This Nikon S3 2000 edition is my first rangefinder. The history behind the original S3 and the story of its 2000 remake intrigued me so much that I was determined to get one. I was lucky to find a never-used piece within my budget.
Using it felt like learning photography all over again. The focusing method was a challenge, especially with my astigmatism—I wasn’t confident that any of the photos would turn out. But after getting my first roll back, I fell even more in love with the camera.
I especially love the sounds it makes—thanks to its metal frame and fully mechanical system. Here’s a quick ASMR video featuring my first two test rolls with the Nikon S3 2000 edition. The color shots were taken on Ektar 100, and the black-and-white shots were on expired Tmax 100.
Saul, who did much of his best work walking around his downtown New York neighbourhood, was saying something very timely to us: You're stuck at home, but that's not so bad. Look what I did without going anywhere! In a newly changed world, Margit and I needed no further inspiration. Today we find joy as we reflect on Saul roaming the streets with his camera, often unseen by those he encountered, including the anonymous souls who would reach a sort of immortality inside his photographs. We feel ever grateful that he had the ability to capture transcendent yet ephemeral moments of ordinary life that remained unseen to everyone but him. And we rejoice in sharing these seventy-six images, liberated anew after being buried deep in the archive for decades, unseen, until now.
This spring, I took a trip to my home country, Taiwan.
For this trip, I brought with me a few rolls of expired 120 films that I intended to shoot on my late grandfather Chi-Fu’s Ricohflex. I also brought my field recorder to collect some sounds of Taiwan as I travel throughout the island. I experienced many moments of nostalgia triggered by childhood memories and a specific trip I took to Taiwan in 2015. These moments unexpectedly opened some old wounds, but they also mended some unresolved emotions that I thought I had moved on from. They are as much part of my photography journey as my personal one. This video is a fragmented documentary with original sound recordings of this trip.
