Taking advantage of the relatively warm weather last Sunday, I went out to Downtown to run some errands (meet friends: never happened, delivered my C-41s, etc.). Sunday in Winnipeg tends to be fairly quiet. Edmonton is quiet too (I guess, I always worked on Sundays when I lived there) and Toronto is no way near the word “quiet” even on a weekend. Interestingly I find my quiet Sundays to be enjoyable (as opposed to when I was younger–was used to the malls open longer regardless of which day of the week it is).

I suppose I am getting old and getting tired of the noise in the environment.

Downtown Winnipeg is the hub of hockey, in my opinion as a non-hockey/non-sports fan. And I think it’s good for the city. I like the idea that it brings people together in a central place.

On a Sunday however, it is still quiet. It was chilly last Sunday though but relatively warm nonetheless. Except for this week (at the time of this post), we’ve been getting higher temperatures and hit positive temperature on some days. It’s insane, but I like it.

I stayed at Tims because I was supposed to meet up with Pat (who arrived back from Taiwan) but he did not show up (jet-lagged). I ended up staying there, studying. Good thing I brought my notes.

This stranger approached me and asked if I have a camera with me (my SP was beside me) and asked if I could take his photo. I did. He then asked if I was married, to which I replied no. He (jokingly) said that he’ll marry me instead, to which I responded that my boyfriend will be mad.

He said that I should get married and have kids, and if that happens, he would like to have a copy of this photo.

Ah downtown. The things I see and the strange (yet interesting) people I meet.

2012. Midnight was spent with family, the late afternoon was spent at my friend’s house for my goddaughter’s birthday party.

Before I move on, I just started developing my own films again. This time I ignored my dislike for math (ratios in this instance) and learned how to measure the ratio between the chemicals and the water. Kids, when your teachers say you need math in everyday life, they’re not shitting you. It’s true.

I did realize however that I need to get a decent set of hanging clothespin (if you’re Filipino you know what I mean) and a bottle of Photoflo. And a squeegee. I got some ugly dry water stains and scratches because of the lack of space to hang my negatives. Oh well.

If you’re a risk-taker (in this case, this is just a euphemism for stoops) like me, it is probably not a good idea to jump in to this year-long project without testing the camera. I did pop in a roll of Superia 400 the day before but I haven’t even brought it to the photolab so I wasn’t even sure if the exposure was spot-on. (It was recently serviced before I received it)

Oh well. I guess it worked.

Still having a bit of a hard time with the camera’s ergonomics and rather sticky shutter button (like the Trip 35′s) but I love the lens. Definitely loving it. I discovered that on full-auto mode the camera does not take a picture if it thinks there’s not enough light. This manifested when I used it because it was loaded with 100 ISO. Really similar to the Trip 35 except for the red flag. I by-passed it by going manual (f/2.8; 1/30). It worked! And the tone was the one that I was looking for (as opposed to the rather bland and flat auto exposure of the previous photographs).

On an unrelated note, I need a longer camera strap.

Here’s to more Fuji X10 shots taken at night. Still using the B&W + Red Filter film simulation and at 800 ISO. This time I did some post-processing mostly by sharpening the photos once and playing around with the curves. I am really hoping that I could get this result in-camera (or something close to this) but for now I have to resolve with the idea of post-processing photos.

In general I like the X10′s low-light performance. Shooting at 800 ISO was such a pleasure especially when capturing the streets at night (I rarely do this even with my other digital cameras).

I haven’t experienced my battery dying due to the cold, but maybe that’s because we’ve been experiencing a fairly warm weather for the past few days. That’s relatively warm compared to the temperature we had for the past couple of weeks.

So far I like the monochrome filters. I haven’t tested the Orange and Yellow ones yet but the Red performed decently. Anyway, this is a type of shots I usually do when I go out with friends. As for the colored film simulations I have yet to fully explore it but so far I like it (but not loving it).

I have my Fuji X10 for a week or so now (I even made a “first impression” video on my channel). I’m sitting at the borderline because I feel that I have to work on with the settings and menu before I can fully make this camera work. I guess this is just because I have no patience with fiddling with menu and stuff. It takes too much time. How could people have patience with stuff like these?

Anyway I’m focusing on using the camera’s film simulation option. These are the untouched photos using the B&W with red filter. It’s not contrasty enough for my taste but I think I can work with it in-camera so that I don’t have to post-process as much.

The photos come pretty soft. I feel that my Olympus mju II provides sharper photos that these. I really can’t have anything, can I?

Some photos taken using K’s Olympus mju II (Stylus Epic). I didn’t get the chance to shoot a lot when the leaves were still yellow in the city (I did, but the weather was bad) so I was glad that I did when I went to Toronto.

Day 4 was jam-packed. I didn’t go out on Monday the 24th mainly because K had work again, so I stayed home, chilled with his parents. I also made a local dessert which didn’t work as well as it’s supposed to because of… circumstances.

Anyway, busy day ahead. The concrete says it all.

I love Toronto’s subway stations. I might change my mind once I visit New York or Tokyo but regardless Toronto’s subway system is close to my heart.

Shooting from the hip. Yep.

