ~~but it's quite likely.. an iPhone 5S~~ definitely a Sony Nex-5 with 16mm lens!

Old school cool in one of Colombo's many historical department stores.

Friendly faces everywhere.

So many of the cities I love—Colombo, Chennai, Yangon—former British ports, have a very similar vibe in their port areas.

It's always time for tea.

The languid afternoons felt like they went on forever.

Outtakes from a cookbook

Published on December 31, 2022

In my mid-20s I was involved in the production of several cookbooks behind the scenes. That helped start a love for food. I helped to write and photograph a cookbook for an international hotel chain's Dubai restaurants, which had all types of cuisines (their Thai chef also taught me how to cook the Thai food I now love cooking). Later, I helped a Thai-Punjabi restauranteur publish a cookbook for their restaurant in Pattaya.

These were the outtakes from some of these projects.

The essential ingredient in many cuisines, garlic.

The best part about any cookbook project: going to the market.

To make good chai, start with good milk.

I love those steel cups.

Spices are the variety of life.

My wedding in film and digital

Published on December 31, 2022

My friend Javad Tizmaghz, an excellent photographer and even better woodworker, took our photos for our wedding.

It's important to note that queer marriage is not recognized in our home countries.

We took these photos, and then we went to Auckland, New Zealand, for the actual ceremony.

It was only fitting that these photos were taken in the woods near Bukit Timah, where the old railway line connected both of our cities. It was also a place of refuge and safety for me, as I frequently went there as a child to walk and spend time in nature. Even today, when I go home, I still try to go to that area frequently.

Which one looks like film and which one looks digital?

She was telling me a joke.

Walking along the railway tracks that connected our cities.

Hello 35mm my old friend

Published on December 31, 2022

I have always loved film photography. I love everything about it.

From the moment I was given a disposable film camera as a child, to collecting old cameras and taking them on my travels, I love the whole process of waiting to see what photos I come back with.

Like so many others, I have been mostly digital for a while. That's fine. I don't much care for the film vs digital debate; but I love film cameras, the older the better.

At the end of 2022, I decided to jump back into film again. I now live somewhere else (San Francisco), have more time and ability to indulge this admittedly expensive and indulgent hobby, and also generally feel like I have more stories I'd like to share.

Before I do that, I'd like to start at the beginning.

17 years ago: this was me in a different place and time. With the same old hobby. Let's see what it all looks like when I pick up where I last left off, shall we?

A selfie with a Yashica Electro 35, a camera I loved but sold a long time ago.

Previous Page

Next Page