black and white

 

i learned how to process my own black and white film yesterday!

these are photos i took using my nikon f80 slr and lucky film.

the negative was scanned using a cd-r king stand-alone scanner--not bad huh.

i did some minor post-processing with picasa--the "i'm feeling lucky" button to bring out some highlights.  i probably shouldn't have done that.  ohwell.  it means i need more practice with proper exposure.  :)

so does this mean i'll be taking on black and whites from now on?  and invest in a paterson tank & reel, some measuring devices, and chemicals?  hmm.  nice idea.  i would like that very much.

photo by ige trinidad  :)

A Wife's Charmed Life: Please Help Save the Philippine Dragon Boat Team

A Wife's Charmed Life: Please Help Save the Philippine Dragon Boat Team: "I seldom blog forwarded messages or solicitations but the letter I'm about to share with you is from one of the members of the Philippine Dr..."

so

my friday and saturday plans were cancelled, because of the damn beast of a typhoon called falcon.  

see what happens when they name these weather things male: milenyo, frank, ondoy, falcon.

idk; the only great female typhoon in my memory who ravaged the country (and ruined what could have been my first trip to the newly-opened enchanted kingdom in 1993) was rosing.  i might have forgotten the other great females, of course, but she's the only one that i really remember (because she made me miss enchanted kingdom!!!).

lol at the gender comparison.

anyway, falcon's flying away, and i hope the next boy who comes storming in isn't as kj as he was.

[i know i'm selfish writing about how my plans were cancelled, when there are so many others in worse position.  i'm sorry.  i just wanted to have a great saturday walking around hidalgo and shooting and eating.  :( ]

this post is also a birthday greeting to one of my good friends in graduate school, who passed away during a hiking trip three years ago during typhoon frank's onslaught.  his mountaineering club was crossing a raging river in zambales when tragedy struck and he and some others were caught in a fierce current.  a few days later he was found on the beach of a beautiful island a day before his birthday.  cheers to you, tads.  we had a picnic a month ago, just like you wanted:

we had spaghetti, cake, brownies, roasted chicken, and chips!

rj (the only guy in the photo) said tads appeared to him in a dream, telling him that he's starting to forget tads.  i told rj i had a similar feeling that made me write tads' multiply blog title as a ym status.  we decided it was time we finally get that picnic going--when tads was still with us, we had planned to have a picnic-tambay afternoon at the sunken garden, which never pushed through.  so, we contacted our classmates and set the date.  we had our picnic in rj's office at the faculty center instead of the sunken garden because it was raining.  it was fun nonetheless.  i'm looking forward to our next picnic!

what will become of me

today i'm filling out this form:

APPLICATION FOR EXTENSION OF ACADEMIC RESIDENCY

and writing this letter to our dean, whom i hope would be especially nice to stagnant anthropology graduate students like me, and approve my application.  i am banking on the fact that he knows me personally, me being his student in some of his classes.  i have been a graduate student for six (going on seven) years, and i have been on "thesis na lang" status for three (going on four) years now, and that's just too long.  i've taken a penalty course last year (it's good for two years), and i have actually 'picked out' a thesis adviser and spoken to him--i just needed to defend a proposal last school year, which obviously didn't happen.  and now my adviser's transferred to another department, and might not be able to advise as per department regulations.  a friend says otherwise though, and another friend says he's willing to take me in as advisee when he finishes his phd.  lols.

i can think up of a number of excuses why i am still thesis-less, but in the end it all boils down to me just being a lazy ass.  or being easily distracted by projects here and there.  or both.  or maybe...i just haven't decided on that one topic i can be proud of.

it's easy to pick an easy topic and do a thesis about it just to get things over with.  just to have that masters degree.  "then do your thing when it comes to your phd dissertation," others would suggest.  the thing is...it's gonna be a looong while before that happens anyway, and life's too short to be just waiting for the chance to do my thing for an academic study. 

it's easy to settle for a 'good enough' study for a thesis, why not, if it gets the job done.  here's your degree, now go forth and teach.  it's okay to have had a crap/ my-heart-is-not-in-it topic, it's just a thesis, it got you your masters, get over it.

