London Part I on Film

Hey Film Friends! Hope everyone is doing well! I’m currently in Hong Kong visiting a friend of mine, Lewis, who’s a Singaporean singer songwriter also known as LEW. His songs translate something intangible, emotion, into an embrace that is rough but real. His voice is a melodic silky sound that hugs you like a friend, and takes you home. (Taken from his bio. Haha.) Check out his music on Spotify. You won’t regret it.

Anyway, in this blogpost, we explore London! Throughout my stay in London, I stayed with a friend I made in back in music college. She was pursuing her master’s there. I’m so thankful for Elysia. If not for her, my total expenditure for Europe without been a lot higher. So thank you Elysia! (If you happen to read this.)

On my first official day in the UK, my teacher from junior college managed to get us tickets to a ballet production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by the Royal Opera House. It was the first time watching a ballet show and I remembered that I was so amazed at the story telling ability of ballet. It had managed to capture the whimsical tones of Wonderland through movement, music and set design.

The next day, Elysia and I visited the Kew Gardens. I was sold the moment I saw the glass and steel greenhouses online. Plus it was nice to get some nature after being in the city for so long. I paid £16.50 while Elysia paid £9.00 because she was a student. It’s really good to be a student in Europe. You get all kinds of discount and concessions. So get exploring students!

We were so lucky because when we visited Kew, there was an ongoing exhibition called Life in Death by installation artist Rebecca Louise Law. Garlands of dried flowers hang from ceiling to floor, filling the gallery space with colour and scent. They are from the artist’s personal collection and the artist invites visitors to take in the beauty of it all or see the flora in all its raw beauty close up.

We spent the rest of the day strolling through the massive grounds of Kew Gardens. It was really relaxing to be amongst nature. The autumn colours were just waiting to be taken in. The weather was perfect as well -nice, cool and dry. I could work for hours! Without further ado, enjoy the photos!

I’m very surprised by the colours of Lomo 100. Think I’ll shoot more Lomo from now on!

Photos up till now were shot on the Contax T2 with Lomography 100. Developed and scanned by Photocity Lab in Bangkok, Thailand.

Sadly, the only time I saw autumn colours in Europe.

Towards the end of the day, we decided to check out the conservatories and greenhouses. The minute we stepped into them, it felt like we were teleported back to Singapore. Oh the humidity. Totally didn’t miss that while I was in Europe. There were so many types of plants in the greenhouses from all over the world, it really speaks to the long history of Kew Gardens and the history of the United Kingdom.

While we were in the Palm House, the sun started to set and golden rays of light started pouring through the glass walls of the building. The space filled up with a nice warm ambience. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

The next day, I went to East London to visit another friend of mine from secondary school. Tanya, was studying for her degree in art school. She’s a cool kid. Anyway, we decided to check out Shoreditch as it was the hipster neighbourhood of London and Tanya and I were “hipsters”.

We picked up a couple of salt beef bagels along the way and man, what a combination. The sliced beef was perfectly cooked and salted. Pickles crunchy and sour, topped off with a mustard that cuts through the strong flavours. Sandwiched between the nice and warm embrace of a freshly baked bagel. It’s a simple dish but simply heavenly. Check out Beigel Bake when in Shoreditch.

Bagel in hand, we caught up on life as we strolled through the streets of Shoreditch, taking in cool hipster shops and graffiti painted walls.

Photos up till now were shot on the Contax T2 with Kodak Gold 200. Developed and scanned by Photocity Lab in Bangkok, Thailand.

Elysia and I hung out the next day. First thing we did was to grab some cronuts (Croissant+Donut) from the Dominique Ansel Bakery. A sweet start to the day! The banana flavoured cronut was delicious. Fluffy with just the right amount of banana filling.

Since the weather was nice and cool, we decided to walk to Buckingham Palace. It was a little crowded so we didn’t manage to see the Queen’s Guard. Instead, we had a nice long stroll in St James’s Park to people watch.

They change the floral decoration of Peggy Porshen every season. This was during Halloween’s.

After the stroll, we went to check out where the queen gets her tea, Fortnum & Mason situated in Piccadilly Circus. It was a massive building. Who would’ve thought there was a huge building solely focussed on the sale of tea?

Along the way, Elysia wanted to check out some books in Hatchards, the oldest bookstore in the UK with a history dating back to 1797. The bookstore certainly had an old world charm to it. Just as we were about to leave, I spotted a familiar name. Alec Soth. I’ve seen some of his photos online and I really liked them. It was a signed second printing of his first photobook, Sleeping by the Mississippi. I just knew I had to get it and that was how I started my photobook collection. I left the store with Sleeping by the Mississippi and Songbook.

That night, Elysia invited me to hang out with her friends from school at a really cool rooftop bar in Waterloo called Bar Elba. It was nice meeting her friends and they were super nice and friendly. The only downside of the bar was that they used paper straws so after awhile, the integrity of the straw just failed. But other than that, I loved the ambience and the drinks.

Photos up till now were shot on the Contax T2 with Agfa Vista 400. Developed and scanned by Photocity Lab in Bangkok, Thailand.

This brings me to the end of this blogpost. Next blogpost, it’ll be the final part of my Europe trip. Hope you guys have been enjoying the blogposts so far! Till then, keep shooting film friends!