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Pencase Porn

Not that I don't have motivation to share things on Scription blog, it was plain hectic for what's going on around me all at once.  Bear with me and subscribe to my Instagram, Twitter or Weibo for fresh porns.  Here's just one for you: Pencase porn - fishing reel measure, Muji glue stick n cutter, Miidori wooden pen, architect's scale, Koh-i-noor eraser, macroscope, Merchant & Mills scissors tape n gauge, Hacoa USB, Daily Like masking tape, Staedtler mechanical pencil, Faber Castell fountain pen, Field Notes ballpen, phew!

Behind These Photos, People and Products - Yet Another Blast Update

I'm heading Shanghai tomorrow for 1 week (like every month), so here's an update before I leave.

As usual, my Dad needs your prayer, which has been helpful in many ways.  He was admitted to hospital because of fever last week, he shall be fine and come out in a few days, just wish him less painful and more happiness.

Things Organized Neatly is a very nice place to see the beauty of neat arrangement.  I hope one day they will post my arrangements.  Yesterday I was just thinking about how to effectively carry nothing but a few essential objects yet all of them look beautiful, kind of impossible for tomorrow's travel but a little thought experiement is always pleasing.  Carrying my Turtlejacket Tri-Eye on a leather holster worn on cross shoulder leather strap sure got me a lot of attention :)  I had a dinner with the guy behind Turtleback last week, they will have some beautiful lenses coming out soon which fit the Tri-Eye.  I'm so happy he lusted after my DIY holster the entire time :)

As for the Chronodex self-inking stamp many has been asking for, I nailed the way to keep the wooden cover attached to the body by adding magnets, problem solved.  There are still a few adjustments here and there in millimeters, but the outlook is great.

I can't let somebody carry the Chronodex stamp without the most stunning look (in my own terms), so the cover will be laser engraved!  Been simulating how it will look for days, I still have a few technical problems to solve on the specification but it won't be long to start production, yay!

My day job is full of excitement to see future products and challenges with people and systems (social and computer), mind boggling to think things through, switching beta and alpha all the time.  But I'm glad, the satisfaction is within.  Gee I wish I had this new Fisheye Baby 110 camera with me for the trip starting tomorrow, super cute and handy, they didn't let me keep it.

Every year our Managing Director would send out a long email thanking everybody and sum up our achievements, one sentence stood out this year: "we never put 'maximizing sales and profit' our company's core value". I guess he detected an imbalance somehow, so I'm gonna quote him once in a while in difficult situations :) Some people thought it was just a lie coz any business is after profit afterall, but I look at it differently and I hope this little voice won't die, working hard on it.

Remember I introduced nLostnFound shop a while ago?  I've finally come into agreement with the owner to create a corner with a little more content than just focus on selling products.  The first implementation will be something related to missal books and bakerlite, hopefully we will set up the shelf in Times Square city'super right after I come back from Shanghai in July.  Every antique item is hand picked by the owner and we hope we can share the stories we know about these objects to people visiting.

Smartphone photography is definitely the future, probably 95% of us will not carry a modern day camera 95% of the time, besides Apple just patented a changeable lens phone system, that tells a lot about our future too.  Smartphone photography gadgets are popping up here and there, just that it is not yet a viable business for many.  Like the iPhone cases ecosystem, one great innovation will change everything.  Anyway, we have so many photos we take everyday, we never print them out anymore.  So we worked with Fotomax to offer printing service for smartphone photos, after 2 months of testing and procrastination, finally it is moving forward, customer can now print square photos, make Instagram photo stickers and photo books.  This is a comparison of their booth revamp (in Harbour City city'super) simulation vs. the actual outcome, proud to be able to faciliate ideas into reality.  If you can visualize your ideas, making it happen is just a matter of gathering all necessary elements.  I hope I'm not sounding too arrogant here.

Last week a colleague of mine thought I knew someone who could fix a phone, but I don't, so I took the challenge myself.  Err, not an iPhone but a retro rotary one with a slightly improved 1970s circuit board.  Everything worked except the unbearable noise on the speaker rendering conversation impossible.  First I thought it was a problem with the phone line plugging into an ADSL broadband line so the separator screwed up, but after checking with the phone company that was not the case.  So I picked up my screw driver and tempered with every circuit route inside with a magnifier.  Turned out it was caused by a poor circuit board layout design, there is this one place where a screw is supposed to fix the board onto the phone but the screw was not insulated by eyelets, so the circuit was damaged, not enough electricity could pass through at that point.  A simple bypass using wire fixed the phone.  I had so much fun so instead of charging her HK$200 to fix a HK$165 phone, I wavied it :P  Like how I used to play with making Gundam models, it is tremenduous fun to isolate problems and create solutions for the fun of it.  Great education, are kids exposed to these experience these days?  Probably not from the system.

