Editing is a pain in the ass. As detailed in my series of entries (Editing Woes), trying to find a specific look/feel that suited the images I took became a bloody nightmare and certainly did put me off editing photos for sometime.
It definitely doesn’t help the fact my Macbook is beginning to lag and on the odd occasion crash when I’m editing on Lightroom. Editing now occurs on my work laptop but the most beneficial part has been attending the Brooke Holm’s photography workshop. It was refreshing to go back to the basics (cue Lana Del Rey) yet learn some things that even make me wonder how the hell I haven’t done this before. Lens Camera Profile… talk about a life saver! I’ll write a post about this whole saga soon as it was beneficial not only for myself but hopefully for Backseat Ballads in the long run.
Looking back at these photos from our 7th camp (September last year!) with fresh eyes and a new approach, I managed to get this batch done in a short period of time. Under two hours to be exact. I’ve strived to keep the editing simple this time round though with that slight film look or whatever you want to call it.
Thai will finally be able to see these photos… but first comes the writeup!
Huy Le
Gami: Korean Fried Chicken
Fried Chicken. If it’s not burgers or scones (or anything else really), just saying these two words would put any of us in a frenzy. Especially our local resident fried chicken aficionado’s Neil & Age. It’s not surprising to see Neil rocking up to movie night with a bag in his hand - we don’t even need to enquire what the content is. Guaranteed it’s Nelson’s Chicken (Nelson is a high school friend of ours and his parents own a chicken/fish and chip stop - awesome chicken!). I try to limit how much fried chicken I intake a month, but with the devil in a blue dress (or in this case, oversized jeans) hovering over me, it can be difficult.
I had told the guys about a place in the city called Gami which served KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) and was open pretty late. We’ve never actually got around to going, but it was John who took the initiative and instead of going to a food truck, decided last Thursday we’d be going to Gami instead. No suits and ties this time round, we knew it was time to get down and dirty!
The one at Healey’s lane feels more like a takeaway store with your typical K-Pop blasting over the speakers - though with that said, they did play ‘Call Me Maybe’ which was a sign this was meant to be. We made our order for the night: 3 plates of Fried chicken (2 original, 1 plate had half spicy and half ginger soy), two plates of Corn and Cheese and a few jugs of their finest brew. We nibbled on some shrimp crackers using chopsticks before the C&C came out.
Corn and Cheese. I had seen photos of it but it just never clicked. I honestly wouldn’t have even ordered it if John hadn’t mentioned he’d heard good reviews about it. We stared at this strangely exotic dish and allowed Neil to take the first bite. Anyone who knows Neil will be used to the expressions he has anytime he tries anything nice. That orgasmic sensation exploding in his mouth, you just look at his face and you know. The verdict was unanimous: this was bloody good. How could something so simple taste so good? I instantly looked up the recipe on my phone and basically it consists of corn kernels, evaporated milk (or mayonnaise with sugar) and cheese. Mozzarella, though we did debate it could possibly be tasty… then again it wouldn’t have been as stringy.
The chicken came out and boy did we enjoy ourselves feasting on these pieces of chicken and taking it down with some cold beer. The ginger soy chicken was quite nice and in this rare instance, I agree it would have been perfect with rice. I was also a big fan of the spicy chicken with the heat slowly increasing with every bite you take.
By the end of it all we were bloated and it was only 10pm. Generally Brunetti’s would be the place to go after any sort of meal, but being a weekday it was going to close at 11pm. Most of us were down for a coffee and dessert so we decided to head towards Cafe Romantica on Lygon Street (Brunswick end) to fulfil these needs.
Whilst the others got their coffee, I decided to get some gelati along with Jamie and Age. As we sat outside drinking, eating and smoking, we began to reminisce about what had to be the best summer of our lives: end of 2006 and beginning of 2007. Finishing year 12 and not having to worry about VCE exams anymore, the freedom of being 18 and getting our driver’s license. The amount of parties and drinkups we had and basically living at Tom’s house for most of the duration. Times have changed but looking back you can tell when people talk about the best summer of their lives, we had the opportunity to experience that and it’s something we’ll never forget.
Fried chicken + Corn and Cheese. It’s seriously been on my mind ever since we had it last week. Plus the fact it opens quite late will not do any good for any of us, especially with our penchant for late night (food) adventures.
Huy Le
~
Gami (Healeys Lane)
Shop G, 535 Lt. Lonsdale St
on Healeys Lane.
