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How do you see things?

Posted on by imran
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This post is mostly an extension on a conversation I had back in October. It covered a few broad sweeping topics such as…

  • dimensions (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th… etc),
  • colour and its existence,
  • Orientalism
  • and a little website called the Khan Academy.

I’m not sure how this came up but it was thrown in after someone mentioned the 5th dimension or maybe time travel. Take a look at this video: Imagining the Tenth Dimension - you might want to be sitting down for this one.

Now this next topic was quite interesting. Imagine the statement “Colour does not exist”. Colour is our brain’s perception of electromagnetic wavelengths. Our brains seem to associate certain colours to a certain range of waves. Keep reading this stuff is interesting, have a look here and here.

“Orientalism” is a discussion on why we have preconceived notion of things we have not yet personally experienced and how/where did we get those ideas from. Here’s a video to introduce you to it – the book by Edward Said.

Finally, I must introduce you to the Khan Academy. It is a place where you can catch up, refresh and move forward in your understanding of maths, science and many other topics. This kind of learning is turning school education on its head through reversing the current approach to teaching and learning. Now homework is done in class and teaching is done at home. Have a read here - article from Wired Magazine.

Japan, My Parents and Moerenuma Park

Posted on by imran
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Hello!

This is the Scale’s first international post! I’ve been in Japan for about 3 weeks now and been from the middle to the bottom to the top and back to the middle!

This isn’t my first journey to Japan, at age 2 (1989) I first lived in Kyoto for 1 year – for those of you who can remember 1989… I’m sure it was a good year, I had a great time!

Around the mid 90s I was very involved with Aikido and Kendo. It was around this time I went back to visit Kyoto when my dad was there. My mum has been a big driving force behind my Japanese experience. Having studied Japanese in her Undergrad and going on to study Japanese management in S.E. Asia her love of Japan runs deeper than mine. She has introduced me to many things related to Japan, specifically around martial arts.

Noguchi interests me for two reasons. Firstly his sculptures and secondly he is a mixed kid (just like me!), his mother is American and father is Japanese. His work really engages the moment.

Whilst in Sapporo I visited one of his last efforts as a Sculptor, Moerenuma Park (wiki). It is a park that is considered to be “one complete sculpture”, and they nailed it! I spent a solid day exploring most of the park. From the peak of Mt. Moere to the Forrest of Cherry Trees to the Glass Pyramid. As you walked along and looked into the distance you could see each individual sculpture blend with another and forming a larger piece. Everything is deeply considered and deeply connected.

Here are a few images I took of the Park:

[click on image for original]

IMG_0501 IMG_0521 IMG_0577 IMG_0677 IMG_0697 IMG_0914 IMG_0887 IMG_0953 IMG_0941 IMG_0844 IMG_0599 IMG_0803

If there is anything you get out of these Friday link post’s, I hope that it opens at least one path of investigation, which hopefully will lead to many many more.

All the best from Osaka Japan,

Imuramu

Sticking to Analogue.

Posted on by imran
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About two years ago I caught the analogue bug (this also included a mild collectors bug) specifically film SLRs and other film cameras from the 60s up until 90s. And it has cost me. Let’s just say I could have bought a brand new Canon 5d Mark II instead. But I wouldn’t trade my collection. Through the process of collecting these cameras I’ve learnt a great deal about vintage cameras and how to shop for them, photography in general and dealing with online sellers!

My current collection includes:

How did it all start?

My dad had asked me to repair his old Nikon EM from the late 70s and clean up a few lenses that came with it. The tropics is not a good place for cameras. This particular camera, was incredibly special to him, it had been with him through his PhD. fieldwork and research plus was the main tool for documenting the childhood of my sister and I. While searching for a repairer in Melbourne I decided to scour e-bay for a second hand Nikon EM to compare the price of replacement vs. repairing. I searched Melbourne for a decent camera repair shop. Michael’s was the first place I went too but they were too expensive. Someone had given me a tip about a shop in Camberwell, but I wasn’t able to find it (I have since found it…). One night I was walking past the vintage camera shop in Little Lonsdale St (number 281 with the big “TAKE AWAY FOOD” sign above it) and there was a small ad for Nagami Camera Service. I had a good feeling about this. So I gave Mr. Nagami a call and booked in a time to visit him.

Success! I managed to get dad’s camera gear repaired and nowhere near what Michael’s quoted me. As great as this was… I was now hooked on these cameras. While I waited for dad’s camera to be repaired I decided to order one or two off e-bay. The more I looked into it the more things I found that were appropriate companions to these SLR bodies. Many hours were spent researching variations in camera models, opinions regarding brands, equipment and lenses that suited each camera. It was endless!

Google was my friend! It spat out sites like

Some photos from the Nikon EM and F3

Untitled-107 Untitled-116 IMG_0002 Untitled-10 Untitled-15

About a year after my dive into vintage film SLRs I discovered the world of Polaroid cameras.

Whoops.

I heard the film was out of production but after continued research discovered that there was one company that was reviving the film! They called themselves “The Impossible Project”.

I was hooked.

I subsequently purchased 10 Polaroid cameras. This led me to another great find! Etsy.com didn’t just sell craft and bits and bobs… it sold vintage cameras! Most of them were quite reasonably priced and meant the risk of losing out went down. I learnt to ask important questions like… “have you tested this camera with film or just an empty cartridge?” and “how much is shipping to Melbourne, Australia”. A great source of information on polaroid cameras The Land List. Some other sites like Camerapedia and how to hack polaroid cameras popped up. I’m currently contemplating medium format cameras… but I’ll wait a little bit before I get there.

Some photos from my Polaroid cameras:

SX70_PX70.1_01 OneStep_PX600.1_02-02 SPECTRA_SOFTTONE.01_03-01 SPECTRA_SOFTTONE.01_08-01

Have a look at my 35mm and Polaroid photos.

Links I found while writing this… http://www.cameraexchange.com.au/; http://www.apug.org/forums/forum214/62771-any-second-hand-photo-shops-melbourne.html and for a bit of fun… http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Arnold_Schwarzenegger_Mov.aspx