So now the topic changed to kids.  This is an evil kid, on the surface :)  My niece is actually a super cute kid with a lot of smile and very talkative.  She was just playing a disturbed look with my fisheye lens, don't worry we are good.  Her dad my little brother is a hard working architect building schools.  We just had a family gathering in this Dragon Boat festival.

And a week ago, we had a gathering of 14 kids on a squid hunting boat trip on a rainy day.  We got nothing, not even one squid, and it was funny that all their energy were used up in anticipating and preparation so the boat trip was like the last stop of a great hang out :)

Watching them all together was a bit sentimental, they were kindergarten friends, some went to other schools some stayed and more of them will definitely scatter.  Where are my kindergarten friends?  They were so close to me and we are no longer in touch, we don't even remember each other's name anymore.  This generation of kids is probably the best connected kids ever found on earth, at least their parents have facebook.  I wondered, when we/they look back in 14 years, how will they feel about this video and their time spent together?  Well, in our next gathering, I'm gonna ban iPhones and iPads, they are evil products in this type of gathering.

 

Mult-tasking is a Myth

Today one of my colleagues dropped a few tears feeling overwhelmed by all those nonsense requests from here and there and wondered what management really wants from a buyer.  I couldn't offer help from my beloved GTD practise at that moment, but it is the only way we can manage things in this so called multi-tasking world.

Yes it is a myth, no soul can do multi-tasking, it is not the right term to describe it afterall.  You can only spend highly focused small chunks of time (even stealing time) and still be organized if you have a principle to follow.  The principle for me is much like a processor cycling metaphor, with a meta mind behind directing traffic.

So many seeds I've sown moments after moments.  If I were not able to have a meta mind governing traffic I would lose my mind.  One seed sown 2 years ago was a GTD leather tab thingie using binder clip and scrap leather, upon repeated usage I think it is the right time for sharing it with the world.  Just because I finally found a good manufacturer.  Still unclear of setting up an online shop, payment or logistics, but I'm all for it.  Stay tuned.

I've given up the idea of spending an extensive period of time for one activity for a long while, coz it is a luxury.  Without sacrificing quality, the only way is to make them into small projects, one step at a time.  So I got to spend these small chunks of time for things I like, including photography.  An hour or two with my belowed Voigtlander R4A and Turtleback iPhone jacket etc.

Energy is another matter, depleted easily if it were only a matter of corporeal property.  If you have that spirit, you can always find chances to deplete the way you want it.  Hair cut on Sunday, Jerry Liu the stylist told me about his sister's obsession with a pair of HK$30K hair scissors.  Gotta see it in person, maybe an interview.

I've declined an invitation to my very own event in the Traveler's Factory store in Tokyo because of tight schedule, better wait when my own stuffs are ready in time.  But I'm very happy that somehow my gathering with famous Japanese photographer Ryu Itsuki san in the Traveler's Factory shop spinned off a nice interesting small collaboration project there.  The world is small and only if you can take advantage of connections.

Lastly, I'm enjoying a little craft projects here and there, this one being customizing a few Traveler's Notebooks for our stores to display, showing customers how they can also do their own customization using lamination sheets from Japan.  6 more copies to go but I can take the time.

Simon Ward - An Embryologist's Chronodex

Simon has been chasing me for the next July-December 2012 Chronodex release for a while, I got interested in his Instagram photos because I simply couldn't figure how a person constantly on his motorcycle had anything to do with Chronodex.  Turned out we have a lot in common, here's what I found out.

1. How did you come by Chronodex?

Well, a little background may help.

My formal training is as a scientist. Originally an embryologist, I have an unhealthy interest in most scientific disciplines but this has always bumped up against a very visual, or artistic, natural tendency. So my life plays out in pictures and I have adapted this to serve me both in work and play. As such, I developed an interest in the analogue side of life prior to the digital revolution. Stationary and tools to help me become more efficient shaped how I learnt and managed my daily routines from an early age.

However, being a true technophile, I was always an 'early adopter', and was soon sucked into the laptop wielding, smartphone brigade particularly fueled by Steve Job's magic blend of art and computing power.

A couple of decades later, my lovely wife and I have both decided to simplify our lives and revert to more traditional, less invasive ways to live live. We wanted to use technology, and not let technology use us! For me, that meant returning to my favoured paper and ink.

