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Despite the fact that I love the VOX blogging service for its simplicity and great layout, I decided to leave it.  It is a hard decision and I've been researching for some time and chose to move Scription to TypePad.

Moving to typepad

One of the reasons for leaving VOX is that there's been a constant abuse of spam commenting while VOX is not taking it seriously, I've been spending more time deleting online dating service people's viral marketing spams than responding to genuine comments.  I believe other VOX users are also complaining a lot but they simply don't respond.

Most importantly, I miss the warm community we've established together here on VOX. The service was intended for friends and family, people with similar interests instead of commercial blogging.  But the ultimate purpose of VOX is negated by its negligence to spams.

I found it hard to believe that exporting blog posts from VOX to TypePad was such a pain even though they are under the same Six Apart company.  I had to literally import to Wordpress (their competitor!) from VOX, export from Wordpress a huge XML file, then use a third party free service Wordpress-to-TypePad Convertor to create a TypePad-formatted text file, then import that file to TypePad.  Anyway, something is wrong with the Six Apart people, its a mystery why I eventually chose to move to their TypePad.

So my dear friends in the VOX community, I know many of you signed up just to comment and I got to know you a little more day by day, but don't worry, I will be responding to any comment posted here on VOX anyway, just that new posts from Scription will be done in the new location.

SCRIPTION is now officially here: http://scription.typepad.com

I am still cleaning up the mess of the import/export and layout thing, but bear with me, more exciting news coming up there, promise.

See you on the other side!

I'm going to Seoul 3rd - 6th March for business, it was a great visit about Stationery last September, took some very nice film photos as well.  Any meet up happening there or shops you think I might be interested, please message me.

10x10 Cafe Seoul, Canon F1 50mm f1.2 AGFACOLOR Pro 200

This photo was taken in 10x10 cafe, a great store everybody going to Seoul should visit.

Travel Analog and Light to Seoul

Karma in the New Times Square in Seoul

You might not notice this paper cover before when I customized the Traveler's Notebook Passport size for an exhibition last year.  It is too pretty to be hidden inside the leather cover so I now use it on my actual passport cover.  Not very durable though, wondering if there is any way to laminate it nicely.

Traveler's Notebook Large and Passport Size + new brass accessories (oxidized)

From this photo (wow, this photo is on Flickr's Explore front page on 21st Feb 2010!) you may notice the newly released brass collection (pen/clip/ruler) from Midori is significantly aged nicely comparing to how they looked 10 days ago.  I actually speeded up the oxidization process by soaking them in sea salt and Worcestershire sauce for 2 days.  If you are planning to do this to your stuffs, don't forget to let air to reach the brass surface coz the process obviously need those oxygen molecules to react with copper and zinc respectively to create lusting greenish-yellow and coppery red colors.

Leather-bound notebook bearing the Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce recipe

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Why Worcestershire sauce you said.  Despite the acidity I needed, it is my favorite spice after all.  It works great with V8 to produce the Virgin Mary taste I like, it is used in Hong Kong restaurants for dim sum dishes such as steamed beef meatballs and spring rolls.  Its original recipe was found last year in a skip inside a leather-bound notebook, which was bought from a stationer right next door to the original Lea and Perrins shop, see that's related to stationery too.  (photo source: newsteam.co.uk)

Union Station Los Angeles - Canon F1 Lomo 400

Having been using wider angle lenses most of the time, I recently fell in love with the 50mm field of view again.  It was once my secondary school dream to own a Canon F1 (which happens to have a very strong brass body as well), so after acquiring it finally last year, I've been traveling with it almost daily.  In my last trip to U.S., I had a chance to stop by L.A. for a day and I chose Union Station as my first stop and took some beautiful photos there.  No wonder so many people go there to take their wedding photos.

Worcestershire sauce, leather, brass, camera, notebook , pen etc, what do they have in common?  More than the brown and nostalgic quality they posses, they give me warmth through senses in solitary travels.

My little guy was throwing up almost anything he put into his stomach, so we decided to give him only ham and bread sandwich, no milk.  Yesterday I asked him what he wanted to eat, knowing that I will only give him the usual ham and bread sandwich, he said "my pant".  "OK, that's what you will get" I said.  And he wondered :)  You should see his sweet little smile when he saw this, I gave him the same sandwich, only look differently, and he ate it all.  I wonder how many times this trick will work hahahah.

