Slide Scans

Slide Scans, a set on Flickr.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about my life, my achievements, my bright moments and days in the sun.

At the same time I have thought a lot about what I love to do and what inspires me to travel, to extend myself, to test my boundaries and feel the wind in my face and the chillie in my belly.

One of the things that unfortunately came later to me in my life (not until I was 27 years old) was photography.

At the time I was working for Intrepid Travel as a Tour Leader in Thailand and I was super inspired by the people of the mountains and what I was seeing and experiencing on my jungle treks.

At about this time I was training a new Tour Leader Justin Foster who had a superb old film camera (15 years ago we were still pre digital) and he was shooting slides (I think?) and had a fantastic eye and approach to his subjects and image taking.

This really inspired me to take the plunge into photography and to capture what I was seeing and experiencing.

Seeing that I have always loved classic items, I of course had to purchase an old camera.

This led me to Georgetown in Penang, Malaysia and from an old Chinese man, in an even older shophouse, I bought this dusty old Pentax Spotmatic with a 50mm lense for $100.

Of course I did not know how to use it at the time but Justin was kind enough to give me a few pointers.

I bought loads and loads of Fuji Velvia 50 slide film (as recommended by Justin!) and carried that camera with me everywhere and at all times, through rain, heat, dust and mud and shot over 500 slides in an 8 month period.

I couldn't wait to get them developed, to see what I captured and whether I had captured it well.

Most of the time I didn't do very well but I learnt from my mistakes and got better and better (at least I think so!!).

So, one of the things I will be doing is buying the best slide scanner and bringing these slides out of their boxes and to you over the coming months.

At the same time I will be also scanning my old film photos from this time, so please stay with me, help spread the word to friends and family who might be interested and join my blog to stay tuned.

Feedback and comments are most appreciated or else it gets really lonely out here in internet land!

These photos are scans from slides I took over 14 years ago while trekking and living in the far north western border regions of Thailand.

These are now historical as these areas and people have undergone some major changes.

For me these images bring back joyous memories of a more simple time in my life.

All are taken with a Pentax Spotmatic with a 50mm lens, no flash, no tripod and using Velvia 50 slide film.

Enjoy!

Rob Steer