I wanted to see how similar minded people had developed since I had disappeared into pixel land, and hence, a few web searches later, I discovered your blog. Chronodex appealed immediately as this is indeed how I 'see' my time laid out. I love the 'blocks of three hours' and the analogue clock face view of the world. Interestingly I do not wear a watch; maybe the Chronodex lay out replaces this?

2. Are you a traveler's notebook user?

Oh yes! I have both the original and the passport format. The original is my 'everything' book. In this I carry Chronodox in your weekly format, a separate note book into which I stick the chronodex clock (printed on labels), one per double page (usually landscape), such that I can capture a day in detail and plot routes, write up meeting notes and capture life in general. I also use this booklet for my to do's (again, I have adopted your idea for using tabs to mark pages that collects my next actions, things I am waiting for and my dreams = someday!!). My passport version is small enough to disappear into my jacket pocket and I use this to collect notes when space is a premium. Both are loaded with the plastic wallets to collect receipts and other such bit and pieces we carry around, and I use stickies for more permanent additions. It doubles as my wallet.

3. What do you do for a living?  Would be cool if you were an assassin

An assassin eh? That would be cool, but if I admitted this to you I'd then have to hunt you down!!

Nothing so glamorous!! I guess I am a bio-entrepreneur - a label I have recently accepted. What I do now is hunt new technologies that have potential to provide future healthcare benefits and help, encourage, shape and push these out into products. For instance, currently I am helping an academic institute to develop a new treatment for solid tumours. This means I spend my time between the research and commercial worlds - figuring out how to fund highly expensive programmes to launch new treatments.

4. Journaling seems important to you, is it for personal record? or you have a specific line of work which requires details in time line?

Journaling is part of my day job in that we need a record of what has happened. From my early bench days, we used journals to record experiments. Journaling for science has a long history - google Darwin! Now, my journal extends to general life too. I find it a natural way to organize my thoughts and ambitions, as well as providing fond memories. It is a melting pot of ideas.

5. So you ride your bike a lot, and journal along the road, any story you can tell about this routine?

Always a two-wheel fanatic! I find the freedom of motorbiking cleansing and inspirational. When riding, the world simplifies and my mind relaxes. Traveling like this makes you more aware of your surroundings, and a such this provides me much to journal! It is also fun to turn up to a big 'shirt and tie' meeting in my leathers!! A true ice-breaker!!

I use Chronodex to help detail and plan my travel, marking up distances and times plus addresses and venues, interspersed by meetings. This has helped me become more time-efficient without it becoming a distraction. I do not like being a slave to time, continually clock watching, as life then flies past you. I find I become a passenger, an autobot! Planning ahead in a simple format then allows me to enjoy and participate in the travel and in my daily activities.

6. You seem to travel with another person, and a dog?

Yes. It's a family thing!! Wife and three French bulldogs are our tribe. We had an epiphany a few years ago. We realized that in the usual rat race of modern life, when we momentarily paused, we found it hard to identify what we had been doing in life. Try this: reflect on your last 12 months. What do you remember? What was/were the highlight(s)? We found this a difficult exercise, hardly remembering anything but the daily grind. So we decided to simplify and pull away from the traditional claws of hi-tech life. As we both travelled a lot with work, we decided to allow our life to travel too. We bought ourselves an oversized caravan, and now move from place to place as life and work dictates. This not only shortens our travel times to and from work places (I went one step further and abandoned a permanent office) but allows us to live in the moment and not to separate too many aspects of life as when you do, you rush through those aspects you like less to focus on the others and effectively lose this time. Does this make sense? We also feel closer to each other, and close to our nomadic nature. It's fun too. We meet all sorts of people and have many stories to tell on the road. We feel closer to nature as we now 'live' in more rural places because of the van.

Yes, we can now remember many highlights of any given year!!

 A little note on technology - although I particularly have lessened my dependence on the digital age, we still use it. We have mobile wifi and iPhone/Macbooks, but now these are used to enhance and allow our new lifestyle, not dictate it.

7. And you have quite many fountain pens too, what's your story?

I love ink! Always have. My Mum was a traditional teacher and I had an ink pen from being very young. She bought me a new one to encourage me - e.g. after exams - at milestones in my life. I now use a set of four Mont Blancs, each of a different colour, and a set of pilot's (including the retractable) when traveling.

8. What kind of pen you use on your Chronodex?  You need colors right?

Colours are important - words are fun but colours bring them to life! I'll use any pen that writes gently (i.e. no biro's!!). I use different thickness nibs and colours to bring the page to life and help the brain identify and expand. I find that this system allows my analytical mind to work in sympathy with my artistic side, and often provides insights I would otherwise miss. Mind mapping is a good start, and with my traveller's notebook and a good supply of coloured inks I am as happy as can be!!