I love trains. They combine the elements of travel, movement and speed and make it all romantic and not boring.

We had a very quick, inexpensive but filling lunch at Ginger and then headed to our first destination.

Yes, more trains.

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Second to my “romantic” mode of transportation has to be the train cars.

Yonge is very photogenic.

Details! Patterns! This time I’m breathing the city and observing what’s around me.

We went to Distillery District. Probably a very photographed place in the city.

I find the whole place to be warm and romantic.

We walked around and sure enough people around there take a lot of photos.

Chasing pigeons. He he.

I don’t understand this. I find this figure to be out of place.

It was raining hard when we left the Distillery. I still insisted to go to Harbourfront for some shots.

It was raining but it’s all worth it. Thanks for your patience, K.

K and I went for dinner with our friend C. Marsche is awesome, despite the long wait for my pizza.

My Day 2 is a laid-back day. K has a work shift that day so the game plan was for me to go for dinner with his friends. I met the gang the day before.

It was my first time to commute alone from K’s new place to the train station so I got a bunch of instructions from K and K’s mom.

Also, it was my Colorsplash’s maiden voyage with me. K got a unit for $14.00! Sweet.

I arrived at the station safely.

I met up with S at the Sheppard station (and accidentally elbowed her because I am clumsy). We both arrived at Bathurst station and waited for M.

We walked around Bathurst, Toronto’s Koreatown (or a section of it, at least). We had dinner at Guu, a Japanese Izakaya format restaurant/tapas bar.

A, the glorious city sunset. I hardly see this, and I love it.

Dinner at Guu with M, S, and E. The food and experience were awesome. Also, a good time to get to know K’s friends. I had a lovely time.

We then hung out at Paldo Gangsan since M’s brother R wanted to go for dinner and drinks. Soju overload. We then visited a Korean grocery, walked more and called it a night.

So, where to start? I went on holidays to end off my October. K and I booked my ticket, and on October 22nd off I went to Toronto.

This also happens to be my last flight inside this airport building because Winnipeg got a new airport building. How’s that for an experience.

Also, the machine ate my $1 so I can’t take an ID photo.

Morning flights are fast. I think I spent more time waiting inside the airport as supposed to the actual flight. Next thing I know I was already at Pearson’s.

The luggages took longer than I expected, thus Kelvin and I missed our planned Zombie Walk shoot for the day. We ended up just having take-out lunch at his home, rested and went outside for dinner and drinks with his friends.

This guy, together with his companions are skateboarding inside the subway/bus station. I suppose that they know that it’s not allowed. I got this photo, without him knowing maybe because, a.) I’m a ninja or b.) he was too pre-occupied. One of them is correct.

Welcome to Winnipeg’s Occupy movement.

My Friday afternoon was free so I planned to visit and check out Occupy Winnipeg. I remember seeing Occupy Toronto last week but it was raining and we didn’t have enough time to drop by at the cathedral so I missed that opportunity.

I walked around a bit this afternoon seeing that I am a total stranger and I don’t want to take photos without asking. I met Jamie and he said that it’s fine to take photos. They are in a public place after all, and they’ve been exposed to the media since their camp-out last October 15th.

He did let me know that I have to ask someone for photos for portraits or if I want to be extra polite. Took me a while to enter the small crowd and started taking photos. I started with my Polaroid Supercolor (which was difficult to work with because of the cold weather) and then shifted to my dSLR later on.

I also met Terry, who showed me around the camp site and patiently answered my questions about the movement. Specifically I asked the nature of Occupy Winnipeg, where they get their provisions, what the participants do, who the participants are and so on.

While we were talking, there was a small seminar that was happening that time about capitalism I think.

I learned that UofM and UofW held a couple of classes on the camp site. There also seem to be new people from all walks of like who drop by and asks them questions, just like what I did yesterday.

This is the movement’s Comfort Zone. This is their storage area where they keep their stuff donated by people.

Interestingly, I read that our city mayor allegedly haven’t heard about the Occupy Winnipeg movement (or what are the reasons behind their protests). I asked Terry if any politicians have arrived to see them but he said no one has done it yet.

I also learned that homeless people go to the location and sleep for a couple of days or so. I asked if the homeless people know what is going on. Terry said that he doubts it, but they don’t send them away. They offer one of their tents for these people and let them stay the night (especially that it’s getting really cold now).

I also asked when are they planning to camp out. They said they plan to stay until January 2012. Would they stay if the Occupy Wall Street continues longer than January? There might be a possibility to that.

I also had a quick chat with Isaac, another member of the Occupy Winnipeg movement. I asked him if it’s possible to take photos and he said that I can do that. He also quickly pointed at the media (ever) present in the location. He also told me to drop by anytime I want.

It grew dark and cold. My eyes are tearing up so bad because I was really tired and the wind’s blowing hard. I was unable to give my card to Terry in case they wanted to ask for copies of the photos (as a sign of gratitude).

I saw another person there earlier who took photos as well but I am unaware whether he’s a participant or not.

I spent the evening talking to K about it, asking him questions about the movement and its effects in the economy and society. It was a good day to learn something about the world I live in.