Tel: 03 9670 3232
http://www.gamichicken.com.au/
Cafe Romantica
52 Lygon Street
Brunswick East, VIC 3057
Tel: 03 9380 4437
Those who know us well will know our penchant for late night burger runs. Generally it’s use to be Maccas back in the days when we use to party hard in the city and crave for drunk food late in the night - I mean, anything tastes good when you’re drunk. Especially Maccas.
Nowadays it’s Hungry Jacks though sometimes we do go to other places. Like this night, as I dropped Jen off after Finders Keepers Market and met up with these two at the West Gate KFC. It must have been past midnight by then.
Yeh. That’s how we roll.
~
Nikon EM
Photography by Huy
grub-town
When this whole camping thing just began, it was generally me and Thai who would spend our time researching the various locations we wanted to explore. Although most people know about the mountains in Victoria because of snow season (Mt Buller/Hotham), I honestly didn’t even know what existed on the east side. Or that there was a thing called the Great Alpine Road.
As we began researching for our fourth camp to Mount Buffalo, Thai would periodically post up various photos of the different views available to us in that region. And that’s where we discovered grub-town.
She (prefers to be known as grub-town than reveal her real name) had been to Mount Buffalo and Bright in 2011 with her uni friends and took some amazing shots of the area. In many ways this would dictate our own itinerary of what we would be doing when it came around to our own camp.
Autumn Camp: Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3
Looking at her photos again, I just love the simplicity and cleanness of her photographs - I have a love/hate relationship with my own work and it’s simply refreshing to see work that isn’t over-processed or complicated like my own.
She’s primarily a food blogger/photographer and if you have a look at her site, man does it make you feel hungry! I got in contact with her through tumblr and began following each on different social mediums before I discovered not only did she go to the same primary school as me, she was also cousins with a friend at school! Small world indeed.
This entry has been in the making for over a year now and I really do apologise for taking so long (as usual). In some ways it’s a thankyou for the sweet message she wrote in one of her previous entries:
“Last photo taken by my friend M (thank you!) Post-editing inspired by the boys behind Backseat Ballads (check out their blog - inspirational adventures, nostalgic music and beautiful scenic photography).”
~
So it’s my turn to return the favour. Check out her blog, follow her on instagram - you’ll be hungry just looking at it.
~
Huy Le
Going through old photos again, I stumbled upon this shot I took at Mount Buffalo on our fourth camp with the boys. It’s amazing to think in a few hours, I would be venturing back to this destination with some of the usuals and a few fresh new faces as well.
The last time I went to Mount Buffalo was back in September with Thai and Raye which in many ways resulted in some massive fails. I mean at the time I felt the boys camping trip to Cathedral Ranges was a fail but in hindsight it’s now one of the funniest camps with some great moments occurring during our stay there. But with this trip, the idea of staying in a cabin seemed like it would make things so much easier. Something new we thought to ourselves - we’d save so much more money and boot space since we don’t have to bring much.
We were so wrong.
I could go into depth about the fails of that camping trip, but I’ll save that for my writeup when I get around to it. And yes, with photos that have been delayed for far too long.
Nevertheless what I find most amazing about tomorrows camping trip is the fact we have 15 people altogether. FIFTEEN PEOPLE. How it came to this number still bewilders me to this day. I constantly tell Thai how far we’ve gone from the first camp which only consisted of four people and you look at it now and it’s nearly quadrupled in size.
It’ll be an interesting experience as there are some people who most of us have never met or those who haven’t been camping with us yet. What I’ve learnt from the last camp is to simply have no expectations. And that turned out to be one of the most enjoyable camps I’ve been on. There’ll be some triumphs and there will definitely be failures.
But like I tell everyone, in the end it’s all about the experience. And as crap as it may feel at the time, in the end it’s all an entertaining story to tell others.
It’s happening.
~
Huy Le
The Burger Crew
Last Tuesday a few of us got suited up and went to The Merrywell in Crown to try out the Merrywell Burger. Inititally this all started when I took some of the guys to Huxtaburger back in December and since then they’ve been crazy about it. Our plan was to complete the Top 10 Burgers of 2012 list from The Burger Adventure, with dinner at Rockwell & Sons being our next stop.
That night there was six of us: myself, Thai, Neil, Law Jamie and Age. We talked about the next place we should go to was The Merrywell. And it was decided we would all suit up for it. It’s been nearly 2 months since that outing and we finally set a date, got ourselves some suits and made our way to the city that evening.