9. Are you living in the states?

No, I travel there and we both love the US. We became engaged somewhere on Manhattan bridge on the way to a wonderful fish restaurant (Arthur's Landing - sadly no more). We spent our honeymoon on a motorbike in British Columbia - what a trip! However, we are from the UK and live mainly in and around the north west of our small island.

10. Any usage hint for Chronodex users? 

I'd just say use it, adapt it to your needs, and don't feel restricted. No system is perfect, and no one system suits everyone. But if you take to the general format, a little creativity will provide yo.u with a useful and engaging system. Change is exhilarating. Engagement is the secret - for anything to work, you have to want to use it. I love creating new Chronodex pages.

(all photos in this post were taken by Simon, @muttleyscrew on Instagram)

Here Are Some Excuses

You must be waiting anxiously for the Chronodex July-December version to come out, believe that I'm working on it and to be released definitely this week.  In the mean time, here's the excuses of being late.

Excuse 1: Obsession with Tri-Eye iPhonography

Can't stop, it is heavy, it is huge and it is fun.  Usually when people I met get interested in the monster, I got chances to take their "The Dog" photos.  Here's Claudia from Staedtler, whom I met in Shanghai a few days ago.  She is going to spend the next 6 weeks in China, it is a long trip.  Since I didn't go to Paperworld this year, I got good updates from her about Staedtler's new product release schedule from 2012 up to 2013.  She speaks fluent Mandarin coz she studied in Beijing some time ago.

And yes self-portraits is fun too with Tri-Eye, here's me in my own toilet.

I forgot to bring my shaver to Shanghai so I accumulated an ugly 5 days worth of beard, kids took fisheye photo of this begger just last night.

Yes kids, they are losing their teeths, in a healthy way.  Desserts are most welcome to them.

So excuse 1 the obsession continues everyhour, business or personal, it doesn't matter.  Here's Mr. Flury the inventor of Cyberclean.  Somebody said "I'm afraid of his nose poking me if it were a 3D photo".

Excuse 2: Shanghai Frequent Visits

We are going to have a new store coming up soon in Shanghai, our second store there (already 12 stores in Hong Kong and 6 in Taiwan).  Management is sending long emails coz they haven't seen my input enough, yeah yeah yeah I'm working on it, I don't want to hand in rubbish just to shut them up but seems like I have to.  Anyway, I'm confident my current composite of the Stationery section is interesting and strong, I just have to make it easier for people around me.  So, I am travelling there a week or two every month.

The last Monday I bumped into The Amazing Race season 21 first shooting.  They arrived Shanghai the same time I did, it was their first stop of the season and it was in Shanghai.  The camera men were super sensitive soon as I raised my iPhone, a few crazy fans were in Shanghai too, I saw them running around with the crew taking pictures and posting to Reality Fan Forum in real time.  Interesting encounter.

For a stay of just 5 days, the schedule was completely full, meeting after meetings.  Just so happened there was the 106th China Stationery Fair and I went there between meetings, not enough time to see but I got a sense that the show is nice despite the fact that import products are a little rare and usually arrives 6 months to 1 year later than the rest of the world.  Damn China import regulations and customs (sorry, don't ban my blog, I'm just saying it is not efficient).

Shanghai is definitely changing a lot and very quickly, IMHO it is one of the fastest changing cities in the world, after Seoul and Tokyo.  I managed to stop by some of the smaller shops and found inspirations every time.  Well, I just borrowed the toilet in this interesting wine cellar/bar, never had the luxury to enjoy a drink, must find time in June to do that.

Excuse 3: Experiencing for the Future Categories

Things won't be exciting at all if I were to order products from catalogs only.  Yesterday's merchanise makes today's sales, many lacks the vision to create a future category thus constantly being bugged by management for lack of 'concept'.  IMHO, the only way to create a future is to explore and experience as much as possible, inspirations will come.  We have so much to learn from other creative people.

Thanks to Petit Morpho, a tiny place which the owner is obsessed with organizing art/craft exhibitions, I had a chance to learn from famous Japanese rubber stamp crafting artist Ms. Tomoko Tsukui (津久井智子).  She has a pari of super steady hands and published several books (in Japanese) about rubber stamp crafting from erasers.  Ms. Tomoko works for the original rubber stamp crafting supplier Hinodewashi and came to Hong Kong for promoting the art.

2 weeks ago, I brought my kid to the event and learned some basic skills and it was great fun for both of us.

Ms. Tomoko carries a few boxes of her stamps, inkpad (she designed interesting sets of finger inkpads for accurate coloring) and signature stamps in various versions.  Why is there no man in any of these workshops and demonstrations?  They are probably playing with their cameras, iPhones or game consoles.  Oh perhaps their bikes....

