starting from the back

Camera: LC-A+, film: Kodak Portra 400VC

I finally got most of my hundreds of film photos from Japan developed. Yay :)

We went to the most gorgeous park on my last morning there. I don't know what that sign in the last photo says but I like the illustration (anyone know Japanese?).

breakfast on the balcony

Camera: LC-A+, film: lomography 100

Breakfast of cereal, toast, tea, and orange juice on the balcony of Annie's Shandon Inn in Brisbane. Love that place.

holiday with the lc-a

Camera: LC-A+, film: fujifilm 200

During the week, I took a little solo holiday trip to Brisbane and Gold Coast. I used to live there years ago, so it was really nice revisiting familiar (and new!) places and catching up with old friends. I took my new LC-A+ and got to use up my first roll of film with the camera. These photos were taken in Brisbane.

I've been using the FujiFilm Superia 200 film so much though, that I'm now itching to try something different. I might try slide film or get something with a higher ISO (because I want to take more photos in low-light conditions). Any recommendations??

Also, what do you think of the new layout? I thought that the new year would be a good time to try a fresh new look for the blog. I'm still going to tweak it a little more later on though.

japan

photos via Sleepwalking in Tokyo

I've booked my flights to go to Japan in January! JAPAN!! I've been dying to go for ages, and the opportunity is finally here. All the planning and everything is a bit last minute (it's almost January already!), and I still have things to take care of before I can go, but I'm so super duper excited and NEED to make this happen. I'll only have about 5 days there, so will likely spend most/all of my time in Tokyo... but I'll make the most of it! It's going to be brilliant.

I've been checking out these blogs for visual inspiration:
Narumi
Sleepwalking in Tokyo
jollygoo
Hello Sandwich

Any other blogs I should check out? Also, if anyone has any Japan/Tokyo travel tips...places to go, things to see, cute little shops I'd be a fool to miss, things I should take photos of (everything, right? hehe)..  please share with me!

polly woodside

Camera: wide lens SuperHeadz. Film: Redscale XR 50-200

I finally used my 3rd, and last, redscale film. I don't know if 3rd time's a charm, or it was a good choice to take this roll to a different (and slightly more pricey) photo lab, but I'm much happier with the photos from this set compared the ones before - which usually had more misses than hits.

These photos are of the Polly Woodside at South Wharf, Melbourne. Stunning old thing. Extra dramatic in red, huh?

a chocolate house and childhood besties

One of the highlights from my trip home last week was catching up with my best friends from childhood (we've known each other since Primary school and junior high, so it's been a good 10+ years now!), and we made a trip to a local chocolate shop/factory in Jogja. It's called Monggo, and they make the finest chocolate from Indonesian cocoa beans. They taste SO good, and I ended up buying so many! The dark chocolate are to die for, I tell you.

The place was really nice, and hardly looked like a chocolate factory at all. It was more like a cozy little house, and it was decorated with bits of our Javanese culture - and nothing's more Javanese than our Batik and Wayang puppets. The word for chocolate in Indonesian, "cokelat", also means the colour brown, which I also notice is the dominant colour tone of the place. Nice and earthy. There's something nice about getting in touch with my own culture, and seeing familiar sights that I hardly see when I'm living abroad... and to appreciate that with the friends I grew up with years ago, was just lovely.

You will notice that this is one of the very rare posts where I am actually showing my face. I'm the one in the brown polka dot skirt, by the way.

popperca

Popperca is a sweet shop I visited last week in Jogja. They make clothing and accessories from recycled fabric pieces.

P.S. The holiday is all over now. It was awesome and brilliant, but all good things come to an end. I feel like I went from the highest joyous high to crashing back into reality. I have to readjust to so much (culture, routine, time, work, being independent and alone) in so little time, and although I know this is where I need to be, I'm not quite ready for it yet. Sigh.

august break #26

 Camera: Yellow Wide Lens Superheadz; Film: Kodak Colorplus 200

I took my blogger friend who's visiting Melbourne, Claradevi, to Camberwell market on the weekend. Read and see photos of us on Claradevi's cute fashion blog :)

august break day #25

camera: Wide Lens Superheadz, film: Lucky black and white film, SHD 100

Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne.

august break day #11

Camera: wide lens SuperHeadz. Film: Fujifilm Fujicolor Superia 200

Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne city.

grey space in st. kilda

It was dark, drizzling, and cold at the beach yesterday... and we kind of loved it. There's a wonderful, almost poetic, calmness in all that grey open space. The weather was also perfect for enjoying the hot chocolate we had on the day!