I’m not sure what sparked it, but getting suited up has been on the agenda for 2013. For me I’ve always wanted to suit up: it’s common knowledge within the group that if I could wear a suit a day, I would. Slowly more of the guys would dress up more stylishly (hey, we’re turning 25) and I think the pinnacle was when most of them dressed up for Raye’ going away party.
~
Meeting up with Age outside, the guys smoked whilst I went about taking photos of them. Like I always do. We entered the premise, sat at our tables and made our selection for the night. Generally we try to stick with the signature burger when we do these ‘tasting’ sessions: four of us got The Merrywell Burger (Jam got an egg with his), Law got the BBQ (he generally likes to order something different from the rest) and Neil got the KFC-esque chicken sandwich.
We scoffed it down with our drinks, in particular Neil and his soda spider. Oh Neil.
Afterwards we sat around bloated from our meals and yet it was only 9pm. There was only one thing on our minds and it only needed one person to suggest it: Brunetti’s. It many ways it makes sense as everytime we’ve gone to Huxtaburger (or any burger joint for that matter), it’s ritual to go to Brunetti’s for coffee and possibly some desserts.
Heading towards Brunetti’s, we managed to find the new theme song for this session. That will be coming up very soon. As we got out of the car and made our way to Brunetti’s, I was in awe when I realised what had happened. For a long time we’ve known that Brunetti’s (in Carlton) would be moving to the vacant area where Border’s use to be. The last time I had been was when I had Beatbox with Neil which would have been over a month ago or so.
We arrived in front of the new Brunetti’s. And my lord was I in for a shock.
It was amazing how much more spacious it was; hell they’re even serving pizzas now as well. Wandering around like a kid in a candy store, I gotta say I really do like what they’ve done. The only thing is, now that there’s so much more space it meant it was now filled with even more people than before. And a part of me will always have a soft spot for the old location - oh the night spent there drinking coffee, eating cake and just kicking back with good company in that space.
We ordered our coffees (thanks Neil!), sat outside and began what would be a night filled with hearty laughs and amusing conversations. All I can say is: damn I really do want Neil to own his own TV station. Some of the TV show ideas we had were brilliant.
We drove home listening to Smooth FM and singing along to the classics. Boys, can’t wait for the next one: Belle’s Diner!
The Burger Adventure
The Merrywell
Brunetti
~
Huy Le
Hardware Societe: Act III
Raye’s Outdoors: The Breakfast Club
Hardware Societe - Melbourne CBD
The weekend before Raye left for Europe, it was decided we visit Hardware Societe one last time for Brunch that Saturday morning. ‘The Breakfast Club’ as we’ve labeled upon ourselves comprised of myself, Raye, Law, Neil and John (who couldn’t make it that day) all woke up early that Saturday morning, awaiting for Neil to pick us up in timely fashion.
Raye’s Outdoors: The Day You Went Away
On Thursday the 4th, a cool April morning at approximately 1am, our friend Raye left for the UK. Although she’d be stopping by Dubai for a week, the remainder of her trip will be spent in London where she would (hopefully) be working as a registered nurse for a span of preferably 12 months or more.
This trip has been brewing for some time and for many, it’s a day we’ve dreaded coming and didn’t even think it would happen. The original date she was suppose to leave was in April 2012 but that continued to be delayed. In some ways, good for us but not so fun for her.
In many ways, Backseat Ballads wouldn’t have existed if it wasn’t for her and her easily amused/adventurous ways. As explained in my previous entry, the trio (consisting of me, Raye and Peter) would go on our random cruising trips either checking out nice houses in rich areas, late nigh coffees or exploring the great outdoors. It was by December when our proposed daytrip to Maroondah Dam would become our very first camping trip with Law as well.
We had created a list of 5 places we had to see before she leaves and amazingly we managed to tick off the whole list. A lot of these trips were initiated by Peter who wanted to try to make the most of his time with Raye in grand fashion, what better way than exploring the great outdoors and seeing what Victoria had to offer? (You can read his entry here). Obviously it spiraled into something bigger than the three of us and for that I am so thankful. We like to think she is one of the ‘forefathers’ who helped establish Backseat Ballads: she may not post on the website but without her involvement I wouldn’t even be here writing this entry.
Some are trying their best to cope without her being around, some are doing ok. Personally, I’m doing fine. Though that’s not to say there haven’t been times where I’ll think ‘I should msg Raye and see if she’s up to do something’. And it’s then when I realise I can’t do that anymore. My random dessert eating/cruising around to cheesy love powerballads/exploring buddy isn’t around anymore. Kind of sucks I think.
