Hack for steaming dumplings

 I'm posting this after the fact.  We've been out of power for the last few days, due to cylone Alfred.  We put most of our food from the 'fridge and the freezer into ice chests -- so we're slowly going through it before it spoils: I'm using a butane camp stove, and cooking outside under our covered porch.

Among other things are some hum bao dumplings. But -- I have no idea where we put our steamer.

Then I got the idea of cutting some sticks and putting them in my saucepan, as some sort of rack.  Or!  Even easier -- just using three butter knives.

Worked!!!

Except that I have to cook the dumplings one at a time.  But, that's okay.

And no, having the butter knives in the water won't de-temper the steel:  you have to get a lot hotter than just "boiling".  But, just to be safe, I put them "handle down":  it doesn't matter if the ends of the handles lose their hardness. 

 

Bonus:  the pot is from my maternal grandmother's estate (from her kitchen).

 

--GG

Nighttime photo at local train station

31 Jan (summer in Australia), at 7:30 at night -- local train station.  Brisbane, Australia.

 

Taken with an inexpensive phone -- no further processing or editing.

 

--GG

Evening photo from the train

This one turned out nicely.  I took two photos:  this was the better of the two.

Just using my cheap, obsolete phone.  No post-processing:  this is just how the photo came out.

 

Photo taken at 6:22pm.  January -- so it's summertime here in Australia.  But, because we're moderately close to the equator, the "summer/winter" swings for the number of daylight hours isn't as extreme as when I lived in Seattle. 

--GG

Glowing circle

 Well!  After a fair absence -- I am back!  :) 

I was posting photos I had took -- but then I fell behind -- and then I realized that someday I might want to try selling some of my better photos... in which case I probably shouldn't offer them up online for free.

It's 22 April 2025 as I write this -- and yesterday I thought "Hey -- I should return to blogging."  Mostly because it's easier for me to post photos of things I've been doing, and describe them, when I can use an actual keyboard for the words -- and not just my thumbs.

But, I'm calling it "27 Jan 2025", because that's the date from the photo I've pulled from my phone:  it's a glass rice cooker lid, which I painted the underneath with a few layers of glow in the dark paint.

I think it turned out well.  :) 

 

--GG

 

 

Underwater camera with Ilford XP2 B&W

 As I might have mentioned, I've finally noticed that different film stocks have different "looks" -- so I'm now declaring the type of film I'm using, as "data points" to the world... for novice photographers who want to see what different film looks like. 

This is with an inexpensive "underwater" 35mm "children's" camera -- "Sunnylife" brand.  However, I noticed that the teeth on the gear on the waterproof shell's "film advance knob" are not long enough to engage sufficiently with the teeth on the camera's film advance wheel.  This means that between each underwater shot, you have to take the camera out of the water, dry it (more or less) with a towel, open the waterproof casing, advance the film to the next exposure, and put the waterproof casing back on:  inconvenient -- but not a deal-breaker.

Also, for some reason only 12 of the 24 exposures turned out. It could be "user error" -- e.g. trying to get shots where was insufficient light -- but I didn't take sufficient notes to be able to know.  So, it's probably my fault -- but I'm providing this anyhow, as a data point.

As usual:  (1) no edits unless I declare them, and (2) you get a better sense if you enlarge the pics by clicking on them.

Various vacation shots, down at the Gold Coast.  The hotel had a pool....

Just using it as a regular "cheap plastic camera":  yep!  :)

A selfie!  The camera is in the pool; I am not.

A neighboring building, from underwater.  I think I took this one.

 

Nice texture. Also kind of a building.

A lamppost, from underwater.  One of my kids took this.

 

My feet.  Obviously not by me.  :)

TBH, I'd probably just use this as a "regular camera".  Although maybe taking photos of underwater sea life might be interesting.  But you'd have to keep coming up between shots, to advance the film.

--GG

Olympus OM-20 with XP2 black and white film

 I was showing my kids some of the shots from this roll, and my eldest son said that they were good photos.  He's not at all "artistic" -- so I was flattered that he could tell that (in his opinion) they were good.

As usual, click to enlarge (you really don't get the full effect when they're small), and -- with one exception -- this is how they came from the photo lab.

This and the "bridge" photo, further below, are my favorites from this roll.

 

This one wasn't as contrasty as I'd have liked.

 

So I increased the contrast.

My other favorite shot from this roll.

 

--GG

Color photos on expired film from Fujica 35ML

 The Fujica 35ML is an interesting camera:  you focus it by a thumbwheel on the body, rather than turning a ring on the lens.  

Thanks to Neil for the use of this camera.  

I shot a roll of expired Kodak Gold -- from memory, I would've intentionally over-exposed it by a stop or two, to compensate for the faded chemicals on the film.

Turned out pretty well.  

As usual, these are the better pics (I don't bother displaying the mediocre -- or the bad -- photos).  ;)   No messing with the colors once I receive the "neutral" scans from the lab.  Suggest clicking to get a better sense of what they look like.

 

--GG