Excuse 4: Ride Along

Social cause. Well, not as grand as it sounds, but I enjoyed the Ride of Silence 2012 event with a borrowed bike.  Yes that's an event with 80% male participants contrary to rubber stamp crafting's 100% female.  People close to me don't get enough of my attention and went sour sometimes, cut back or manage better I don't know.  I like the fact that we can ride together but in silence, for the same goal, well understood simple communications.  And I'm not talking about a bike ride only, figuratively rides to somewhere with companionship, just enojy the rides, explore without sourness.

Excuse 5: Researches

When a shop/place is good, you keep hearing things from people and you keep wanting to find out more about it.  What's the essense behind the apparent pleasant things you see?  People in their beta thinking mode usually cannot see deep enough, I prefer to find all angles from word of mouth, a visit and a time to sit back and think.

Fang Sou (方所) claims to be the best lifestyle store in China, many suppliers said great things about it, so I paid a visit there on a day trip to GuangZhou.  It is a bookstore with a fashion boutique, a stationery corner, a cafe, a home objects corner and an exhibition area.  Like it, although anybody with sufficient amount of money and connection can build one as easily, it is a noble attempt to composite such a mix especially in China.  It is a beautiful place to be.  I managed to stop by a few other interesting small shops in GuangZhou, all these researches help me to orient and pick the right sets of values to convey to customers when creating the next merchandise mix.

Excuse 6: Personal Projects

The best advice to a Gemini is probably "to focus", and I'm still meditating on it.  Leather projects for personal use and to gloat about are fun, creating something useful like GTD index cards and Chronodex to share with people is satisfying, blogging about products not available just yet is ..., ok some of these projects must go somewhere soon.

Excuse 7: Beautiful Hong Kong

Extremely proud of this city, such a great melting pot for many of the world-changing things to happen. Many wrote to me asking for interesting spots to visit, and I gave them a Google map if we have some common interests.  Some day our Tourism Board should have independent agents like me all over the place, equipped by the coolest map and stationery travel kit.... 

Excuse 8, 9, 10...: Skipped

Yup, I'm just giving you excuses, getting back to work now.  I hope you can have a sense of the "mess" I'm in.

Leather Holster/Jacket for Turtlejacket

Yes the Turtlejacket Tri-Eye is heavy, but it is super cool and useful I have no reason not to carry it everyday, so instead of just customizing it with masking tapes and eraser, I made a holster for it in the name of manliness.  Yup, the jean looks cool too, tell me what you think.  I wish I had a Bond girl model to take this photo to get that extra sexy thigh holster look.

I planned the holster on my Traveler's Notebook for a week, it went from minimalist design to complicated snaps and buckles, but eventually I decided to make it as simple as possible coz Tri-Eye is cool by itself already.

The result is a simple holster made from one piece of leather, featuring a metal hook and a belt loop.  Took me just an hour to make, but the planning was 10 times longer.

So other than my Olympus EP-3, this is my other perfect gear set for light travel: iPhone 4s, Turtlejacket Tri-Eye, Manfrotto monopod, Snapseed+Pixlromatic+645Pro apps.

(Sunset at Westpoint)

(Wooden staircase in a seasfood restaurant)

(Kim's game in division gathering, fisheye was great in compact space)

(Wasabi punishment in division gathering)

(Founder of German Online Pen in our office)

(Long/multiple exposure in Central Hong Kong)

TurtleJacket Tri-Eye Customization

The first time I saw Turtleback's Turtlejacket Tri-Eye I couldn't make out what it was.  It looked like a combination of multi-lens 8mm camera and old movie reel, I immediately fell in love with the look, just that it was too expensive as an iPhone case.  I kept coming back to look at it and wondered how it works, I mean I couldn't make the purchase by looking at its online shop, I had to touch and feel if it was right for me.

Smartphone photography is unstoppable, the technology convenience and convergence only means more and more people will take the advantage of improving smartphone sensors and social network connectivity, leaving behind their digital camera.  We took a lot more (crap) photos when the digital camera age came, now we take and *share* photos like crazy.  One major movement is that, with smartphone photography, we seem to take it more slowly and enjoy the process of tweaking photos with dozens of apps before posting with nice captions.

Turtleback was probably overwhelmed by orders so they were out of stock for a while, Tri-Eye is now back in stock and I'm happy to have gotten one.  You know me, I like to customize things (one reporter said 'you are the type who wouldn't carry a thing not being customized by yourself' and I agreed).  Well it was simple, I just used masking tapes from MT and Cavallini and I was happy.

