Ibyang
Ibyang

Charmed Life of a Mrs

Sydney Camera Market

7 March 2010

Organised by the Camera and Image Collectors Society, the Sydney Camera Market is held twice or thrice a year. It is in this event that photographers, hobbyists, enthusiasts and collectors can find vintage cameras and lenses for cheap prices.


Other items that they sell: secondhand digital cameras (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Sony etc), lenses, flashes, polarizers, lens hoods and caps, bags, tripods, camera straps and magazines.

Other than finding “diamonds in the rough”, this is a place where one can talk to people with the same interest for photography. Most of the stall owners are very accommodating in discussing buyers’ question on gadgets and photography even if you are not buying from them.

The event is held from 10:00am to 3:00pm at one of the halls of the Ultimo Community Centre. The place is not that big so expect little room to move once you’re inside. We arrived before 11am and there was a crowd already.
Our friend Jon was already there. He was the one who told us about this event and I was glad to see him. He helped us try out some vintage lenses via his camera.
Now for our great finds. We were able to buy a vintage Fujinon lens (55mm, f1.8). Haven’t used this yet as I have to buy an M42 mount for my Canon camera. Test shots from this lens produced sharp images. Tag price on this little one was AUD$35.00 but the seller gave me a AUD$5.00 discount.
With the bargain I made from the Fujinon lens, I bought a cute lens hood for the lens only for AUD$3.00.

Our great find that day was a vintage Fujica camera (the grandfather of Fuji cameras) released in the early 1980s. The camera and lens were priced at AUD$42.00. My Husband asked the seller if we can buy it for AUD$35.00 and he gave it to us!!! What great bargain that was.

The next Sydney Camera Market is scheduled on 25 July 2010. Hope to see you there!

Here are some sample shots from our vintage Fujica. We just scanned the photos, no editing done so you can see actual shots.
Here’s a full body shot. Notice the vignette on the side of the photograph.
Here’s a more close-up shot. Notice the beautiful bokeh (eyeloveit!!!).
A silhouette shot. In the real photo (as in hard copy), the outlines are sharp and crisp.
To have this camera is a dream come true. Having to buy it at a very cheap price was a big bonus. No matter how digital everything are these days, using film cameras will always be love. I love the learning that goes with it, I love that you really have to think about settings because there’s no take twos (there is, but you know what i mean), I love the romance of waiting for your photos to get developed (one day wait here in our suburb), the anticipation and wondering (and fear?? hehe) what your photos really look like and the joy of seeing some good photographs when they’ve been handed over to you.
The Husband and I have already bought a couple of coloured films and some black & white films. The Fujica will be one of our cameras when we cover events now.


1st Photo courtesy of Jeanny.
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Busy Weekend in Photographs

My weekend started on Thursday afternoon at Starbucks. After work, Jeanny and I had a gym and sauna bonding at her apartment. I waited for Jeanny at a Starbucks near her office and that’s where I wrote down all the things that my Husband and I need to accomplish for the weekend. I had to make a list because there’s a lot of things to do other than our usual weekend household chores. I also took this chance to call my friend Michelle regarding Hilda’s hen’s night party in April as I’m helping her with some of the preps. After talking to Michelle, I called Hilda, this time to talk about her wedding invites which Chris and I will be creating. 





After my gym and sauna bonding with Jeanny, Chris arrived at her apartment and joined us for dinner. As usual, Jeanny came up with another yummy pasta dish (thanks Jeanny!).

The following morning, Chris accompanied me to see our doctor for my ultrasound. The doctor needed to see if I was healing well from the inside (due to my surgery last December 2009). We were so relieved and happy when our doctor said I’m all good and healthy and it’s as if no surgery happened inside my body. Thank you God!


Watched “Alice in Wonderland” after our Thai lunch.  We liked it.  Entertaining and visually stimulating.




Chris tried on his 3D glasses while at lunch.  We got the glasses for AUD$1.00/pair so we can use them whenever we watch 3D films. 



After the movie, we window shopped and walked around the mall.  It’s been awhile since we’ve done “malling” so this was refreshing for both of us. 

Afternoon tea at Max Brenner to rest our feet from walking and to take a break before we headed to the supermarket for our grocery shopping.



How does one know our favorite chocolate flavour?  You can base it on our skintones hehe.  Chris loves dark chocolate while I love white chocolate.  I love Max Brenner’s hot white chocolate—parang ka lang umiinom ng gatas :).

After attending mass on Saturday afternoon, we went to Kmart to buy chocolate Easter eggs and bunnies in preparation for Easter festivities.  After shopping, I suggested we buy our first takeaway pizza for dinner. 



Other than the fact that I’m still in a celebratory mood from Friday’s good news about my health, I figured we could use the break from home-cooked meals.  Plus, I also wanted to have a more relaxing Saturday night. 


Chris being the chocoholic that he is, can’t help but order Domino’s Choco Lava Cake too. 




 A relaxing dinner it was as we gorged on a large Supreme Pizza and a bottle of champagne while we watched movies.


Sunday afternoon we had coffee at Coffee Culture after we picked up our developed photographs taken by our vintage camera.  We are so happy with the results!  I will share more about our great vintage finds from the Sydney Camera Market in another entry.
 


It was during Sunday afternoon coffee that we talked about our “strategies” for our upcoming commitments.  We’ve got very busy weeks ahead of us.  Our social calendar’s already full til the month of May.  And for some reason, it is during our coffee dates that we somehow figure out what and how we’re going to do things.  Must be a habit or a ritual ours already, I don’t know.  But one thing’s for sure, it during this coffee dates that we have created concepts for our projects.


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An Afternoon with John Fick

One fine afternoon, I was blessed to have been picked up by the Husband and our friend John after work. John brought his car to work and they were fortunate to leave the office early, and so we all went home together.