But as the cliche goes: life goes on and change is inevitable. I don’t think she’ll ever read this, personally it might be best if she doesn’t. I honestly wish her the best with her travels and hopefully her nursing registration does go through. Although it is saddening she won’t be a part of the adventures we’ll go on from this point on, she’ll be having her own and one day we’ll reconvene and share these experiences. In a car. With the Raye’s Outdoors mix is playing in the background.
Best of luck Raye, we’ll miss you. I hope you continue to learn how to cook because I expect an awesome home-cooked dinner when you come back!
~
Huy Le
Quarter of a Century
The last few weeks have been a rather strange one to say the least. I’ve been meeting up with a few old friends; catchups that we’ve organised months back but have simply never found the right time to actually hang out. And as I talk to them and my other close friends, it seems we all tend to return back to one topic:
We’re turning 25 years old.
A Rite of Passage
This is an entry I first wrote when I started this blog early last year. Obviously alot has happened since then, but the sentiment still remains the same. Was hoping I could find photos from my school camps but that has been a futile mission, nevertheless I hope you enjoy reading this… which probably accounts to like 3 people haha.
~
Maroondah Dam Revisited
I’m trying to come up with a good title and these were the potential titles:
Full Circle: Maroondah Dam Revisited
Back 2 Square 1: Maroondah Dam Revisited
Triangles: Maroondah Dam Revisited
How 2012 Shaped My Life.
Do you see a trend happening?
I’m writing this well past my personal deadline but it’s never too late for anything. Food for thought but don’t get bloated, just a note to myself. I was asked to do a reflection of our first camping trip, well, more like relegated to write one up. Initially and now, I believe that it was appropriate for me to do this. If you asked me 18 months ago that I’d be witnessing beautiful sunrises, stunning sunsets, be scaling mountains, trekking through the Australian bush and overall viewing Victoria in a different way, I would have told you, “You’re lying! I never hit you! You’re tearing me apart, Lisa!”
Raye’s Outdoors - Maroondah Dam Picnic
Maroondah Dam, Healesville
Picnics, you gotta love them. On New Year’s Day I took my family up to Maroondah Dam, which happened to be the place that initiated our very first camp. Returning there again felt so surreal as I experienced a wave of memories returning to me. It was quite overwhelming (in a good way of course) hence I msged the guys saying we had to have a picnic there soon.
And on Thursday the following week, the proposed picnic actually happened. Mike couldn’t come, but miraculously Law was free that day as well. He’s been working on a writeup for our first camp and I had hoped this trip allowed him to remember our experiences the first time.
We were hoping to have a Kinfolk inspired picnic and planned to go all out with decorations and what not. That plan went out the window but nevertheless it was a relaxing and enjoyable experience. Baguettes with French Butter (Lescure!) were devoured with Raye’s quiche, lychee sangria and ciders were sipped whilst we lazed about admiring the views.
And like any of our random adventures, Raye suggested we get ice cream that evening. Driving back to the city and listening to the Raye’s Outdoors mix, the topic of fine dining finally came about and I think we’re all adamant to finally do it. Ending up in St Kilda to check out 7 Apples, we were surprised to find the St Kilda Festival was also on that same night.
Back at Peter’s place we ended up playing some Monopoly. Those two rounds were brutal, but man was it freaking funny as hell.
~
Flicking through Kinfolk magazine or various photographer blogs, one looks at their picnic photos and wonder how they manage to make it look so good. Obviously it’s all been styled to a degree - plus no one ever mentions the amount of insects flying about regardless of the location. But that’s ok though.
We may never reach that level of rustic beauty, but hey, we’re actually getting things done. And that’s all that really counts… for now anyway.
Huy Le
A few weeks ago I held an ‘official’ meeting with the BSB crew (Thai, Mike, Neil - Law couldn’t make it) at my place to discuss the future of Backseat Ballads website and a magazine I hope to create sometime in the next few months.
I’m not gonna lie: there’s been plenty times where I’ve felt like BSB had run it’s course and even contemplated deleting it at one stage. Hence the various hiatuses I’ve been on - in some ways I was afraid it was becoming less of a collaborative space and simply becoming my own personal blog with the guys posting every now and again. As mentioned in previous entries, the site has become muddled and disorganised, which is something we discussed that night.