(dinner with boss)

Tri-Eye has a full aluminium body, the rotating wheel allows you to carry 3 different lenses at the same time.  I found myself playing with fisheye (x0.33) mostly, because of the dramatic effect it creates.  Wide angle (x0.7) allows you to capture more in compact spaces, Tele (x1.5) I don't use much, so I plan to get a macro lens somewhere to replace it.

(Mido Cafe, Hong Kong)

Yesterday I took a Korean friend to Mido cafe in Yau Ma Tei, we had a nice sharing there after lunch hour.  A beautiful old place to visit, nice Hong Kong dishes, but don't expect smiles from the staff over there, which is one thing they need to improve a lot.

(Staircase, Mido cafe, Hong Kong)

Switching to fisheye on my Turtlejacket, I was able to capture this narrow and steep staircase with details and patterns I couldn't see.

(Old cashier, Mido cafe, Hong Kong)

I guess staff over there are still not used to being photographed despite it being a popular tourist spot, whenever I pulled out my iPhone, they'd either look away or flocked.  A little more courtship may help, but I was there just for a short while, perhaps next time.

(Star Ferry, Hong Kong)

One of the reason why I love Tri-Eye is that you get to play with different lenses inexpensively and portable. Yes it is full metal and relatively heavy but it is still a great bargain for me because of all the fun it provides. Yup, fisheye photography is a thing I will explore more, my aim is not to make you bored by my twitter/Instagram fisheye images :)

(Customized on/off button, eraser, kid's complaint)

One thing I think Turtleback must improve is the accessibility of the iPhone on/off button.  The hole is so narrow and deep, you will need a flat finger tip or long nail to turn on/off the phone.  My solution is to steal my son's eraser, cut off a 10mm width x 4mm depth x 3mm height block, tape it to the iPhone on/off button before inserting it to the jacket.  It works perfectly and I can even feel the eraser's cushioning effect.  My son found out the missing corner of his eraser, I would be the only one in the house doing that, he drew a question mark on the eraser and gave me a note :)

Here's one more customization I'll do on my Tri-Eye: a two-tone leather holster with cool looking flap.  Well, you can use straps to carry Tri-Eye on your neck, but it is way too heavy for my neck.  I prefer a holster, perhaps it is a man thing I like, to pull and shoot.  A few ideas of the cutting is drawn on my notebook, just need to steal a few hours to experiment and make it happen.  I already feel happy about it, will tell you more.  In the mean time, enjoy an interview with famous Instagramer @Zirosou Mr. Sohjirou Yamagata from Hong Kong.

 

Pony Brown's Visit to Hong Kong

We had a great time with Pony Brown's president, illustrator and the translator when they visited our Korean Stationery fair and met their fans in Hong Kong.  I was particularly happy to be able to chat with as many fans as possible, they all love the postive messages and cuteness of the main character.  One of the fan was upsetted by something this very morning, but when she found out Pony Brown's presence and came, she felt way better.  That's why we love to bring positive energy and pleasure through these events.

Contrary to many's perception, the person behind this cute character is a tall handsome hard-bodied guy Mr. Oh.  You can pretty much see the similarity of him and the character, cool from the outside, bright and positive but sometimes shy within.  We were expecting him to just give out signatures on postcards but for each of the fans whom came, he drew something special and worked very hard in details to make every stroke counts.  I believe fans were not disappointed, at all!

After the event today, we've brought the Pony Brown team to a seafood restaurant in Lei Yue Mun (鯉魚門) tonight and enjoyed a great time chit chatting.  What a lovely evening, nice weather too.

Last year when I visited Seoul, I found out their project with a Korean music instrument brand called Countess.  Upon Countess' request they made these lovely Ukulele prototypes!  They are finally available in music instrument stores in Korea now.  Excited about this cross over with music, Mr. Oh brought along 2 Ukulele so that we can gift them to Pony Brown fans through a small competition.

So far, Pony Brown is the most successful Korean brand we've brought to Hong Kong, I hope in the future we will have a lot more collaborations and bring more happiness, no matter how tiny, to many.

Realizing the hard work Mr. Oh and the team went through.... you know what, for the past few weeks they've only slept for 2 hours every single day, working hard on projects, so we admire a lot of the Korean speed and dedication really..... last night I decided to make personal gift to them, leather jackets for Cricket lighters, embossed with "PONY BROWN" and "city'super stationery" on them.  Took me hours to design and made, until 4am, but I'm happy that it was a perfect gift for them.  Looking forward to more PONY BROWN stuffs!

