One of my favorite directors is Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit. He's an indie Thai director who gained recognition from his whimsical film, Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy. I really dig his works-- from the craziness, aesthetic, music, and overall vision. One of my fave works from him (well, I love all of his works that I've seen so far anyway)is his debut feature film, 36. It's literally composed of 36 shots, mimicking a film camera. The thought itself is already pretty clever.

You should know that I'm a sucker for simple films. Films as simple as the reality, no grand production design, complicated stories and such. That's why I'm in love with the film, Endo. As a filmmaker, I think it's magical that you have the power and skills to bring the mundane into something spectacular and exciting. The stories you tell are taken from the everyday context.

Cutting to the chase, this year I bought a film camera out of hype and curiosity. It's an Olympus Trip 35 camera. It's pretty old and I believe it's from the 70's or 80's. We used to own a pretty good number of film cameras as I grew up. Up until I was in grade 3, which was 2005, we still used a film camera.  Anyway, I was excited to use my new film camera. I have zero knowledge in using it or how to even load a film. I'll probably get the films exposed somehow. But thank god, I didn't.

A few weeks ago I developed my first two rolls. I've got to say the Agfavista film was really nice! The colors were so vivid! Aahh!!!

Here are some of the outtakes.

When my parents separated, my father got hold most of my stuff-- including my baby photos. I never got them back. I have super limited photos of my younger self, which is funny because like what I said, we owned a lot of film cameras before. We were really fond of taking pictures. It's sad I'll get to see them anymore. I guess I just need to make more memorable moments in the future to compensate.

We live in a time where almost everything gets documented. Does it lose the magic  of the moment? I don't know. But it's fun I guess, to perfectly capture the thrill. Is it scary? I hope not scary enough like Black Mirror's The Entire History of You. We like to keep receipts, and having that kind of power feels unjust somehow.




Preserving memory is such a cool thing. The sudden rush of nostalgia over an immortalized moment. Let's restore it.

PS. You should know that I broke my Olympus Trip 35. After my trip in Palawan, I learned that my camera losen up and someone probably dropped it. No one in our house is taking blame for it.