~
Re-editing Photos
One of my main problems is, I’m never truly satisfied with my images. It doesn’t help that I tend to over-edit them in the past (I’ve rambled about that before) so I took it upon myself to begin reassessing my images and re-editing them again. Not quite as fun as it use to be: sometimes I get so put off by it I don’t even touch Lightroom for weeks… which explains why I STILL haven’t posted up photos from our 6th and 7th camp back in July/September! Still I’m trying though and I’m hoping to get it all done in the next week or so.
~
Raye’s Outdoors Mix Page
The Raye’s Outdoors Mix has in some ways made this a music blog in some ways. Which I think some may feel abit disappointed as it was originally just a place for us document our camping trips (people just come for the photos) but I’d be lying if I didn’t state how integral the music we listen to is in our everyday lives. The name says it all: Backseat Ballads. I finally got around to categorising the songs on the Raye’s Outdoors Mix Page to make it neater, check it out here.
~
We ate pizzas and drank Solo as we attempted to figure out ways to improve the site. As much as we’d hope to have something like Kelcema, which was more akin to a photo blog, it simply wouldn’t have worked as our site contains many write-ups and it simply wouldn’t have looked like crap. Here’s what I mean:
Which led on to another issue: one of the things I’ve noticed is, because of the fact our write-ups tend to include photos as well it becomes complicated (for me anyway) to decide whether to post individual photos or just save them all for the big write-ups. In the past I tended to use some photos in the write-ups then post the ones I really liked as individual photo posts. But now it might be best to just post up all the photos and whoever does a write-ups can use whatever they want.
Thai made a mock blog of what he envisioned the site to be like, I can see what he means but it’s hard because there’s already so much on the tumblr already. Unless we were to either complete start afresh. Nevertheless I am adamant of creating a real website later on and using this tumblr account as a blog of sorts. Hopefully with Joe/Jamie on board this will become a reality rather than more ramblings coming straight out of my mouth.
And with that a new typeface and logo!
~
We’ve gone on a few adventures since that last meeting: a few picnics and a camp up in the Grampians with some new faces. It’s definitely been good way to start of 2013 and I hope you all enjoy what we have to offer - cause we’ve definitely got more things to come in the near future :)
Huy Le
M’s 2012
2012 was a year where I found myself at a crossroad in my own personal life. I can clearly remember the day where I was in my room contemplating what I would do to change and give myself a positive outlook on what was happening at that time.
A lot has changed since. Early 2012, I found myself reconnecting with old high school friends that I hadn’t seen in awhile. To be brutally honest, you could say I ‘abandoned’ them. 2010 – 2011 were points where I just needed to be secluded from the world; push people out because it would be easier that way. It wasn’t easy at all. It wasn’t until one of my close friends invited me to a camp that a few of them were going to embark on during the summer. That’s where it began.
I hadn’t ever been on camp before, aside from the school camps you go on. But those are totally different experiences when you actually pitch tents and see things in YOUR OWN FREEDOM. That’s the best part of it all. I won’t lie, I was kinda nervous seeing the guys again in such a long time, and just being thrown into a camp for 2 nights with them would seem and feel a bit intrusive. But what the heck, they invited me afterall.
Baroka Lookout, Grampians: This was the place that truly became the catalyst for my wanderlust of wanting to travel and seeing everything that I could possibly see. It wasn’t even overseas or in another state; and that was the beauty of it. Here in my own backyard in Australia were these places that I had never ever seen or heard about, and I was able to bear witness to these places. The hot Victorian sun scorching down, the fear of heights as we scaled up the mountains in our car on windy roads, the hazy blue and miniscule looking towns and mountains in the distant horizon. This was it. I wanted to see, hike and camp some more. And with my refound companions, I didn’t want to have it any other way.
The first camp for me as mentioned was at the Grampians. It’s kinda funny, I didn’t think I would be learning life lessons from hiking and trekking out to places. If you really want to see it, you gotta earn it. You have to physically dredge through whatever weather, be it blazing hot or freezing cold, and keep going for that goal. Thinking of giving up? You’re probably already half way there. Really want to give up? You’re giving up a highly potential gorgeous view with some of your best mates, that you can take glorious photos of and make everyone on your instagram and facebook jealous of. You also give up those minutes of serenity and meditation when you finally intake and view your surroundings. Of course, the same can be said for all of the other camps I’ve been on. You get to learn so many things whilst out on these adventures. The night time stories that you can tell each other; whether it be the personal deep and meaningfuls, the stupid drunken analogies being said, tent talks, and even true colors being shown in the heat of frustration.
