CrispContrasts

I've picked up one of the most ubiquitous rollerballs around, Its a Parker Vector. Amazingly, i picked up a pair for only 6 dollars along Sungie Rudie. Its quite a joy to write with, really nice flow with almost no friction, Gorgeous thin black ink just flows right off on to the paper!

Its Black.



Its white.

Now, what's going on..? it can't be that you got another Leica..!

Well, yes I did. Just one of a different generation. Judging from serial numbers, there is this great possibility that both camera and lens met each other in the Solms all the way back in 1957.

I did get an M2 after thinking of one for awhile, now probably the question why.

Honestly, after all the fiasco with the M6 having a half baked viewfinder that flares more than it should, i decided to take the leap for something that leica spent more effort on.



The M2 isn't just any Leica, it's one that holds all the magic. The brass top plate with carefully inscribed characters characters in cursive spelling "leica" . The amazingly smooth crank since its gears were made out of brass instead of steel like they do now. The way the speed selector clicks through seamlessly and most importantly, because its SILVER!

Leica M6 50mm Summicron Wide open on Kodak TriX 400


Leica M6 50mm Summicron Wide open on Kodak TriX 400


Leica M6 50mm Summicron Wide open on Kodak TriX 400


Leica M6 50mm Summicron Wide open on Kodak TriX 400


Leica M6 50mm Summicron Wide open on Kodak TriX 400

Nothing more than a Summicron in hand, it is complete. I'm coming to really like the summicron compared to the 35/1.2 nokton that i've got lying around. Every bone in me tells me that i'm a fifty, i think, i'm happy and i'm going to stay that way.

Nikon FM2 35mm f/1.4 Wide open on Kodak TriX 400


Nikon FM2 35mm f/1.4 Wide open on Kodak TriX 400


Nikon FM2 35mm f/1.4 Wide open on Kodak TriX 400


Nikon FM2 50mm f/1.2 Wide open on Kodak TriX 400

I Just got back 3 rolls of film from fotohub. The first, a roll i snapped off in Malacca all the way back in October. Shot mostly with the classic 35/1.4 Ai that's perpetually on either camera body. Honestly, if i had a choice, i'd really hope the FM2 could be shrunk with a quieter shutter.


Nikon FM2 35mm f/1.4 Wide open on Kodak TriX 400

I've been exploring various styles of late, i think its a great art to take clear and neat shots. There's no burnt blacks to hide those ugly shadows nor the scorched highlights to blend the background out. This is it as it is. 

Its been barely 3 months and look how they've grown!

Leica M6 50mm Summicron Wide open on Kodak TriX 400.

I'm in the slow process of digitizing all the celluloid as I am typing. The Nikon Coolscan IV though sharp and accurate and what not is frigging slow. Well, that aside. I had went straight to the pretty shots and this is what i pulled out.

I found this amazingly detailed rendering, nothing like what you find off japanese glass. It could be described as petite and extremely clean, the bokeh never leaped beyond its boundaries which left the majority of the intended subject clearly distinct, leading one right to where intended. On the other hand, when expected, bokeh came in nice creamy quantities.

I really never never expected a lens made in '57 to be so superior to today's sino renditions.


Leica M6 50mm Summicron Wide open on Kodak TriX 400.


Leica M6 50mm Summicron Wide open on Kodak TriX 400.

I've never had the opportunity of capturing light beams in my own room! surprising to me, the summicron did an amazing job!

While waiting for my 2 rolls of film to come back from Ruby, I went to bug Mark for my Nikon Coolscan IV back. brought it home, cleaned the lens assembly up and started scanning the last roll of slide film that i developed a while back. I must admit, i am pretty darn shocked at the quality.

you've got to be thinking Leica, Noctilux, Hunky 2 pounders ala canon's 35mm f/1.4 Aspherical on the EOS mount. But NO, its a Voigtlander. Well, Cosina Voigtlander as the're often mocked at by the Leica man. Amazingly, this Sino-Nazi convolution turns out to be a market shaker.

