Iceland travel for asian, {single camera} Part 3

February 11, 2018December 10, 2018 ~ Marcus Low ~ 4 Comments

Are you an asian planning to go Iceland. Read on how i visited this place and what gears to use and places i recommend to stay.

I would like to share a bit on Reykjavik in my previous travel to Iceland. Almost nobody seems to be interested much in what Reykjavik have to offer in terms of tourism as everyone’s itinerary is to use that city as a stepping stone to the offsite tours.

See my earlier two posts if you happened to stumble here on Part III.
Iceland travel for asian, Part I
Iceland travel for asian, Part II

The offsite tours are what Iceland is famous for, no doubt about that, but there are reason why this city shouldn’t be left out of your itinerary. Here are some reasons why i felt you owe Reykjavik two days of stopover.

(all the photos here are shot on Sony A7s, 35mm f2.8 zeiss, unless otherwise mentioned)

iceland for asian travellers — reykjavik

People. If you want to see how the people in Iceland are, you have to visit and stay in the town for a few days, better still, stay in an AirBnB home and you could find yourself graced by the warmth of the Icelandic hospitality. You are not going to find much interaction with real Icelandic people if you are just on the tours, except for the tour guide.

Asian traveller iceland — fotografi shop / casio TR 21mm

Local Shops. Apart from the dreaded made in china souvenirs that you can find in every single Scandinavian and Europe city, Reykjavik is no exception, but there are many local brands and shops that you can find here that have survived and made themselves relevant.

There is this particular photography shop that have analogue aura all over it. You can’t miss the fotografi.is shop on the right side of the shophouses as you walked up the city. However when i went in i realized that they don’t sell any analogue cameras or film, but they showcase photography works from various photographers and made them for sale as prints here.

iceland travel for asians — behind fotografi

Culture. Apart from their unique language (Icelandic tongue is probably the most complicated language in the world), you can feel the culture here is slightly different than say, Denmark. Maybe its due to the fact that these people have to survive in this forsaken ice-land and have successfully done so, they tend to appreciate and respect nature in both their way of living and communication.

It is hard to imagine living in Iceland from birth and growing up there with the constant history reminding you of angry volcanoes, crazy winters and sharing blood with the Vikings. Probably kids grow up listening to stories made up to represent the potent forces of nature here like the wind, earth, sun and water.

It is said that 1:10 people here would publish a book. That is true with my airbnb host Brynar.

iceland travel guide for asians — phone and vape, thats about right

The younger generation does seems similar to Europeans and with elements that show influences from Germany and countries across the sea. I came across a music video recording while i was strolling along the city and even though i can’t understand the language, the feel, vibe and presentation of the artist was similar.

There are probably a lot of celebration done in Reykjavik to commemorate events in Iceland. I happened to witness a vintage car procession that took place in the middle of the city.

Vintage cars
Those cars are in very good condition and proudly driven by their owners as they drove slowly thru the streets. I spend one of the afternoon just visiting the city’s main attraction like the rocket church and another afternoon strolling thru each corner of the city. The walk from my host’s house to Reykjavik took me around 20 minutes.

What i do find missing in spades are local fashion. There is an outlet for a local brand Geysir, which could be the word for geyser (one of the attraction in Iceland) at the corner and that was about the only one i recognized. I have seen the magazine in the IcelandAir and in its console advertisements.

Now about that stroll in Reykjavik…

asian travelling to iceland guide — by the opera house

I really enjoyed walking to Reykjavik by passing thru the Opera House, along the coastline and into the main centre. It will take you around 5 minutes from the Opera House to Reykjavik centre.

The best local food is the indisputable cod fish & chips that can be found in restaurants and even a roadside truck. They are as fresh as money could buy and taste fantastic no matter where i tried them. My favourite is the one from that simple roadside truck.

I went on summer, around August 2017 and the beautiful golden sun sets around 4-6 pm, so if you going there on summer, those strolls will become very memorable as the light streaming thru the city is beautiful.

I barely started on the Iceland tours. It seems that this series of images will be a long one. I hope you enjoyed this 3rd instalment of my travel with a single camera series. Do leave me a comment if these image inspired you in anyway, cheers.

The Vietnam Connection {portraits | film | experience}

January 6, 2018January 10, 2018 ~ Marcus Low ~ 2 Comments

It dawn upon me that some of the “best” photographers are the famous photographers. In today’s age of internet and social media, popularity and fame falls upon those that are able to blog and express their photos. Maybe its not a popular opinion but from time to time i am often confounded at the quality of portraits or streets that are shared by some online photographers. Its not that they are bad, they just didn’t satisfy my thirst for inspirations.