but that will go on my academic record, my cv, and i don't want some crap topic (or something i don't really love) written on it, just because it was easy and it was my last resort.

so why am i still whining?  shouldn't i just shut up and work on that long-overdue thesis?

okay.

here goes~

inventory

the first thing i did when i got out of bed this morning (well, after using the bathroom and turning on the light) was to check my film stash.  i'm planning a trip to hidalgo this weekend to buy some fresh rolls of black and white film and some cheap color negatives, and i wanted to be sure i get enough to last me oh, maybe the rest of the year--since i'm doing film all the way.  (good luck with that.)  should i just save my film buying & processing money for a dslr?  and maybe sell my film cameras?

naaaah.  hahaha.  that dslr will have to wait; i'm still enjoying film while i can.  ;)

anyway, here is what i have left:

instant

1 pack fuji instax mini 10

120 format

black and white

1 lucky new shd 100

color reversal (slide)

1 fuji provia 100f

color negative 
3 fuji nps 160

1 fuji nph 400

2 fuji h 400

2 fuji pro 160c
1 kodak ektacolor pro 160

35mm

black and white

2 lucky new shd 100 

color reversal (slide)  

3 fuji sensia 200

4 fuji sensia 400

2 kodak elitechrome 100

1 agfa ct precisa 100

color negative  

3 fuji superia 400  

2 fuji press 800

1 fuji reala 100

1 fuji nps 160

1 kodak ultima 100

1 dnp centuria 200

1 kodak supra 100

redscaled

1 solid gold 200

* * *
aaand that's it!  it seems like i still have quite a lot, but believe me, my film supply is bound to run out soon enough because i'm also planning to do a film photography project this year.  i haven't decided yet though, and i'm still looking for ideas.  ;)  


in the meantime.. film donations, anyone?  ;p

weird dream

i lay in bed with a naked man.  i hid him under the covers as people passed by inside the room.  i put a pillow beside him to pin the blanket to the bed and to hide his form.  it was still dark.  the room seemed to move, like a carriage.  when the room-carriage stopped, i stood up from the bed, then the man i left slipped away from underneath the sheets.  he had taken the form of a white cat, and the bed had become a serving table.


[i was probably high from all the meds i took when i was sick.]

this morning, a realization

for the past two (three? four?) months ige and i have been discussing, ranting, and raving about cameras.  i have been eyeing the canon 550d since february (january?), making a decision that if ever i could save enough for a dslr, i would get that.  i had also been lusting after the lumix lx5 ever since it came out, envying those who did have the money to purchase at will.  oh well.  when my lumix fs4 compact's screen smashed in february (my big, stupid fault), i itched for a new camera immediately, and it took a lot of willpower not to give in to cheaper, yet "good enough" compacts.  the arrival of fuji's long-awaited finepix x100 on philippine shores brought much drama to my  classic camera-loving self, but it is simply too unattainable for me.

i would always say that it's not the camera but the person behind it that makes a photograph, and agree with the idea that the best camera is the one you have with you.  it's very zen, makes you at peace with yourself, and gives you a feeling of content.  but it doesn't really stop you from wishing.

this morning while walking towards my building, i looked up the sky and saw a flock of birds taking wing.  i thought how awesome it would be to have a camera right then and there and take a photo: the black silhouette of the birds against the varying gray gradients of the sky.

 

and then, this:  i would have a lumix, the lx5.  it would be perfect for my shooting style, the way i like to bring a camera everyday, and my fascination with wide angles and long exposures.  as for the money i would have spent on a 550d, i would buy a nice lens (ige would say glass) for my nikon f80 film slr.  it sounds like a good idea.  i love film photography, and while film is still around, i'd like to make the most out of my film cameras too.  the 550d can wait--if we're meant to be together, he'll (yes i have decided it's a boy) be there to bring me comfort when my film rolls run out, when photo labs stop processing film, and when companies stop manufacturing film altogether.  [i hope that doesn't happen, though.]

but if anyone would like to give me a 550d, it's no problem, really.  :P 

(photos are summer shots with my nikon f80 film slr)