Cassandra - Apple Store, IconSiam - An Exercise in Film

By Graham K. Rogers

The first Apple Store in Thailand was opened last weekend in the IconSiam mall, on the western side of the Chao Phraya River. As might be expected, the crowds attending the opening were significant.

I stayed away: partly because of the crowds, but also at an event of this nature, hundreds of people may be taking photographs and it is not easy to take pictures in those circumstances. My plan was to come back later with my Hasselblad and a supply of film.

I waited until later in the week and on my way into Bangkok took a slight detour to the mall. For the first trip I took a taxi from the BTS Krungthon Station. There is a free service but I did not see that at the time. Traffic outside IconSiam is a little dense because of the construction for the Gold Line - a new suburban line that starts nowhere and goes nowhere in particular, but does pass the front of this new mall.

My intention was to take some photographs in the Apple Store using a film camera. While there I took three rolls of Bergger Pancro film with ISO of 400. I buy this from Camera Film Photo in Hong Kong. I also took a number of shots with the iPhone X and those images were posted online later on Thursday.

The interior of the store was a little dark for the Ilford ISO film I was also carrying and when I went to take shots of the exterior, in my haste I forgot that condensation forms on a lens when going from a cool interior to the hot outside.

When I had finished taking the films (3 rolls) I took them with several other rolls to the shop I use (AirLab) for developing. I picked them up Saturday morning. I have selected some of my favourite examples from the shoot (above and below) all of which have been cropped and edited after I scanned to negatives.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. After 3 years writing a column in the Life supplement, he is now no longer associated with the Bangkok Post. He can be followed on Twitter (@extensions_th)