So i asked myself, “if u think ur better, why don’t u share more of your portraits, gears and street photos, maybe similar minded folks out there could be looking for some inspirations too”. Thank you, 2018, lets just do more of that. In my posts i will attempt to share images, gears and street photos all in one article per post.

I visited Hanoi on 26th-30th december, hazy and cloudy, there isn’t much good lighting to look forward to but i was really excited to see some of the unique scene in Hanoi and wanted to do some shoot there with a model.

I had this peculiar camera with me, its nearly a 80 years old and do or die, it’s the only gear i brought with me.

rolleiflex portraiture film — The rolleiflex 75mm f3.5 automat

I brought along some Kodak 400 porta and Fuji 160NS 120 films. After walking around the streets i notice a unique occurrence in the Old Quarters where a live railway runs thru the city, this is it, i told myself, i need to do an album here.

Thru SanAsia Event, a model was selected for my shooting, her name is Phuong Thao. The agent Miss Dao Thuong from SanAsia Event is a savvy and charming lady, she told me that Phuong Thao is one of the top 30 in Miss Vietnam search but her dreams are cut short because she could not fund her own glamour outfits nor photo-shoot.

rolleiflex in vietnam portraiture — Miss Thao Phuong, Rolleiflex 75 f3.5, Fuji 160Pro film

vietnam film portraiture rolleiflex — Miss Thao Phuong, Rolleiflex 75 f3.5, Fuji 160NS

Miss Thao could understand english but her pronunciations of the english language sounded queer to me. The agent Miss Dao told me that this is a common problem in Hanoi, mainly because graduates are taught in the wrong pronunciations.

While shooting i thought of how lucky the other pageants and contests are in other countries as most of the requirements and needs are covered by sponsorships and the organizers.

After shooting two rolls of film, Miss Dao from SanAsia suggested that we should do the next shoot at Long Bien Bridge, a french architecture marvel that is still supporting the commuting activities in Hanoi.

rolleiflex film portraiture vietnam — Long Bien Bridge, Rolleiflex 75 f3.5, Porta400

Despite the weather which was hazy and the light is flat, film tones are just so beautiful. It brings out the moment and the very life of the scene, when i look at these images i thought to myself, “wow, i could just reenact the scene and hear the sounds of the bikes and see the hazy ambiance”.

Shooting with film has always been special because i need to manually focus the Rolleiflex and i always shoot wide open regardless of camera and lens. On the Rolleiflex automat this require a lot more effort because the focusing screen is just a ground glass, relatively dim with no split screen or focus confirmation of any sorts, you just have to see the image and when you believe you got it in “focus”, you press the shutter.

The efforts slows down your photoshooting tremendously, i needed to do it fast so that Miss Phuong Thao here won’t be posing too awkwardly waiting for me. It is those very effort and focus that you do while shooting film that your mind embeds the scene with everything in it far beyond what you can remember on a casual snapshot.

So how fast was i? Here is an image of a man riding a bicycle while walking his dog in Hanoi.

rolleiflex street film photographer — man, bicycle and a dog, Rolleiflex 75 f3.5 Porta400

The guy running the film lab in Kuala Lumpur didn’t believe this is possible. Well, it is. In fact i am a lot slower than Vivian Maier if you have seen her works, those photos that she did with shallow depth of field on the street, they are impossible to be shot slowly.

Here are some other images on the street that i took.

portraiture rolleiflex film hanoi — Farmers of Ninh Bimh, north of Hanoi, Rolleiflex 75 f3.5, Fuji 160NS

I did bring along a backup camera, my phone, the Google Pixel2. I also took some pictures using it on the rails and the bridge, the results are too crappy to be shared here. Despite being the latest and greatest in mobile photography, “portrait mode” results is far from usable except in the most common scenario of poses.

Feel free to see some of the fail cases of Google Pixel2 here.

Today we live in a world where instant gratification and yada yada is cutting short our experiences and joy in many ways. Film photography as painful as it is, brings back some “pauses” to this world.

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 8

September 9, 2017September 9, 2017 ~ Marcus Low ~ 7 Comments

Read the earlier series :

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 7

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 6

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 5

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 4

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 3

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 2

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 1

After Dubrovnik and Lokrum, we went to Zagreb and took a personal tour with a local there to visit the Plitvice National park, on the way we stopped by this small town named Rastoke. Boris is a super personal guide that drove very safely and was patience in showing us the locations and updating us on the scenes that we visited. You can find Boris in trip advisor, be sure to tell him that about this blog and ask for a discount 😉

This is a beautiful town that looks like it came out straight from the disney fairy tale.

