Who and what is ngudn ?
ngudn was originally intended to be about food and cooking – the the thing that brought me the most joy in my freetime. Working with digital image and video files in the digital creative industry day in day out left me looking for something to touch, burn and discover – using my hands and the space available around me. While I still enjoy cooking, I never managed to write down and photograph more than two recipes. I started several blog prototypes which never even got close to the content or release stage.
Then, through friends, I stumbled into film photography. I never quite understood the buzz around it. I outright rejected it since I was sure the progress into digital was made for a good reason and this was something for old people or enthusiasts. Rangefinder cameras and SLRs seemed always so close to the digital full frame cameras I work with daily that spending my free time with them did not seem like an attractive option. Figuring out exposure, manual focusing and working with interchangeable lenses were all too familiar after all and you could slap a vintage lens on any modern camera. Expensive film stock and long developing times made it even less appealing.
Then I found out about Auto-Focus Point and Shoot cameras that were produced from the early 80s on. I liked the simplicity and the fun they promised, their portable designs reminded me of what originally got me into digital photography as a teenager. I literally pointed my camera at everything coming across my path back then, sometimes even taking non-stop video of hikes without pausing the recording once.
Nevertheless, after starting to create images professionally, I had stopped taking cameras along on personal trips. I wanted to enjoy the moment and not worry about batteries, memory and backups. The small and fun film cameras solve exactly this issue – they enable me to bring a camera just in case. Plus, I can deep dive into technical topics like scanning negatives, attempt to repair the more mechanical ones and figure out how to find ways to crossover my passion for digital image processes and my fascination with those (now) ancient cameras. After all, some of them are more than 40 years old at this point. This is exactly why this blog came to be.
TLDR
ngudn is my personal blog where I write about all things that excite me to learn more about them. Writing more hopefully fights brain fatigue as well.