Wotancraft's Traveler's Notebook and City Explorer Camera Bag Review - Part 2

I've been using Wotancraft's Ranger bag for 25 days and it is only now suitable to give you this review from my personal experience.  My Ranger was with me all the time during my business trip to Taipei and Shanghai, as well as daily uses after I came back to Hong Kong, in rainy days, hiking and beach side BBQ, etc.

The soul behind Wotancraft is James, whom started researching about 5 years ago to create a camera bag he would use.  I had a great time visiting James and chatted about his creation for about an hour.  The name and logo of the company bears a resemblance of the Warcraft role-playing game logo, but James never knew about it when he named the company.  Wotancraft means in every sense a desire to achieve perfection in craftsmanship.  "Wotan" the old high German form of "Odin", is a major god in Norse mythology who is associated with battle, victory, wisdom and magic.  James would like his company to be a powerful one almost achieving a mythical status through highest possible quality standard.  He believes careful craftsmanship is better than mass production.  Let's see how much details are being put in this US$449 all purpose bag.

Ranger's distressed and nomadic look is not only defined by its unique navy grey canvas and dark brown leather mix, but also the carefully aging processes done to the material.  For example, to achieve the effect, the canvas was washed, wrinkled, brushed and stained before a final wax coating was put on it.  Although this aging thing sounds a bit superficial, but the minute you start to use it, you literally skip the honeymoon period trying to use the bag carefully, it feels like you've been using it for a while and it is part of you.  I mean it, not to worry a bit about scratches on leather, nor to spend time intentionally distressing it heavily in order to feel a personal ownership.

The look is just one of the many carefully planned features of a Ranger.  A lot of the satchels you see in the market have those two straps coming down from the top over the flap, they are there mostly for decorative purpose and not designed to function.  Ranger's straps are there because James wanted to solve one problem, to carry a jacket when you don't have an extra hand.  I'm sure many of you have the same problem, the places we go to take photos can have huge temperature differences, nobody wants to carry a larger volume bag just to take care of the jacket.  These straps became very handy because they are extra long yet adjustable, I could tie my scarf or slide my leather jacket beneath them with zero efforts during business trips.  On rainy days, I also carry a retractable umbrella like that for quick access.

Two additional straps fixed to the bottom of Ranger can also be used to carry your jacket or tripod.

Let's talk about external pockets.  There are two side pockets for small stuffs, I wish they were big enough to put my iPhone though.  The two front pockets are large enough for small cameras like my Natura Classica or Olympus EP-3 with pancake lens.  One problem with these front pockets is that there is no flap to secure the contents inside, I might have to stitch a leather flap with snaps by myself someday so that I can feel safer to put camera or keychains in them.  This is obviously a point for improvement.

Behind the front pockets is a zip pocket large enough to put your iPad, this became my quick access pocket to important things like my Traveler's Notebook.  Now these three pockets are behind the bag's leather flap, but you don't need to unfasten the snaps to access them, just quickly pull over the flap to reveal and retrieve, very handy and speedy!

Gear protection.  Heavily inspired by WWII aesthetics, Wotancraft highlights Ranger with aluminum buckles and brass snaps on the outside, but gets serious with gear protection on the inside.  The removable MK.I pouch, using the same material as military hovercraft's air cushion on the surface, sealed by YKK water-repellent zipper, is almost 100% waterproof.  According to James, he is planning a MK.II version which is completely seamless with even better waterproof features.  Well, waterproofing is not what I'm looking for, but you can see how dedicated he is to the details.

On both the MK.I pouch and the external bag, there are hidden velcros.  They are there to make sure your MK.I pouch is fixed firmly inside the bag, but when they are not needed, the velcros are hidden to prevent scratching on your equipments.  The inside of MK.I pouch is made from high density foam covered with very smooth micro fiber cloth, making camera retrieval a low friction effort in addition to the heavy duty protection.  Four dividers are provided so that you can create your own suitable compartments.  I can put 3 cameras inside: Canon F1 with 85mm f1.2 lens, Voigtlander R4A with Nokton 35mm f1.2 lens, Olympus EP-3 with 12mm f2.0 lens.

So literally you have 3 layers of protections.  Waterproof anti-shock MK.I, external waxed canvas bag with zipper and the leather flap.  For my daily use, I actually don't need the MK.I pouch, I usually put a slimmer Artisan & Artist inner pouch to carry 1 camera, the Ranger immediately shrinks into a transit friendly casual bag.

