Photography as my hobby - Part 2 Developing skills

My dad was a photography enthusiast. In his days, he dabbled in cinematography and was an avid outdoor photographer. He picked up his skills working for a professional studio in Chinatown in his youth and it became his life long passion. I guess his enthusiasm rubbed off a little on me but I wasn't all that interested at that time, I remembered.

I became a little more interested only after he set up a little darkroom in our small flat at Princess Elizabeth Estate. He converted the tiny bathroom into his darkroom. That resulted in our toilet having to become the toilet cum bathroom.

As a young boy, I was fascinated with how the mixture of chemicals together brought out the images on paper. Voila, photographs!  The standard 'recipe' at that time was a formula called Kodak D-76.  To make the formula was like a chemistry lesson. You had to weigh chemicals in the correct proportion, mix it with filtered water and ensure correct temperatures using ice. In those days, there were no pre-mixed formulas. You had to mix your own developers, stop-baths and fixers. It was a skill that would become useful as I grew into my teens years.

My own darkroom was similar to this set up.

In my teens, the family moved out of the tiny flat into a house at Fuyong Estate.
Having more space now, I persuaded my dad to build me a new darkroom. It was purposed built with proper ventilation and running water and of course, completely light-tight.

I had a modern colour enlarger called the Durst F60.
You learned to 'read' a colour negative and correct color before printing.

In the meanwhile, as my interest grew, I picked up more skills along the way.
I attended colour photography and processing courses ran by the Lembaga Gerakan Pelajaran Dewasa. How many of you can remember that term Lembaga?
The LGPD was the Adult Education Board and they had a studio and darkroom facilities at the Fort Canning Cultural Centre. I was trained by Mr Wang Su Fah, a local photographer.

I also joined the Photographic Society of Singapore and mingled with young people like David Tay, Foo Tee Jun and Yip Cheong Fun. You may not recognize these names now but they were mini celebrities in the local photography scene those days.  Joining special interest groups allowed you to pick up tips and pointers from the more experienced. However, I left after some time as I found that most tended to focus on the arty-farty stuff which was a genre which I disliked. Their work tended to look like chinese art in photos. My own preference was for more candid social events. My idol at that time was a German named Helmut Newton.

Apologies if this article sounds more like an autobiography.
My next blog will focus on the equipment I collected and then finally gave away.


Related links:
Part 1 - The beginnings
Part 3 - Been There Done That

Photography as my hobby - Part 1 The beginnings

My interest in photography started when I was given my first camera, a Kodak Brownie 127 on my 10th birthday back in 1965. It was a simple little plastic box camera but to me it was the coolest gadget ever.

It literally used a roll of film in a protective light-proof wrapper which you had to carefully unroll to avoid accidental exposure and fit onto the rollers inside the camera. As you took each picture, you had to turn the rollers manually to advance the film. 

It was the earliest WYSIWYG before the computer era termed it "What you see is what you get!" - there were no adjustments possible. You just pressed the shutter and hope for the best. Only 12 pictures could be taken with a roll. 

Photography during my young days was an expensive hobby. That's probably the reason why so few amateur photos of those days are around now. Most people would balk at the cost of developing and printing photos. You were charged for both developing the negatives and printing the photographs.

A black and white 'postcard' size photo would cost about 40 cents and a colored print would be $2! Multiplied by 12 in each roll, it was a fortune in those days. So each and every picture was always considered carefully before being snapped! Most pictures would actually be printed in 'half' postcard size, approximately 2-1/2" X 3-1/2" which would be around 20 cents each.

Pictures taken with those pinhole cameras, which was what it really was, was quite acceptable. I still have some pictures taken with that camera with me today. Some of which I have posted in another blog about my old housing estate (see the b&w shots taken here). This is a picture taken with that camera.

A couple of years into using my Brownie 127, I was given an 'upgrade'. 

My dad bought me a Kodak Instamatic camera! 

The Kodak Instamatic was 'hi-tech' - it used a pre-loaded film cartridge instead of roll films. You could now get 20 exposures from each cartridge, and the neatest thing was that it had the latest photographic technology - Flash Cubes! The disposable flash cubes had 4 flashes and you could take pictures indoors now.

In my next blogs, I will tell you how I progressed to developing and printing my own photos, buying my first SLR camera and finally going digital in part III.

Related links:

Part 2 - Developing skills.

Part 3 - Been There Done That.

Amateur photographer

I really appreciate that friends and even strangers and well wishers visit my photo blog. Comments and compliments from you all really make my day.

At this stage in life, when I can quite contentedly say "been there, done that" to most things, photography is still one of my little joys that I have never really given up.

Today, someone again paid me a compliment after viewing my photo blog.
But inevitably, and I am very sure without any malice, the oft asked question arose.

What camera did you take these picture with? 
You must be a Canon or Nikon user.


I still take that as a compliment in that assumption that good pictures come from better equipment. Well, perhaps, or perhaps not?


Here's a quotation from the world famous South African photographer, Sam Haskins.
He nails it with his anecdote on the comment faced by most photographers.

“A photographer went to a socialite party in New York. As he entered the front door, the host said ‘I love your pictures – they’re wonderful; you must have a fantastic camera.’ He said nothing until dinner was finished, then: ‘That was a wonderful dinner; you must have a terrific stove.”

- Sam Haskins

My hobby is definitely still at an amateur level.
And what cameras do I use?

My equipment is very basic.
I carry the point & shoot Olympus u1030 all the time in my satchel, and occasionally bring along my other Olympus E-PL1.
The E-PL1 is a micro four-thirds camera, if you know what that is. (haha).
It's supposed to give comparable DSLR quality pictures but is less bulky as it does not have a reflex mirror system  like an SLR.  Just to my liking.

E-PL1 on the left, u1030 on the right. Taken with my iphone.