Starting my vintage camera collection

I started fooling around with photography around 1992-93 and had real gung-ho aspirations to be a photographer since then. I inherited an old Yashica SLR from my father and went shooting with my buddies Romeo, Disney and Kelly.

*Not the exact Yashica but a photo from Wikipedia

I remember we all had old cameras and mine would always jam up, and finally on a climb to Mt. Kinabalu, it finally gave up on me and the mirror never came down..it was stuck for good.

So I requested, I think for my birthday, for a camera from my sister, who gave me a 2nd hand Canon SLR.

*again, not the exact Canon. Mine had an all black body.

I think I only managed to use it once for a body-building competition at Kiulu, then the same problem happened, the mirror got jammed. This time it was sent to a technician to be fixed but it really conked out.

I was without a SLR camera for a long long time, till I got my first DSLR in 2008, a Nikon D200.


Coming to Australia has it downs for me, not being able to work in my chosen field of Photojournalism. The pros is, however, endless. I can now shoot without pressure to deliver to my editor or client.

I was chatting online with fellow Sabahan, Flanegan Bainon, who is in Melbourne studying Photography and he told he had started collecting vintage cameras. I found that really interesting and kept an eye out for old cameras at thrift stores and garage sales.

This is my first vintage camera I bought at the Salvation Army store. It cost me AUS$15.00. The Minolta Hi-Matic G was made in 1974, the year I was born, and still works. There was still a roll of film inside when I got it. I changed the battery and the meters went 'alive'! I think I got a good buy.

Family picnic at Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra

Life here in Canberra is very different from the comfort zone we had in Sabah. It has changed dramatically from the weather to our lifestyle. Adjusting to a different climate, looking for jobs, re-tuning my ears from Malaysian English to Aussie English, re-tuning my accent so that locals can understand me and so forth.

The biggest challenge so far is looking for a job, whatever it is. Trixie and Kimo both go to school and I am doing my part by sending and picking them up. But still, I feel very weird not doing anything. I have applied, and still am applying, for all kinds of jobs here and there, but it seems it takes time to get reply, so now is just a waiting game.

Earlier today we had a brunch at Auntie Connie's house cos a Sabahan friend came by from Sydney so we Sabahans had a small get together. Enjoyed the curry and the roti canai.

Anyway, after last week's hospital stint, we felt we needed to chill out and go out for a picnic as a family. Trixie packed a small snack for us and off we went driving till we ended up seeing multitudes of people by Lake Burley Griffin (only found out the lake's name from the internet after we got home), so we also looked for a spot. The day was warm and we had time to take a family photo, something we always wanted to do since Kimo was born, actually these photos could be one of the best we had taken.

More picnic photos in my Facebook.

Kimo in hospital

After lunch last Saturday, Kimo suddenly started shivering uncontrollably. We rushed him to the emergency room at Calvary Hospital around 5 km away and he was diagnosed with pneumonia in his right lung. The doctor suggested to admit him into Canberra Hospital where they have a pediatric department for further treatment. Kimo was admitted there for 3 days and 2 nights and he was on an IV drip the whole time.

We, as parents and as international students in a new country and city, felt a kind of fear that we don't have any moral support from anyone in Canberra. But we were blessed with our Sabahan friend here, Auntie Connie Lupang, a Sabahan living here for the past 40 years, who came to the ER to give us support.

On the 2nd day there, the specialist said that the bacteria that caused Kimo's pneumonia had spread into his left lung, but he said that is normal and the antibiotics administered would take care of that. On the third day, Kimo was given the green light to go home as there was no more wheezing in either lungs.

We thank God, the doctors and nurses for helping Kimo get better in such a short time. Kimo is now at home, active as ever. However, we are still giving him his antibiotics and he has to use a puffer a few times a day.