Life Beyond One Frame — GEORGE CHEN

Camera: Nikon FM2/T
Lens: Nippon Kogaku Japan Nikon 50mm f/1.4 non-AI manual focus
Film: FujiFilm Superia X-TRA 400
Venue: Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

A “frame burn” happens when the starting part of the film is exposed to light, i.e. that happens when you load a new roll of film into a camera, light will expose the first few inches. It actually creates an interesting opportunity to see your first frame of film becomes usually about half image and half (or sometimes 1/4) film artifact.

For every roll of film you load, you have an opportunity to pull off a really cool result for the first frame, and that is also known as the “frame burn” or “burning-first frame” in the industry.

I got this unique frame (yes, the very first frame of my new FujiFilm roll), which shows a 1/4 “frame burn” and the rest of some old local buildings in Causeway Bay, one of the world’s busiest shopping areas where Hong Kong’s SOGO Department Store and Times Square are located.

But there are still many local residents living here, right behind those fancy malls, and their lives are often neglected in the society.

I guess it’s just like the “frame burn”. Things happen always for a reason. You choose to forget to forget, or you just decide to forget it someday.