And then you also get the really memorable and fun side to camp as well; the controversial and questionable song choices that people choose to listen or want to hear/sing/dance along to, the mishaps that happen to the unfortunate (pants being split, wearing the wrong shoes, forgetting sleeping bags etc.), and uncontrollable laughter at complete boredom; meaning VERY DEBATABLE conversations, top 5 lists, would you rather questions, fireburner at the campfire, and of course crae-j and tswizzle appreciation time.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m very thankful for having been invited to partake in these amazing life changing adventures. I know it’s hard for others to see because they don’t know half the stories that have happened during these outings, and to many it’s “just camp”. Understandable. Maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m just the one that got to appreciate it more than others because I know that these opportunities are far and few; there’s just nothing like having stories to tell to others and why you are so passionate about it.
Aside from camp, lots of other things have happened in 2012. Meeting new people has become instantly refreshing, it’s great to be able to have interesting and new perspectives on old things you’ve had a viewpoint on for your whole lifetime. I finally started to become more active physically as well, exercising and keeping an eye on my health is quite the challenge, along with kicking those tobacco sticks. I miss it sometimes, but then I don’t. It was a vice that I really needed to let go of as well.
My taste for music has also expanded and broadened out to artists that I never thought I would ever be listening to. Don’t get me wrong, I love my heavy music to bits and I don’t think I’ll ever let go of that. But there are times where I’m just not angry anymore. It’s okay to listen to music that you enjoy. Like I’ve been telling other people, who gives a shit? Why live a life being scared of being judged on your questionable music taste? If you enjoy it, that’s all that matters. Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.
I’m just really excited for 2013, already so much has happened within these 30 days. I got chased by people in a car and managed to escape them. But I’ll have to tell that story another time. I’m hoping to read a lot more books, especially the Game of Thrones series and stories from Haruki Murakami. All these new things I want to try out and see.
I can’t wait.
Anyway, thanks to everyone within the group, you all know who you are. Thanks for being patient, and most importantly understanding. Trying to be positive really does have its perks.
I guess this is what it means to be in your mid twenties.
Here’s to 2013, the year where most of us are turning 25. We’re getting old, but we’re always still young at heart.
Bring on the camps this year.
- Mike
Photos taken on my Nikon EM from 2009.
~
Yesterday I was at home editing some photos for Backseat Ballads when I decided to call up some photo labs and check out prices for E6 (slide) film processed. As some may know, last week on our camp to the Grampians I ended up using 6 rolls of 35mm film and a pack of the Impossible Project polaroid film. One roll was E6 and unfortunately the place I usually get it my processing doesn’t do it.
Various places still do it: generally it costs around $10 to develop only, if i was to get scans on a cd I’d be looking at around $30-35 to develop and scan. That’s abit steep, I feel, but then it makes me wonder how much I must have spent back in the day when I use to get it done. It’d be cheaper if I just got rolls developed, then use my film scanner to scan the negatives. Sounds like a plan… too bad my scanner hasn’t worked for over two years!
It was always on the back of my mind though - the thought that I should really get my scanner checked out. Searching on google didn’t really help much and I dreaded the idea of having to throw this scanner away and invest in a new one. Having used it just a handful of times before it decided to stop working, I had a feeling something was wrong with the power supply. After hours of searching on ebay for replacement ones, I finally took the step and called up Epson customer service.
They told me to contact their specialist repair stores with the closest one to me being in Hoppers Crossing. I called them up (Konidas Computer store) and had a chat to them about it, they told me to come in and they’ll see if the problem is solely the power supply or something else. After nearly a month or two after that conversation, I took the car for spin and headed down to Hoppers. After they tested out the power supply, they told me it would cost $45 to order a new one directly from Epson, which would have taken a few weeks … OR buy a used power Epson power supply that they didn’t need anymore for $20.
I guess you know what option I took.
Eitherway it was a joy taking it back home, connecting it and seeing the damn green light flash for the first time in years. I haven’t scanned any sort of film for over two years so obviously there’s still alot for me to reconnect with. Sadly the thing I’m dreading most is dust - I can already sense trying to get scans with clean negatives will be nearly impossible as dust will no doubt appear on the negs and the scanner.
Still, it’s a small price to pay for as I can’t fathom the possibilities available now that I can scan film again. There are so many negatives hidden away that I had totally forgotten about: Holga shots from 2007/08, b/w rolls from high school or even photos my dad use to take back before I was even born. Honestly, I’m just glad I’m back to using film again… as expensive as it is.
Huy Le
~
Light Leaks (film developing/prints/scans)
The Impossible Project (Polaroid film)
Konidas Computer Store (computer parts)