Here's some more smart features of the Ranger.  For a large bag like this, it takes time to unzip all the way and resistance at the two corners is inevitable.  If you are not a zipper person like me, you can leave the canvas cover half zipped half opened, this can be achieved by folding the cover in half, it snaps in place by itself because of the built in magnets, it makes cameras accessible yet secure inside, very smart design.  If you are an insecure person and always want to zip up everything, speedy access is still possible because there is a small leather tab you can leave dangling outside, with just one quick pull of the tab, both zipper heads fly open in split seconds!  James nailed it, satisfying men's desire to access their tools with speed, imagine this design on a pair of jeans :)

A final note on features.  There is a laptop compartment inside the canvas bag, suitable for my 13" Macbook Air or 15" models.  There are small pockets for pen and accessories sitting behind the laptop compartment as well, although I don't use them that much.

I have to mention the weight, which is important to photographers.  My Saddleback briefcase medium size is a heavy 2.95 kg monster, I love the bag but I just can't use it to carry cameras, it is killing my shoulders and spine.  Wotancraft's Ranger is 1.72 kg without the MK.I pouch (which is 0.52 kg by itself).  The reason why it is slightly heavier than a typical canvas bag is that wax was not only coated but actually soaked thoroughly into the canvas, you can see I had no hesitation to leave my Ranger on a wet football field in one of the photos.  The softness of cushioned canvas also makes it more comfortable to body than hard thick leather used on the Saddleback briefcase (well I know, Saddleback's was never designed for photographers anyway).

The shoulder strap.  Beautiful piece of craftsmanship, it feels very comfortable hanging down the shoulder or diagonally crossing the body.  Even though its length is adjustable, I still found it a bit too long coz I like to carry weight close to my center of gravity (I'm 5'8" last time I checked 20 years ago).  So I did a little modification to suit my need.  There are two small built in D-rings near each end of the shoulder pad, I stitched safety hooks on them with scrap leather, giving me an option to shorten or quick releasing the strap in 5 possible lengths.  Now I can carry my Ranger comfortably as a messenger bag or as a clutch bag.

If you are new to Wontancraft's Ranger, I must remind you to use sand paper to blunt the buckle pins coz they are very sharp.  I also found that some of the leather edge finishing paint may fall off, I have no problem with that because it helps to give the distressed look I like about Ranger.  In any case, Wotancraft is serious about quality, according to Wotancraft and both distributors I know (one from Hong Kong (Annie Barton), one from Netherlands (Vintage 217)), they are fully committed to give Wotancraft users complete satisfaction, just shoot them an email if you need support, they are all decent and nice people as far as I know.  Again, Wotancraft is not a corporation but just a few artisans behind doing what they enjoy most, you can expect friendly services and dedication to details.  I would give Ranger a 9.5 out of 10 score as a cool stylish and function rich camera/casual bag.

During my discussion with James in their Taipei showroom, he told me that he is designing a future add-on to the Ranger bag, a strap to convert Ranger into a backpack!  I need that James!  Especially in a long day I need it to be a backpack, then it is perfect!

A week ago, Steve Huff reviewed Wotancraft's City Explorer Paratrooper camera bag, check out his video below.

 

Instayay - Hong Kong's Thriving Instagram Community, A Day With My Kid

Today is the 1st anniversary gathering of our very own Instagram community in Hong Kong, the 11th meet up since a year ago and going strong.  Thanks to the founding members and friendly IGers, even though I joined only 3 photo walks so far, I feel like knowing them for a long time already, probably due to the constant feeds we shared and "liked" on daily basis.

The weather today was unbelievably great, casual hiking in Cheung Chau island and BBQ was just the right thing to do.  I brought along my son and we shared a great time together, I thought he was bored but at the end of the day he said he was very happy, to be able to see a pirate's cave, play at the beach and meet new friends.  He was quietly enjoying the father and son outing, loving it.

My trusted combo "Polaroid 110A + Fujifilm back" often works magic, just that I failed to find more time mingling with IGers and take those "wow" shots.

What a great day to lay on a beach drinking beer watching my kid playing sand, no words can describe it :)

Don't be fooled by his look, he was tired outside but happy inside :)

Earlier the day when his schoolmate was around on the hiking part, they took pictures by the shore, each of them had a Digital Harinezumi.

Cheung Chau is a beautiful island, except for computer electronics, you can almost find everything in this tiny island, old and new, mostly very local.  Here's a fishing village.

You can almost certain that sooner or later, some of these images will be hard to find due to modernization.

The day before this trip, I got a sample Digital Harinezumi 3 for review, great timing.  I made a strap for my kid out of scrap leather pieces and both of us are proud of the outcome.

While everybody was having fun BBQing, we found this weirdo Ken laying on the beach in strange posture.  Later my son told me his butt was entirely exposed at the back, Ken is Ken you know :)