an analog China.

I ran away from Vienna to China for a little while this winter, forgetting to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s and instead jumping into a whole new culture. I left my digital camera behind and brought my Canon AF-1 (which sadly broke in Xi’An en cours de route and is now getting fixed, so I haven’t got the roll back yet) and an Agfa Isola I’d picked up earlier that year for a couple of euros and had not fully had the time to try out. The Agfa is not particularly difficult to use, it’s also lightweight (practical for travelling) and I like the 6×6 format, however I find it difficult to get accustomed to distance-focusing (which is why a Lomo LC-A is more often than not useless in my hands). I’m guessing it’s something you learn. Anyway, some of the following shots are blurry; and though we had a lot of blue skies in Pingyao and Beijing, Xi’An and early mornings in Pingyao were often foggy. The first shot is a magical accident – the Isola is apparently built so that it’s impossible to rewind the film until you get to the end, so this double exposure by the Kunming lake near the Summer Palace in Beijing is somewhat puzzling.

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