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Recent Posts
- Gulshan 3: Weekend Escapes to Thailand
- Another Year, Another Itdyadi
- Our Truly Amazing TV Debut: Behind the Scenes
- Holi in Bangladesh Part 2: the Ruined Roll
- Holi in Bangladesh
- Hashing Out Old Dhaka
- The Blog is Back: First Impressions of Dhaka, Bangladesh
- A Few Words About My Father
- The Sky is NOT Always Blue in California
- “Artisans” documentary series – final (?) episode
Author Archives: Tom (Admin)
Testing the Agfa Silette Rapid F
When I’m considering vintage cameras for purchase, I specifically look for cameras that still appear to work, and for which film can still be acquired somehow. Then, periodically, I grab a couple and test them out. This week, it’s the … Continue reading
Posted in Life in India, Tips and Tricks, Vintage cameras
Tagged Agfa, camera, film, Photography, Rapid, Silette, test, vintage
2 Comments
Documenting the Dhobis
British soldiers may know the terms “doing your dhobi” (laundry) and “dhobi dust” (detergent) – but they may not be aware of these terms’ origins. A photographer friend recently spent several hours negotiating, on behalf of a small group of … Continue reading
Posted in Life in India, Vintage cameras
Tagged caste, Chennai, dhobi, ghat, hereditary profession, India, khana, washermen, washerwomen
1 Comment
Found Film Friday: Fungus
It’s “Found Film Friday!” This week’s roll is a bit different from most weeks. This week’s roll seems to have been stored in conditions that allowed some sort of mildew or fungus to grow on the film. This was not … Continue reading
Check Out my Entries for the B&H Wilderness Photo Contest!
B&H Photo (I really should own stock in that company, as much money as I send them) is hosting a Wilderness Photo Competition – and the grand prize(s) are safari trips to Namibia and Botswana. Yes, I’m sending mainly wildlife … Continue reading
Posted in Photo Contest, Wildlife and Nature
Tagged B&H Photo, contest, photo competition, Wildlife and Nature
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The Best Chowkidar in the Universe
Way back in 2007, on one of my earliest tours in Afghanistan, I was responsible for writing these weekly situation reports, and I recall there was an open source report being published in the UK that I would regularly rely … Continue reading
Posted in Afghanistan, Good Causes
Tagged Afghanistan, chowkidar, fix Ibrahim, FixIbrahim
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Short Film: Kinabatangan
I’ve been talking a lot about photography and vintage cameras on this blog, but originally this was all about video editing and production. This is the first “real” video I’ve done in some time – a short documentary film as … Continue reading
Posted in Malaysia, Places
Tagged boating, Borneo, documentary, frog, Kinabatangan, Malaysia, monkeys, nature, primates, proboscis, river, Sabah, Wildlife and Nature
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Found Film Friday: An Airman in Syracuse
It’s “Found Film Friday” again! When I share a roll of film that has been found and rescued from oblivion. No one has seen these photos before – not the people who took them, not the people on them. And … Continue reading
A Story Behind Every Picture
They say every picture is worth 1,000 words. In the best case, a good picture tells a story. Sometimes the picture itself is the story. This is one of the cool things about photography. Take the photo below, for … Continue reading
Found Film Friday: Clyde, Texas
In my continuing, admittedly odd, quest to rescue other peoples’ forgotten, undeveloped film from oblivion, I recently acquired a Kodak Brownie Starflash, advertised on eBay as still containing a roll of unprocessed film inside. I received the camera, still in … Continue reading
Posted in Found Film, Vintage cameras
Tagged Clyde, fellowship hall, found film, Lions Club, Starflash, Texas
2 Comments
Two Towers, Two Cameras, Two Views on Photography
Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers make interesting photographic subjects – not because they are the tallest twin buildings in the world, but because of their shape and the textures and patterns on the outside of the building. At night, they are lit … Continue reading
Greeting the New Year in Kuala Lumpur
Yes, I’m two weeks late. But it’s been a busy two weeks! We recently took our first trip to Malaysia, and wanted it to be a mix of big-city-Kuala-Lumpur / shopping, and seeing monkeys and apes in Borneo. Something for … Continue reading
