Title: The Moment of Happiness
Camera: Nikon F4
Lens: Nikon AF 35-70mm f3.3-4.5
Film: Kodak ColorPlus 200

This may be one of the most "uncertain" photo I got on my Nikon F4, the film camera I recently bought.

Every film photographer can tell it's always like 100x more challenging to shoot film indoor than outdoor, mostly due to the condition of the light. When I saw the funny "Tom and Jerry" corner inside HarbourCity, one of the largest malls in Hong Kong, I thought this should be a moment to catch. What I was not so sure about was how to get it right.

I wanted to keep Tom and Jerry (btw Tom is the cat and Jerry is the mouse in case you wonder) in my photo but I also wanted to make the result feel more like in the real world rather than just a cartoon. While I was thinking about the composition, I saw the two girls trying to do some photos for themselves. I suddenly "got it" -- maybe I can frame the photo from Tom's angle.

Given my film was Kodak ColorPlus 200 (a quite normal and affordable film), I set ISO at 200, aperture 3.3, and a relatively lower shutter speed at 125 as I always want to avoid things look unnaturally shining, especially when indoor. When I got the photo eventually from the dark room, it did beat my expectation.

The combination of light and color for this photo looks just right. Tom is a little bit blurred (that's totally fine to me) and the girl's face and her happy expression can be still clearly seen in the photo.

Every picture may represent the point of view about something for the photographer. In this photo, I see the moment of happiness between the cartoon and real world, not to mention I shot the photo just few days before Christmas.

I title the photo "The Moment of Happiness" and I hope you smile and perhaps feel happy when you see the moment.