Posts tagged "transit"

Nearly Two Decades Ago

One of the things I love about film photography is how it gives me a good sense of my exact feelings at precise moments in time. Depending on the film stock and camera I used, looking at old film photos takes me back in ways that I don't experience with other types of photos I have taken in the past.

I know, for example, from the low light and lack of sharpness in these first few photos that I was just beginning to learn about film photography, and that I frequently used film stock that was not 'right' for the light conditions.

I know from the photo of the bus stop that this is in 2004 exactly, because I have been taking a bus from this bus stop my entire life and can tell from the way the shelter and seats and ads are set up, that it was when I was heading to university. I also know that I was probably late (because no one is waiting here and it's way past rush hour, so I've definitely overslept, again.)

I can tell from this photo of a woman sitting outside a mosque in Little India, Singapore, that this was when I was experimenting with plastic, toy cameras. I came to this area very often for food, and often walked past this mosque.

I know from looking at this photo that it was in the early 00s. This wide open space no longer exists in Singapore. Every inch of open space now has several buildings on it. The tallest building in the background anchors me and lets me know exactly where I was when I took this photo: my cousins lived in that building.

This photo was taken with my first 'real' camera, which was a Nikon F-601 SLR. I used it to take photos on my first 'real' trip abroad, where I traveled to Thailand and Cambodia overland (by bus and taxi and train and motorbike). As part of that trip, I saw some atrocities (Cambodia has a horrible recent history, as demonstrated by the window of Tuol Sleng prison here). I also some great beauty.

Like the gorgeous architecture of the temples of Angkor.

Increasingly, I started to have more and more nice cameras and film things. I also got to go on more trips.

Taiwan was a firm favorite. It was so close, and always so fun. I miss it.

I even have a photographic record of my unfortunate couple of years where I dressed only in hippie pants and sandals. Here, a self-portrait in Melaka, Malaysia.

I feel so lucky to have been able to experience that part of the world and to have called it home, and that I always had my camera(s) with me.

Five Frames with Nikonos V

To me, the best thing about living in the Bay Area is the easy access to all kinds of nature, by bike and by other means of transportation. You can put your bicycle on nearly every form of public transit (except Muni street car): all buses, almost all trains, and also by ferry. This makes bike-powered weekend trips a lot easier. Our hills are treacherous, and our beer is decent: sometimes you want to skip a hill or roll down one. Put your bike on a ferry, bus, train.

Recently, I did one such trip with a friend where we boarded a ferry to Larkspur and then a train to Petaluma. While I find it easier to just cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge and get in the miles, on days where I want longer rides, I'm thankful to these multi-modal options on easier days when I just want to take it slow but still be further from home, on a bike.

I also recently came into the possession of a Nikonos V. The seller was very apologetic that its meter wasn't working, and that its O-rings needed work before it can be a truly amphibious camera again: but I was not, for I managed to own a Nikonos V for $50 instead of $500. Although it looks like a toy camera, it is one of the most ergonomic and user friendly cameras I have ever used. It puts a modern GoPro to shame. You can even scuba dive with it (after getting the O-rings serviced).

As someone who enjoys manual metering, I am not afraid of film cameras without batteries and meters. The camera is perfect on land as well as in water. I quite like the heft of it: I think it will be my standard biking and camping camera. I have no worries at all about rolling into a pile of dirt, or falling into water. The 35mm f2.5 lens it came with is also very capable.

View of San Francisco from the ferry.

A person looking at Alcatraz from the ferry.

People on a boat near the Bay Bridge.

On the Larkspur ferry, the bike holding area is on the deck, which makes it fun and easy to look at the view while also being able to keep an eye on your bike.

There was a large Falungong rally at the Ferry Building in San Francisco on that day. The Nikonos IV is a capable land documentary camera as well as underwater camera, too.

All photos taken with Nikonos V, 35mm f2.5 lens, Fuji Superia 400, self-developed in Cinestill C41 kit, and scanned on Plustek 8200i.

Taking the train during the rain

While my primary mode of transportation in San Francisco is my bike, I do find myself enjoying the varied modes of transit here as well. They are especially useful during the rain: it has been pouring, for days at a time, during the 'atmospheric rivers' that we are currently facing in California.

When that happens, I don't love being on my bike. Not only are roads slick, but drivers are also worse than they usually are (and they are usually awful).

The train I take the most is the N.

There are so many transit systems and agencies here that it took me a while to learn all of them. I wish someone had told me at the start, when I was a tourist, that the 'tram' is a 'train' (trains were only subways to me) or a 'streetcar', and that they all have letters; whereas Muni local buses have numbers, like 38, 49, 5.

View of an underground station from inside the N.

These days, I most frequently take the N to get to the Harvey Milk Photo Center.

The Harvey Milk Photo Center is a darkroom and photo center run by the city of San Francisco. It is also one of the largest darkrooms in the west coast of the United States. The darkroom has something like 30 different enlargers; they also have a cool set up where you can go in, as a member, to enlarge and develop prints, and they take care of the chemicals and wash for you. I took a few lessons there this past month, and love going there to learn and to spend time with like-minded photography enthusiasts.

Since this roll of film was also developed and scanned on my own, I feel like I have made some large leaps where film skills are concerned: going to HPMC has been a large part of that journey.

All photos taken on Olympus XA2, Tri-X 400, developed in D76 1:1, scanned with a Noritsu LS-600 and edited for dust and contrast.