John Fick is a photographer based in Sydney. I’m a fan of his work–not because we are friends hehe, I actually saw his work first before meeting him–because he is a born artist. He is creative and prolific. Other than skills he has acquired through years of experience, he has style and technique that inspired me to do better in photography.
That one fine afternoon inside his car, I learned more about his work, his passion for photography and his love for learning. All the more made me admire him. I’m so blessed to have spent an hour and a half listening to his words of wisdom. As in nakaka-inspire talaga. If only I had a videocamera with me, I would have taped his “mini-lecture” (Maybe I really need to buy that Sony Bloggie after all?) so I can watch it again and again. So you know what I did? I typed in all the key words of our conversation on my mobile phone to at least help me remember later.

Some thoughts he shared with us touched on topics of Light, Location, Vision, Technique, Action-Reaction (how a photographer engages his/her subject).

He shared how important it is for one to just keep on learning (no matter how long one is in the business) and to be open to new ideas.

He gave us tips on covering weddings and talked of some of his memorable experiences while shooting a wedding.

And the best thing he said that afternoon was this:
“You know, a good and successful photographer always has a supportive wife.”

Siyempre, kinilig naman ako dun hehehe.

The biggest bonus of all was that he let me touched his Leica M8. Ohhhhh la la!

I’m still dreaming of owning my first Leica one day and John collects them. How cool is that? Before I took it out of the camera bag, Chris warned me, “Be careful, that’s worth half a million pesos.” Freaking crazy.

I arrived home smiling and very very inspired to move further with my passion for photography. Since I’ve started learning photography, I’ve been taking two steps back all the time wondering if I should continue this or not. After my great conversation with John, I realized that God is making a way for me to really learn because for years now, God makes sure that I am surrounded by talented and creative people.

If you want to be inspired as well, visit John Fick’s website at http://www.johnfick.com/

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Celebrating Marriage Everyday

Our wedding was three years ago…but my Husband and I celebrate our MARRIAGE everyday.

Yesterday I received a very nice tweet from one of our closest friends in Manila and it said “Just saw your photo on your blog. You look lovely. Chris must be pleased everyday of his life : – )“

To which I replied, “We’re blessed to be together 🙂 Everyday is a gift. 🙂“

It’s nice receving compliments period. However, receiving compliments from friends mean a lot to us because they see the two of us grow together as a couple.

Our married life is far from ideal. We face challenges once in a while and there are frustrations that needed to be managed. But amidst some not-so-good times, we honour our marriage more and we respect each other more than to let the challenging times get the best of us. Yes, tempers (especially mine) sometimes get way out of hand but thank God, we have not made bad tempers a habit inside the home–and we have no plans of doing so. We are both lovers of peace (we are not a fan of fighting) that we’d rather kiss and make-up than let pride get in the way of having fun.

One thing I love about our Marriage is that we never take the small things for granted. We actually believe the opposite–that it’s always the small things that matter. Small things such as the way we greet each other when we arrive at home, how we never seem to get tired of saying “love you, love you!” (yes, we say it twice), how after all these years of being so familiar with each other we say “please” when asking favors from each ther, how we still like holding hands, how we respect each other’s personal space, how until now we still get surprised when we discover some things about each other and how we always say “thank you” for being there for each other.

Everyday is a gift and everyday we celebrate our marriage and togetherness by finding joy in the smallest of small things.

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Dinner Date at Menya Noodle Bar

Was looking forward to going home as soon as the Husband picks me up from my “me” time at the cafe in the middle of somewhere but surprise surprise, he asked me out on a date!

As mentioned on my previous entry, I’ve been busy with work and for some reason, the Husband has been busy with his. Since last week, he’s been working ridiculous hours (going home very very late) that we seldom “see” each other. Lately too, we’ve been going out with friends that we feel we haven’t had a date for so long. So I guess, we’ve missed each other that my Husband asked me out to dinner and I said “Yes!”

He brought me to this Japanese Noodle Restaurant near where he works called “Menya Noodle Bar”. He brought me there because it’s one of his favorite places to have lunch and he wanted me to try their noodles.
 

It’s located in a small alleyway in-between buildings. Simple but cozy interiors. Chris says the place gets very busy during lunch time.


 

We sat at the bar because I wanted to do something different for a change, plus, the bar looked cozy too…and it was.
 
Orders took about 10 minutes to arrive. Mine arrived first: the Tonkatsu Menya Box (AUD$10.50). It consisted of Miso Soup, Rice, Green Salad, Tonkatsu (Chicken) and


 

underneath the Tonkatsu, I was very happy to find Crispy Fried Noodles.


 

It was a lovely meal. The serving wasn’t overwhelming but it was very filling. The Tonkatsu was tasty and the chicken was crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside.

Then came Chris’ Teriyaki Chicken Ramen in Miso Soup (AUD$11.90).


 

I’m amused by the big serving of noodles here and the big spoon that came with it. Parang sandok! 🙂
 
Their ramen was delicious. I love it! According to Chris, their ramen is really their specialty and I so agree with him. Now I know why he craves for their noodles.

No wonder people come here often. On weekdays, they are open during lunchtime, closes for a few hours, then opens again at 6:00PM til 10:00PM. Before 6:00PM, there were a few people like us already waiting for Menya to officially open.

I studied the menu and they’ve got organic meals as well—one of the things Chris pointed out to me because he knows I look out for stuff like that in restaurants.

I look forward to eating here regularly.

As for the date, we had fun as usual, trying out new food, sharing a good meal, catching up with each other and laughing at silly things. It was a great way to end a busy hectic week.

Menya Noodle Bar is located at Shop 2, 1 Market Street, Sydney NSW 2000. All photos taken by my phone’s camera.



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