On Friday, I got to play tourist in my country. I had to go down to the iconic Merlion to snap some shots for my photojournalism tutorial- hey finally, a fun assignment! But how trite would it be to shoot a picture of what is possibly, one of the most-photographed monuments in Singapore..?
So I decided to take my new Diana Fisheye lens out to play with a mount to fit my Nikon. It definitely took some getting used to, with no auto-focusing, no programmed controls, no one-setting-fits-all. Every shot you take is different, and you have to adjust your manual settings accordingly. Definitely more work, but definitely more fun. The fisheye effect is at times, hardly perceptible because of the crop factor at work but I think I kinda like it like that. & It just tickled me to see the distortion nearer the edges of the picture, plus that dreamy, grainy quality so unique to the Diana.
What amused me so was the number of people posing to get a shot of the Merlion spewing water into their mouths-- priceless. And I don't know, seeing happy tourists in my country makes me happy too! I tried my best to go undetected, but I think some of them caught me taking their pictures. (paparazzi fail?) Overall it was a super fun experience and I think that I may do this more often! Given that time permits, of course.
I think I spend way too much time on these side projects than I do on my actual assignments (more coming my way that I have given ZERO thought to, by the way..)
(All pictures taken with Lomography Diana Fisheye Lens + Nikon D5000)