Flipping the noctilux on its belly at a fifth of the price and gaining on value with barely an lost of imaging quality..! Keep your breath of the negatives!

 





Well, a summicron isn't just a tube of brass milled out and had glass stuffed inside of it. It's something that communicates at a emotional level. Its how the aperture ring clicks firmly at every stop, how the brass heli-coil slides seamlessly through its brass threads, its how the glass shimmers in spectacular highlight.

Finally, like peas to carrots, chocolates to lips an M6 to a Summicron.

Its been raved over for generations, the Summicron has been the benchmark for compact, razor sharp, perfectly engineered lenses for as long as Henri Cartier-Bresson had been thinking about street photography. Cron's as they're affectionately known in circles have been around since the mid 50's and have never disappointed the Leica man.

This piece in particular was crafted when leica just embarked on the M platform, back in the year '57, and was not superceded  till '68. In its amazing 9 year run, Leica chalked out a hundred and twenty thousand glowing pieces of glass.

The amazing thing is, it seems to be the most sort after version in the bag of vintages.

Its just about 2 months since we got them and they've grown enormous since. Marko is starting to develop at a much quicker pace compared to his sister, they've lost all their baby incisors and their canines are just about to fall out. its amazing how quickly they grow.

Here's more from the trip, I'm posting as I process, there are just over 500 shots from this trip and sorting through them just takes quite awhile.

That's borobudur in the morning sun.




This is whats left of a market in wonosobo after everyone's done shopping.



This is the room that we bunked in Dieng, it only costed $6 a night, hell, was it cold!



Walking down from seeing the sunrise on the peak.



A proper shot of the plateau



Sheep grazing on the plateau

I Just got back from Jogjakarta, Jogja for short, Its its enclave deep in central Java. Its amazing because the white people haven't got there yet, leaving Indonesia's beauty to really shine!

I've got tons of photos but barely enough time to edit all of them. I've worked on a couple nice ones that highlight the better parts of the trip.




We Landed and were quickly whisked away by private limo to Manohara Hotel. This hotel is built around Borobudur, giving easy access any time of the day. Its an enormous piece of architecture with carvings from different periods in time.





We then zoomed off to Dieng plateau the next day, Its 2093m above sea level and it even snows in the month of August!



Dieng Plateau is a extinct volcano that blew its top eons ago, leaving huge craters that still bubble sulfur.



The famous one, Telaga warna, really smelt like bad eggs. Thankfully the weather was good, it wasn't extremely cold though we didn't bath that night.



We climbed to the peak of one of the ridges on the plateau, it was 430am and 2600m above sea level. Absolutely breathtaking. Thats Merapi in the distance.

Over the couple of days, we did visit a couple other places not worth mentioning.. Until, Parang Tritis. Its the beach that faces the pacific ocean, the next piece of land you see is Australia!

We went horse ridding and D just had to have a shot at flying a kite.







Then, the amazing sunset.

Its been a crazy couple of weeks with the shifting of rooms and the shutting back and forth from the airport. Earlier this Month, I did get a chance to hop up north for a couple days of shopping. In the 5 years since I've last been to Thailand, I think nothing really has changed, the people are amazing nice, girls are absolutely cute but the issue of true gender always lingers at the back of your mind.



This is not Thai! its in Changi. Its possible the first time I've had macdonald's breakfast with my parents. So so weird, I like my MacD's alone.



Landed and made a quick dash for the streets, we were hunting down a tailor to get our shirts done



As with any trip to Thailand, the first meal just had to be marked by a good bowl of tom yum.


Over the next couple of days, we did the usual tours of the city and its various markets.





River tour with my mother as the tour guide



Temple of the dawn




The usual tour of japtuchak, I just totally enjoyed myself at the pets sections..



Lastly, I'm always amazed at the Thai's attention to detail, though i have this belief that it's a 'white man' idea and the Thais are just servile. Together, everything works great.

The feeling took awhile to sink in. It felt a little surreal yet the feelings weren't exactly foreign, my good ol heart didn't skip a beat nor did my fingers twitch. I guess, part of me knew, we would win any how.