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Traveler's Notebook Event in Tokyo

Such a beautiful event held in Tokyo!  Designphil organized to exhibit some of the 'professional users' notebooks in Spirarl Market, too bad it was just for a few days.  I'm very happy to be part of it, my previously used notebooks were shown in the exhibition, along side with a recent customization I did to the new passport size Traveler's Notebook.

Lie Fhung and Patrick Ng's submission

Simply check out Iijima san's blog Traveler's Diary to find out latest posting of things related to this notebook.  If you can't read Japanese, you can use help from Excite's translation engine.  It will be quite interesting to read how this exhibition was done from preparation to finish (Iijima san was very specific to find an old Chinese/Hong Kong bicycle to be put into the show)

Traveler's Notebook Exhibition in Spiral Market

• Refurbishing old furniture in a factory
• Receiving professional users' notebooks by post
• Printing postcards for the event
• Assembling the space with components (in factory)
• Setting up the exhibition the day before
• Event ended
• Event report

Ok, if Iijima san is listening, please stamp my passport size notebook with those being shown in the exhibition, oh and postcards, oh and...... :)

(photo credit of this post: Traveler's Diary)

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Diana Instant Back+: LOMO + FujiFilm Dream Combination

I heard about this great collaboration for nearly a month now, I was asking the LOMO people about it like constant bugging, and it is here finally!

[prototype photo removed]

No the image you see above is not the actual product.  I was all too excited so I took my Choco-mix Diana (a prototype of our own custom Diana, originally targeted to launch in Dec 08 but the project was cancelled due to the economic tsunami) and my Fuji Instax mini and took this photo.  I was imagining a lot of possibilities coz this combination of analog giants means a lot to our post-Polaroid era.  You can imagine all the fun having instant results of a LOMO camera, you get the cool look of LOMO camera and the instax mini photos of Fuji (I hate the looks of Fuji instax cameras BTW).

Instant_2

Still don't know what I'm talking about?  Check out the LOMO Diana Instant Back + web page.  I don't see anything on Fujifilm's web site though.  I realized just now that it won't be available in Hong Kong until May 09, so you won't see this product in our early April annual LOMO event in Festival Walk LOG-ON store.  If I can get hold of a sample to try, I will post more.  Ready to burn money through film!

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Digital Harinezumi - You Are The Moon

The Digital Harinezumi is Superheadz' first step to include digital photography into its analog adventure.  Some may think it is a betrayal to its analog origin but hey, why not take the advantages of both worlds and explore more.

Digital Harinezumi

The beautiful almost piano finishing look of the digital counterpart is truly attractive under sunlight.  Having the privilege to play with it for a week, I realized that this is again yet another camera from Superheadz which makes people around you wonder, after Blackbird Fly.  It retains the cuteness of the original 110 film harinezumi but with a digital twist.

Digital Harinezumi

There is an LCD screen on the back, 4 control buttons and 1 spring loaded switch to mimic film winding.  It is almost like a camera used by spy, especially when you can switch the camera into macro mode and take very clear images of documents.  Funny thing about it is that you don't get the LCD screen to work for you to preview before you take a photo, you just guess shooting.  I'm sure this 'feature' is intentionally installed by Superheadz.  The image is really high contrasted and color boosted, so you may get some strange analog effects for your benefit on one hand, but terribly red shift of color in low light condition on the other.  One thing I don't like about it is that all photos you take will have the same 1st Jan 2009 00:00:00 date stamp, which means you can't organize photos by date automatically by photo archiving softwares.  Oh and the price tag is enough to scare you off.

Digital Harinezumi 07-00-20

Another cool feature is that you can use it to make old movies.  Intentionally mimicking 8mm film, you don't get sound out of the movies, in fact the resulting movies have a faint background noise which maybe intentionally included as a 'feature' as well.  I had some fun with the movie feature last night and edited using iMovie to create this video you see above.  Background music: You Are The Moon by The Hush Sound.  To look at it at better resolution, check out the vimeo post of this movie here.

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Water for Elephants

I switched to audio books instead of reading them for a few years.  Normally reading is 10 times faster than listening but as I get older, sitting comfortably reading usually leads me to deep sleep pretty fast.  I just take advantage of listening to audio books in short intervals during traffic or in long flights.  Proved to be effective for me.  But once in a while the narrator's voice or accent just gets in the way, my solution to not wasting the audio book is to get a real book so I get some details right.  This novel Water for Elephants is one of them.

Water for Elephants, RP-HTX7

A few days ago I finally purchased this beige Panasonic RP-HTX7 headphone I knew about 2 years ago.  I was reviewing Monster's Beats by Dr. Dre, nearly moved by its quality/popularity over price.  However, the look of it just doesn't match my taste.  This Panasonic headphone just has the right color and retro feel, quality is good enough for me.  Worth a Polaroid of it!  6 Polaroids left on my machine, waiting for film supply, Kelly if you are alright, ship it fast when you see this :)

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Customizing Traveler's Notebook Passport Size with Pocket Insert

I received this great sample of Traveler's Notebook passport size from Midori in end Feb 2009.  This product is to be launched in March following the success of its large size version.  I've put it into test and made some customization for the exhibition in Tokyo to be held between 19th March and 22nd March 2009 in Spiral Market.