best travel photographer malaysian — fairy tale residential scenery

Houses are built surrounded by beautiful mini waterfalls and streams. Its a sight to behold and there is a cafe at the entrance that you can sit and enjoy this beautiful view. Prices here are cheaper than Zagreb and if you want there are lodging that you can book and stay.

top travel photographer malaysia — slope for scenery view

If you walk up the road on the side you can see how the houses are built around the streams and in harmony with nature. There is no better landscaping than one that makes nature your neighbour. Totally awesome and the envy of any architect.

asean top 10 photographer travel photography malaysia — surreal living

One of the main attraction here are the houses at near the entrance just a 5 minutes walk in the area and you will see crystal clear water in a shallow lake by the houses

best photographer travel blogger — Mesmerizing scene

We spend around an hour at Rastoke, enjoying the view and sat a while at the cafe. We then proceed to the Plitvice National park.

Plitvice is our last travel destination and thus the end of this long series of travel with film for Croatia. We spent nearly 5 hours here. Yup, 5 hours. It involved a lot of walking, trekking and walking. I suggest you get a some water resistant shoes and clothing when you visit this place.

In fact, if this was a solo trip, i would probably spend the whole day here. While Rastoke is beautiful and surreal, its also a small town, Plitvice on the other hand is a huge garden of Eden.

You will find yourself surrounded by emerald lakes and clear rivers that will make you wonder if such paradise is worthy of humans. These images that you see here are unedited and captured on film for its analogue and organic feel, something which i feel would be corrupted by digital capture.

Lets just enjoy these last set of images as i close this chapter on Travel with film for Dubrovik, Croatia and its attractions.

10 ultimate travel blogger photography in leica — Say grace to God, for allowing us to enjoy this beautiful scenery

This whole series has taken me one whole year to write and share. All the images in this travel blogging photography series is done using Leica M7 with 35 mm Zeiss ZM f2.0 lens. All the images are shot wide open and i used various films like kodak color plus 200 (bought in Dubrovnik), Superia 200 and Fuji Pro400H and developed in Publika Bang Bang Geng, Malaysia.

Thank you for visiting my blog, i hope you find inspiration to travel to Croatia.

(Next in 2017, ICELAND!)

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 7

April 22, 2017September 9, 2017 ~ Marcus Low ~ 2 Comments

Read the earlier series :

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 6

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 5

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 4

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 3

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 2

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 1

I boarded the ferry with my family and off we go to Lokrum. The main attraction of that island is the dead sea, the amazing view and clear waters. There is a nude tourist section but since i am not ready to be seen on my beach bod, that was skipped.

The best part of this island is that the gov of Croatia does not permit anyone staying overnight there. That limits the kind of facility that can be built on the island, the usual unsightly footprint of human accommodations construction and hotels are nowhere to be seen. There are just a few restaurants there and that is good enough for everyone.

Sometimes film photography is “the only” way to go travel. If you look at the picture above, that korean tourist is on her phone busy uploading boring instagram images while the beautiful scene fades away. When i carry a digital camera i just can’t avoid looking and double checking on the LCD screen all the time and machine-gunning every scene repeatedly. The more time u spent with ur eyes in the camera, the less you travelled.

croatia travel photographs images best beautiful marcus low photographer — sofa of rocks

The way natural lights dances in and out of Lokrum is just amazing. I shot everything on F2.0 wide open on the Zeiss biogon and i take the results with vignette happily. You don’t need any metering at f2.0, if its bright, set the shutter to 1/1000 on the Leica M7 and your done. If its shady, set it to 1/250 and you are good to go. Most of these images are taken on Fuji pro400.

Looking back at these images as i type these words, man, those colors and organic feel is just awesome.

lokrumar photography best photographer — dead sea

dubrovnik in film photography — dead sea crowd

croatia travel images best photographer — crystal clear

dead sea film leica travel photographer marcus low — party

leica photography croatia — lokrum opening

Lokrum is a must visit island if you are travelling to Croatia or Dubrovnik. Its one of those beautiful places that you just wished you could be remoting and living there for months. While the inland dead sea pool view are not as breathtaking as the plitvice lakes which i will be sharing on my next installment, the shores and foliages in this island sets it apart as a tourist spot.

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Last Chapter

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 3

July 30, 2016February 4, 2017 ~ Marcus Low ~ 5 Comments

This is the 3rd chapter on sharing my film only travel experiences on Croatia from the period of June 28th to July 12th 2016. You can find read about Part I and Part II before coming here.

Upon reaching the entrance of the old city Dubrovik, you can see huge crowds of tourists from various countries. Mostly are white people from Europe, America, Australia and some asians from Japan and Korea. Particularly interesting is that i have seen more Koreans here than from any other asian countries.