Same sandwich, different look

I made up a story too, while he was watching Disney channel.  He's been reading short stories without words by Régis Faller, in which the character is a cute little dog called Polo.  We both love the stories so much, I would "read" the story to him by making "noises" and he often giggles uncontrollably.  This time I made up Polo's adventure with a new friend called FroggyBird.  It was great fun when I read him the story last night.  You see the camera in the sky is really dumb in timing, it always release the shutter at the wrong count, so you can "imagine" how funny the photos look like.  Well, this also gave my son some exercises in counting and phonics.  In case you wonder, he is now feeling a lot better.

Afternoon Scrawl, Bedtime Story

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Yes I was on leave on Friday taking care of my son who's having diarrhea and vomiting in the past few days.  I'm surprised I was only able to steal about 10 minutes to do my own stuffs, while he enjoyed my full attention the rest of the day.  What did I do in those 10 minutes?  What's better than taking a picture of my cup of coffee under evening sunlight and play with bokeh effects.  I was going to name the picture "another pathetic bokeh photo" :)

Friday Bokeh

OK, here's the 1st day of shooting with this instant back and I got some tips for you.  If you haven't picked up your LCA lately, make sure you check the battery level coz without good battery you are bound to screw up any photos taken with it.  Press the shutter half way and see if the red LED light up responsively, if the LED flicks, change battery or clean up the metal connections.

LOMO LCA Instant Back+ photos

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Secondly, get familiarize with your LCA's distance switch once again.  0.5m is approximately the distance from my finger tip to my elbow, so I am confident that distance is not a factor contributing to any of the blur imagery.  Finally, in lower light condition, make sure you don't move too fast after pressing the shutter, you should hear the second click sound then you are free to move.

I have to say the LCA Instant Back+ is a great product, once you are fluent with the above tips once again, you are free to explore other techniques such as double exposures without worrying too much wasting precious films.  This combination creates very strong vignettes, and in most cases they look great.  Applying a wide angle lens on your LCA will create less vignettes but the result is more distorted image.

BTW, my experience told me that using a flash at ISO 200 will probably create over-exposed image.  I suggest you to shield the flash with color filter or simply put a thin tissue over the unit.  I'll be interested to hear your stories and experiences.

(this post was taken offline until 24th Feb 2010 when Lomo officially launch the product)

If you like the Diana Instant Back, you will love this LCA Instant Back even more.  I heard that it was supposed to arrive in May 2010 but seems like production is smooth to the point it will arrive earlier than expected.  Probably around 22nd Feb 2010, a few hundred pieces of this cool add-on advanced copies will arrive lomo shops worldwide exclusively.  city'super/LOG-ON will start to have it in stores in early March.  I'm extremely happy to have the privilege to grab a sample to try, certainly a great analog start of the year of the Tiger.

Lomo LCA Instant Back - with wide angle lens

I guess It is far more easier to get good pictures taking the advantage of the LCA built-in light meter and auto-exposure, the only thing you have to worry is just the distance switch on your LCA.  It is supposed to work with both LCA and LCA+.  If you already have a wide angle lens for LCA+, you can use it with the back as well.

Lomo LCA Instant Back - comparing with Diana instant back

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The size of it is exactly the same as the Diana Instant Back.  The only visual differences are the embossed words on the back, a red button, a cold shoe for view finder (in case you need to use a flash unit on the LCA body), a distance scale on the left hand side and two rings on both sides of the back for strap (in Diana Instant Back, you put strap on the Diana body)

Lomo LCA Instant Back - don't screw up your LCA!

Installation is easy.  A "don't screw up your LCA" screw driver is included, you just unscrew the original LCA back door, replace it with a new hinge and snap the Instant Back onto the LCA body, don't forget to insert the correction lens though.  Although the hinge replacement seems like a permanent alteration to the camera, switching back to the original back door is easier than you thought, the manual explains how you can do that.

Lomo LCA Instant Back - back design

Operation is easy too.  If you have a LCA+, just cock the camera's shutter by using the MX switch at the bottom.  For LCA, simply wind on the film advance spool for each shot although part of the Instant Back covers the spool so access is a bit tricky.

Lomo LCA Instant Back - with wide angle lens

My button battery ran out on my LCA+ so I can't take a shot tonight, will try it out when I get replacement battery tomorrow and share with you the results.  I'm expecting higher success rate comparing to Diana Instant Back.

