This week’s entry is a tribute to a few places that sadly won’t be around after 2017: the Rochor Centre (which we visited last year and featured on our website), and the Sungei Road Thieves’ Market (a place we described in detail on our website too). It has been many months since we explored the locations, and to imagine that these gems will be gone for good is a sad thought. Therefore, we decided to visit these locations one last time!
Rochor Centre in all its glory! It has been an iconic landmark in the Rochor area, and it will be sorely missed!Some interesting sights along the way: this beautifully maintained spiral staircase!Looks like someone moved from Gotham…!While making our way to Sungei Road Thieves Market, we spotted a group of ‘Trishaw Uncles’, who very enthusiastically waved to us as we snapped some shots!It was very crowded on a weekend, and the hawkers’ goods were messily strewn on tarpaulin sheets!This shot looks sneaky… because it actually is! We were told off by some hawkers who didn’t want photos taken of themselves or their wares, so we made do with ‘sneaky shots’. Here, we found a old Polaroid Land Camera, but we did not know if it was working, so we did not get it 😦From the distance (where no hawker could scold us), we captured the rows of man-made shops that lined the street.
A notice informing both hawkers and visitors of its impending closure 😦We wandered off to find some good food, and ended up capturing Damian outside this old-school shop with foldable gates.Eventually we found this well-known food stall which sells Laksa, which is noodles contained in a broth made with chili and coconut.This version of Laksa is known as ‘Katong Laksa’, as the noodles are cut up so that one can eat the meal with only a spoon!
While we rue the closing of both locations, we have gained a deep appreciation for capturing evocative images so that we can fondly reminisce of our experiences in the future. Therefore, we brought another newly-acquired camera (which we will no doubt review in the near future), the Mamiya Universal Press. This analog camera is specially designed to use different film formats such as the Polaroid packfilm (FP-100c) and various medium film formats (such as the 120 film, 6×9 etc). Furthermore, this particular camera has been modified to accept Impossible Project film and the Instax Wide film! Overall, its utility cannot be understated, and it will serve us well in the future!
The MUP in its full glory- along with a Polaroid packfilm image of Rochor Centre!
Lastly, we took some expired Impossible B&W film (for SX-70), and we were blown away by the sheer quality of the f/2.8, 100m Mamiya Sekor lens!
The ‘vignetting’ is actually due to the lens (which is not compatible with Polaroid film).
Easily our favourite shot; the focusing is top-notch and the image really exemplifies the mood at that time!
Damian with Sandra 
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