Medium format photography has been something I have long wanted to try out for its glorified bokeh and superior resolution that rivals digital cameras. It also opens up possibility for cyanotype, contact printing and slide film with larger physical film space than 135 format.

My first medium format camera was the Moskva-5 from Russia (or Soviet Union) in the 1950s that produces 6x9 or 6x6 images for 8/12 shots per roll of 120 film. Looking back, I deeply regret the decision because despite Moskva-5 natively supports both 6x6 and 6x9, the one I got is missing the 6x6 mask and the back has been modified to lock up the film count window for 6x6. If I was to choose again, I would have gotten a Bronica/Zeiss. Even an Agfa Isolette/Seagull would have been better choices.

A number of my friends have always said: "Why can't you pay a bit more for a proper, high quality model?" Something about me must be wrong trying to hoard these cheap crappy cameras.

This Velvia 100F slide shot was taken in Prince Edward. After I have failed profoundly with overexposure on my first roll of slide — a Provia 100F, I learned to meter for mid-tone or shadow, such that the slide doesn't overexpose to one sheet of heavenly white. With this shot and this particular film stock, I was able to get some really vibrant color from the umbrellas of this local market. Oh and perspective happens to be just right, saving the need for perspective correction in post-processing.

When inspected closely, you may discover a vertical motion blur, even though the photo was taken at a shutter speed of 1/250s — a safe speed in a 110mm Industar-24. Some online comments mentioned about shake at 1/250s as the massive Moment-24S leaf shutter opens and closes quickly. In the future, I plan to perform a controlled test at shutter speed 1/250s and 1/50s, on tripod and handheld respectively to verify these comments.

The day when I took this photo I was painfully bored from waiting for a friend who failed to show up on time. No heads up, and completely ignoring my calls and texts. After about 30 minutes of wait I texted that person "I have to go". I can't wait forever. A dick move maybe. Maybe I should not dump on a friend. However being the one dumped on in the first place and not sign of the person showing up, I should respect my own time and well-being over that of a person who's unable to respect mine. Fortunately, it ended up well. We met. No hard feelings (or so I thought).

My friend gave me a roll of Lomo 800 as a Christmas present last year. Lomo 800 is the only ISO 800 film that I know other than Portra 800 and the mysterious ISO 800 film that came on a FunSaver. My first choice Agfa Optima 1535 unfortunately only supports up to ISO 400, while AGAT 18K does support up to ISO 1600. Naturally that became the camera I shot Lomo 800 with.

Film grain on this roll is very prominent because Lomo 800 is a high ISO film with coarse grain, plus the additional crop from a half-frame camera AGAT 18K. The color is very vibrant like with Kodak UltraMax 400. I may have gotten lucky with this Industar-104 triplet.

This show was taken when I was walking with a friend from Causeway Bay to Wan Chai after a heavy lunch. We have seen this old lady wanting to cross the road with her cart full of styrofoam boxes. Someone with a Leica has beaten me to photographing her after I said to my friend "See he noticed her too, he's gonna take photo of her." As for me, I walked along the sidewalk in parallel with her until I was able to get an unobstructed view between the traffic.

My early experience with film photography was with some Fuji SimpleAces. Out of the three that I had bought, one was used to take photo in Tsim Sha Tsui on a photowalk. The other two were shared with a friend of mine, when we went out for a photowalk in Tsuen Wan (that later got him hooked enough to buy his first film SLR camera).

Some time before this event, I had bought also a second-handed film scanner, which I used to get the initial scan of this shot. The scanner was outdated and no better than a consumer-grade film scanner, so I wasn't pleased by any of the initial scans. Much later, I brought the film to scan in a lab. The scans eventually did some justice this shot. Regardless of the distortions and terrible sharpness of this plastic lens, it managed to retain enough details and contrast for this photo to still get a nice blue glow in the sky.

Some parts of Tsuen Wan nowadays still retain the face when it was first developed in the last century. This is quickly being replaced by a mix of modern architectures and bridge network spanning over major areas of the district. As the city modernizes, we may soon see less reminders of the past that we grew up from. Film photography, in contrast, is seeing more and more revival, which is a good thing to keep the old world and memories alive.

First of all I must mention the fact that this is not a real shot, but two images combined together by double exposure in post-processing. The base image is one of blue hour looking towards the Tsing Ma bridge from Tsing Yi. Superimposed on it is a shot of a full moon taken some time in May a few years ago. This shot wasn't honestly "taken". I simply needed a good-looking image to post for Mid-Autumn featival while everyone was enjoying one day off of their busy week.

The west-facing side of Tsing Yi Island has an easy hiking trail which also provides access to the network of hillside drainage serving doubly as off-trail passageway to the unobstructed western side of the hill. That day when I took the blue hour shot, I was there for the sunset and the NEOWISE comet. As I later found out, my favorite part wasn't comet hunting, but the sunset.

Have you ever sat down to quietly see the sunset and the moonrise, listening to the sound of the world slowly dissolve? Living in the fast-paced city Hong Kong, it is difficult to slow down for the fear of missing out (FOMO). Time not spent on something with a tangible result feels like a waste of time. And when we are actually working on something we fear that we are not efficient enough, in turn also means wasting time, even though the world is turning with or without you going with it.

To have the freedom to do nothing, in my opinion, is the best possible past-time that's getting more and more undervalued.