Traveler's Notebook Passport Size

A few things were customized in this passport size notebook: The cover was painted with UNI's POSCA marker following a theme from old Czech propaganda for fire safety.  You can see on the cover a fireman squeezing the neck of a fire chicken.  POZOR means "Attention!" in Czech.  The passport size notebook also comes in various refills for you to choose from, each version's (blank, square, ruled) refill cover resembles a typical passport cover's color.  But I didn't like the dull colors so I made my own "passport" cover out of a logo I created, the heading "UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT STATIONERY AND PHOTOGRAPHY" :).

Traveler's Notebook Passport Size - custom notebook pocket inserts

Since Midori's Traveler's Notebook has a flexible refill system, you can add anything you like as long as the size fits.  So I made an insert full of pockets so that I can file away my collections during travel.  They are classified into 4 categories: Photografie (photograhs), Kvitance (receipts), Znamky (stamps) and Tags (well, tag).

To see what's written inside the notebook itself you have to go to see the exhibition, but here's the details of the pocket insert I made.

Traveler's Notebook Passport Size - custom notebook pocket inserts - photographs

A "Photografie" pocket to store Fuji Instax mini sized photos.

Traveler's Notebook Passport Size - custom notebook pocket inserts - receipts

A "Kvitance" pocket to store travel receipts.

Traveler's Notebook Passport Size - custom notebook pocket inserts - stamps

A "Znamky" pocket to store my stamp collection.

Traveler's Notebook Passport Size - custom notebook pocket inserts

A "Tags" pocket to store anything from luggage tag to bookmarks.

Traveler's Notebook Passport Size - custom notebook insert - front

You see, if you keep track of what's going on in this blog, you've probably already noticed something big about travel, photography and journaling all along.  KOLO launched Essex, Midori launched Traveler's Notebook passport size.  AND I'm gonna have fun with fellow readers and customers in our 2009 June's Travel Photo Cafe!  Stay tuned!

To see more photos of my customization, do visit this flickr set.

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An Analog Message from a Year Ago - Delayed Postcard and Being Romantic

I was organizing a Travel Photo Cafe last year and made this postcard for people to pickup.  I then wrote several postcards to be sent when I was abroad.  It was June 2008 and I was too busy actually sending them so I filed them away.  Another reason why I wasn't sending them was that I wanted to send them when I would be in Germany.  So finally this year in Jan 2009 I brought them and sent from Frankfurt when I visited PaperWorld.

Travel Photo Cafe Postcard

One of these postcards reached Iijima san from Midori/Designphil and he got curious.  "Was it because of Japan's Post Office being inefficient that I received this postcard one year later?" he asked concerned by email.  Well first, the month I wrote was Jun instead of Jan, so it took less than a year to reach him.  Second, it was not because of post office delay but mine.

Blog post from iijima

Have you ever had such experience?  When in the old days you would wait for a confirmation from somebody that they received your message by post AND expecting their reply every single month?  I love the anticipation and wondering in the old analog world, all the sadness and melancholy during the wait, all the joy and excitement looking at a sealed envelope .  These days everything's bottle neck originates from procrastination 99% coz email and messaging is so instant.  You don't get a chance to wonder what happens in a chain of potential mishaps and you treasure less of everything.  I remember months of waiting for a letter from a girl I loved so much when I was in Canada while she was in Australia.  To me, a written message with a pen and a heart sending from afar is most romantic.  How about nowadays?  What is romantic these days?  I wanna update myself :)

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Strolling Hong Kong's Busiest Streets with QuadCamera

QuadCamera Shots of Hong Kong

How lovely it is to be able to stroll along Hong Kong's busiest streets to find new perspectives on Saturday.  With Quad Camera for iPhone, I was able to compose views of the place I grew up in fresh angles.  There is a magic to frame several photos into one piece.

QuadCamera Shots of Hong Kong

A typical street scene became so different.  A nice visual merchandising display with film strips inside Sogo's window.  A nostalgic visit to Hong Kong Film 100 Years Anniversary exhibition in Times Square.  All this Saturday's stroll has something to do with films.

QuadCamera Shots of Hong Kong

There is something about life in a busy city, you can only get a peace of mind when you start to look and listen, from the most ordinary things to what other people are doing.  I would love to travel through time inside my mind to see changes throughout history, will I get sad or will I be enthusiastic about life if I can do that?

QuadCamera Shots of Hong Kong

Senior citizens were sitting in the old movie theatre installation to look at old films, remembering old times, contemplating how this world has changed in their life time.  Imagine I can do the same thing by time traveling to look at history's very own theatre, what will I feel?  Well, I'm thinking too much and I should just get to bed and make my own dream time traveling.  Oh BTW, an afternoon nap today took me to Japan traveling to unknown places meeting new people, it was a great dream of discovery.  I met a friendly family inside their travel goods store and got some nice shampoo and help about visiting places in that area.  Their faces are still very vivid and I'm sure I've never met them in my own life time.  If I can bring a photo of them from my dream to this world, maybe somebody can find out who they are.  OK, I'm heading to my dream world right away, great adventures within.

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