Mylapore’s Annual Kolam Contest
When I first arrived in southern India, I blogged about the “kolams” made by millions of women in India every day. So it turns out this is also a competitive sport of sorts! Over the last four days, the Mylapore … Continue reading
Posted in Life in India, Photowalks
Tagged Chennai, contest, festival, India, kolam, mylapore, sugar cane
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Found Film Friday: Trip to Germany
This week’s “found film” is a roll of 35mm film that came with 5 other rolls via an eBay seller who was unwilling or unable to offer any details concerning the film’s origin. Only one of the six rolls yielded … Continue reading
Found Film Friday: Bill
Found Film Friday is when we look at a roll of film that someone took long ago, and forgot to get processed/developed, and years later it ended up in my possession so that I could rescue the photos from oblivion. … Continue reading
Christmas Photowalk
This Christmas, several of us got things like lenses and other camera-related items in our stockings. So it was quite natural that we decided to take a “family photowalk” on Christmas Day, especially given that we are living in a … Continue reading
Posted in Life in India
Tagged Chennai, Christmas, photowalk, shopping district, T. Nagar
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Hanging Around in Hyderabad (Post #3)
For my third and final post on our trip to Hyderabad, I’m sharing a roll of Tri-X 400 film (black and white) I shot with my Ricoh Super Kr-5 II, a camera that’s barely vintage, having been manufactured in the … Continue reading
Hanging Around in Hyderabad (2nd Post)
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend a week working in Hyderabad, a city of 7 or so million in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh (which is in the process of splitting into two states – … Continue reading
Found Film Friday: Bill’s Party
Last week I posted the first of three rolls that were shipped to me as a set, ultimately from Rhode Island – and we don’t know much else about them. They were all 120 film, but of different types. This … Continue reading
The Argus Seventy-Five: Great Photos for a So-Called “Toy” Camera
The Argus 75, also marketed as the Argus Seventy-Five and the Argoflex Seventy-Five*, is a bakelite pseudo TLR made by the Argus company between 1949 and 1964. It’s a simple, inexpensive, yet reliable little box camera that you would hang … Continue reading
Posted in Life in India, Vintage cameras
Tagged 120 film, 75, Argoflex, Argus, black and white, Seventy-five, vintage camera
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Hanging Around in Hyderabad
I had the opportunity to spend a bit of time in Hyderabad, India’s fourth-largest city. It has some very interesting and historically significant buildings and monuments, centuries-old bazaars, and the ancient ruins of an old fort – as well as … Continue reading
Shooting with the Kodak Retina 1a
I’m loving this little 1950s camera and the pictures it takes. There are lots of little imperfections here and there, maybe dust in the lens – who knows – but I love the vintage look of the photos I have … Continue reading
Posted in Vintage cameras
Tagged Hyderabad, Kanchi Kailasanathar, Kanchipuram, Kodak, Retina 1a, vintag
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Found Film Friday: Bill Goes to a Wedding
So there’s this guy, “Bill”, who loved to take pictures…he lived somewhere around Rhode Island…and when he passed away, as is the case for many people, his things were packed up and sold for whatever his relatives could get for … Continue reading
Testing the Zeiss Ikon Ikonta A 521
The Ikonta A 521 is one of a series of compact and well-designed cameras the German Zeiss Ikon company produced from 1929 until the late 1950s, with a brief break during World War II, as the company was destroyed during … Continue reading
Posted in Vintage cameras
Tagged 521, Compur Rapid, Ikonta A, pinhole repair, Tessar, Zeiss Ikon
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Shooting with the Ansco Anscoflex
A couple of days ago, I posted about some “found film” that had come from a 1950s Ansco Anscoflex. I had originally bid on an unidentified roll of film on eBay, and when I found out that the seller was … Continue reading
Posted in Vintage cameras
Tagged ansco, Anscoflex, beach, Chennai, dog, India, vintage camera
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