I took these 35mm shots feeling much safer and bolder than i would have done in Malaysia. It is after all a tourist spot and you can see in the picture above it is not easy to find someone who still hangs a camera at their neck. There are some canons and nikons around no doubt, but mirrorless and mobile phones are the cams of the day.

Street photographers would find these spots interesting but i saved most of my films for the scene inside the old city.

Droves after droves of tourists with their guides will arrive here. There are also individual guides that you can hire here that will walk you thru the old city and provide historical expository guidance.

Before entering the walled city thru the obvious gate, you can walk near to the side of the restaurant and see how the walled city looks like on a majestic ocean view. There are still vintage like ships that would be seen sailing here and for those seeking additional adventure, there are kayaking services that will bring you into some of the gates built at the bottom of the wall. You can see one of such entrances in the picture above, looks pitch black on my shot here.

Here is a glimpse of inside of the walled city, here is where you will see cameras snapping away and its pet friendly too. I spend nearly 4 hours here before my kid got tired and took a lot of amazing images that i will share in my next chapter.

Chapter 4.

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 2

July 9, 2016February 4, 2017 ~ Marcus Low ~ 6 Comments

Between my rented apartment and the old city Dubrovnik is a beautiful harbour. I took a stroll down with Phoenix while Sheryll takes a rest from the flight. Retail stores here are nothing like those in Kuala Lumpur city, they are more “vintage” and gives the impression that the owners are of aged.

It’s a pretty narrow set of shops lined against a the backdrop of rocky hills. There is a constant lure by the scene to hike along those hills and create your own “Lord of the rings” experience. Walking along the harbour towards the old city takes around 20 minutes.

F1000035 — peace along the harbour. Pro400H

The walk itself is a peaceful and unfolds several serene scenes. There are residents along the main road that resembles some mansion and old rocky stairs that leads to the homes. I like these scenes. It strikes a nostalgic chord somewhere inside of me, wondering what happened to those people who have taken these steps and how so much activities have preceded us.

There is a bakery shop that we stopped by and we were wanted to experience what Croatia bakery is like. While they were enjoying the bread and cakes, i took the shot below.

You could take a taxi or bus to reach the old town but for the next few days here, i walked there every single day. Enjoying the same scene and answering more and more of my curiousity of the people who lives here. Different time of the day grants the same scene a very different feel. Shooting these scenes on film….are just perfect.

Halfway towards the old city, you will come across some locks with love messages locked to the fence. This fence leads you to an opening view of the sea and you can see the shores on the left and the newer city and hotels on the right. It gets really windy here, a perfect spot for emotional portraiture. I am not an aficionado for landscape, so i had to include a model in most of my shots, no models around, my family had to fill in 😉

next “The old city Part III”

Dubrovnik, Croatia {travel with film} Part 1

July 6, 2016February 4, 2017 ~ Marcus Low ~ 5 Comments

I want to share the photos from my recent trip to Croatia done entirely in film. This will span several chapters and posts to complete. When my family decided on Croatia for this year’s family trip, i selected the Leica M7, some rolls of Pro400H and Superia 200s. (All images in these series are taken on M7, 35mm Zeiss ZM)

Our flight have to stop by Amsterdam for a night before leaving for a very early flight the next day to Dubrovnik. I carried a small Crumpler sling bag and i am surprised i managed to put the M7 with the 35mm f2 Zeiss and 7 rolls all into that bag.

My “home ministry of tourism” decided to be thrifty and she booked a budget hotel for this overnight stay because its very near to the airport. We took the free shuttle provided by Ibis just outside the airport.

F1000022 — IBIS budget hotel. You buy food thru the vending machine downstairs. Superia 200.

In Malaysia, if you are into photography, you will definitely lament on the fact that the “golden sun” only exist between 7.20am to 8.30 am and 6 pm to 7.20 pm. So you can see how ecstatic i was when i landed in Amsterdam around 8pm and the golden rays greeted me.

IBIS budget hotel is exactly what it is. A small room with a double decker just enough for a small family of three. We walked over to the non-budget IBIS hotel which is located just 200 meters away and had our dinner there.

The flight took 2 hours to reach Dubrovnik. We were greeted by Nikolina, a mother of 2 and had coffee with her while her father in-law prepares the apartment for us.

Located at Grutz, it is a 20 minutes walk to the old city Dubrovnik. Our apartment is built on top of a reclining slope and leads to a beautiful harbour. It’s a beautiful sight to behold and walking by the harbour around 18 C is enjoyable.

F1000007 — On the way down, we took some photos by one of the neighbour’s door, beautifully surrounded by flowers. Sheryll is camera shy and cant wait until we are done. Superia 200.

Dubrovnik is where the Games of Thrones was filmed for the “King’s Landing” scenario.

next, the walk Part II

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