Midori is releasing a series of new products relating to the popular Traveler's Notebook.  In an attempt to create the same aesthetic of the leather notebook, the development team chose to use brass as the material which radiates the same pleasing quality as it ages.  I think it is an excellent choice of material, it gives you the feeling of a trusted old friend, give it a little polishing it comes back to a shiny companion.

Brass clips, bullet pencil, rulers from Midori

The brass series includes 12 pieces of numbered clips, a 15cm ruler with raised edge for easy pick up, a solid brass pen case and bullet pen/pencils.  These bullet pen/pencils are available in white or brown barrels in addition to the brass ones.  The pens have a ring at one end for strap add-on while the pencils have a large eraser instead.

Nostalgic display - leather, brass

During the Midori private show I visited, I learned that they are preparing for a "Traveler's notebook & company" exhibition to be held in Spiral Market again this year around March/April.  I am glad to be invited to contribute some contents for their on-site newsletter in "what's in my bag" style.  

Traveler's notebook & company (friends) display

The large size Traveler's Notebook is far more popular than the passport size they released last year.  To promote the use of the passport size Traveler's Notebook, which can be used as an actual passport jacket with note keeping capability and kept close to your body, Midori is releasing more add-ons such as new refills, rub-on letters and 2 limited edition refills which looks like a real passport.  In the limited edition refill package, they thoughtfully included rub-on letters in passport looking font so you can personalize the notebook on the last page like it is a real thing.

limited edition passport notebook with rub-on letters

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Finally, since document envelope with string closure is very difficult to find in Japan, "Kraft envelopes" are created.  It gives a crafty way to store your receipts or coasters collected from travels, either use them individually or make them handy by taping them on the notebook refill cover.

Traveler's Notebook display at Midori's office

Here's my 2 cents about material use.  I love the brass application on the hardware (pen case, clip, pen and ruler), while Midori is proud of its range of high quality paper products, application of tougher material on the notebook covers or even envelopes and document holders will add similar aesthetic and durability to this overlooked area.  I would recommend to use jean label material in the form of cellulose fibre in combination of leather and paper to create a new range of pleasing products under the Traveler's Notebook collection.

I posted about my visit to Anaheim wondering if I will be able to connect to somebody around the area and to my surprise one of my long time blog reader Larry Hayden contacted me so we had an interesting meet up discussing photography, stationery, technology and travel.  We happen to share many similar interests and experience in all these topics.  He too travels quite a lot so I asked if he had any suggestions for photography topics to do during travel.  Interestingly and challengingly, hotel room shots.

Hotel Room shots, Tokyo Feb 2010

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(hotel room shot, Tokyo: mind.Depositor 3, Mnemosyne notepad, ball pen in the form of an antique brass key, brass/iron pair of scissors, document envelope made with oil paper, fabric and leather)

To shatter our family and friends' wild imaginations about all these business travels in 'exotic places' and to give ourselves a photo topic to challenge, it sounds very interesting.  Do I portrait myself shooting sinks and curtains?  Do I want to convey the loneliness or hectic schedule during business travel?  Can a series of photos be created to generate a story?  Is there way to show the smallest pleasure we find in travel and especially in hotel rooms?  I would love to hear your input if you are reading this.

Larry Hayden's Field Notes, Anaheim Jan 2010

Larry is also a Traveler's Notebook user but despite the aesthetic we both love, eventually the size becomes less portable and he chose to switch to Field Notes which is light and allows him to play with the cover, producing a collection of unique pieces as the journeys go on.  Like me, he almost always carry an analog camera, while digital is for work in most cases.

I love to slot in these small meet ups during business travels, lately while I was in Tokyo I met the owner of a small stationery shop who happen to be able to speak English.  Will talk about this soon.

Hi all, I'm back from L.A. and Tokyo finally.  The craft and hobby show was interesting, I love what I found there.  Then there was the visit to stationery heaven in Tokyo, wonderful trip too.  Despite the great finds in these 2 trips, I had the most terribly fever all the way from L.A., to Hong Kong and Tokyo.  I was like a zombie when I was not working, luckily I'm almost fully recovered.

Customized lens cover

What I did today after last night's arrival back home was to unpack and look at all the treasures I found.  I will be updating bits and pieces here to share with you.  Some more rest is certainly necessary, but tomorrow is time to drag this battered body back to the office.

I was carrying my lovely Canon F1 all the time in these two weeks and took some great photos, one thing I realized was that I really hate the blank lens cover.  My son said I should draw something on it, finally I stamped something on it using Staz-On ink and he said "Wow, so cool!" :)