Here Comes The Sun: Playing with Analog (A Bali Story)

There’s always something romantic about using analog cameras. No, of course, I’m not going to glorify or romanticize those good old days called past here. I realized that we need to move on from past and I totally agree with changes and yes, we all need to adapt how technology and time change us (of course we also need to do it wisely). But I think how an analog camera works is interesting.

We need to fill our cameras with film roll before using it and every type of roll as its authentic color tone. It has frame limit, so we can appreciate each moment we capture, it makes every frame counted, precious, and priceless. Most of all, it takes patient to use analog since we need to process and wait to know the result.

Nowadays, everything runs so fast, time flies, and the philosophy behind using analog camera and processing the roll give us some break. A break to breath, look back, reflect what had happened and we left behind, and also wait for something worth it. It also gives us a lesson about cherish every moment and appreciate the process more than the result (because some time the result is not always turn to be something we have expected, sometime the photos being burned due to over-exposure or other reasons, sometime the roll being torn, or etcetera). Oh well, I’m being too sentimental, sorry.

So, I used to use analog camera on my childhood back then. I also learned about how to operate it manually on my uni time back then (yes, this girl took photography as her extracurricular on university back then), I even wore analog camera to capture my photo that being exhibited on one photo exhibition. But been a while since the last time I wore analog camera.

On previous year (whoa, it’s funny to called 2018 as previous year already), I tried to use analog camera again. A 31mm Olympus Trip 201 that I have since when I was a child. It is a pocket camera so I don’t need to set it manually. I thought it would be easy to use, but it turned out, I was totally wrong. My first roll (not really first, of course. I mean my first since I tried to use it again) burned. I lost all of photos that I took, 36 frames in total. The roll consists of random shots and photos of Vidya’s (anyway, Vidya is my classmate on high school back then) wedding reception and it had me really really sad.

But from that failure (haha sorry for being dramatic), I’ve learned something. I didn’t want to fall so deep, so I quickly bounced back (saras is just being dramatic again, lol, hehe). I tried to buy another roll and tried to capture some moments with my analog camera again. And yes, I brought my camera to Bali, now you know why I titled this post with ‘A Bali Story’ name.

Ok, let’s talk about Bali. I went to Bali – practically – to watch a music festival called Soundrenaline 2018 that being held on September 8 to 9 2018 at Garuda Wisna Kencana, but of course I also went to some beaches and tourist attractions. It was impromptu but also one of the best trips I ever had in 2018. I went there with my fellow music journos, Andika and kak Pohan.

We all never thought that we would attend to Soundrenaline. We only talked (and it was more like blabbering) briefly about how fun it is to watch Soundrenaline in Bali since they have a lot of big names on their line ups. We didn’t own a lot of money at that time, it was also too close from the date to save up so we can afford those expensive airlines tickets since there would be a lot of events in Bali that time and the tickets being highly-demanded (yes, in the same weekend of Soundrenaline there would be Bali Marathon. I saw on my Instagram timeline and it felt like everyone (well not literally everyone) were going to Bali). But glad that three of us have mutual spirit about it (lol!).

We made it to Bali. We went to Bali by train and ship one way and by plane to go back home. And oh, we also shared a room for three. We managed to go to Bali as frugal as possible (haha, we did it!). I used to go to Bali by plane and it only takes 1,5 or 2 hours to get there and by train and ship we need to spend more than 24 hours on the road! Don’t ask how tired it was, it was surely one tiring trip but also interesting, funny, and worth to be remembered. We took a train to Surabaya first, from Surabaya we went to Banyuwangi by train. Well, we also slept on a station in Surabaya because we arrived at midnight and our train to Banyuwangi departed in the dawn.

After all, it was all worth it. The scenery I saw when crossing the sea from Java to Bali is very very very breathtaking. It is very beautiful. The fact that we finally made it to Soundrenaline with all of those obstacles is counted as achievement for us.

We watched a lot of musicians on two-day festival of Soundrenaline. From local musicians to international musicians. My favorite part was when I met Phum Viphurit. He is an indie musician from Thailand. I watched him performed some of my fave songs, such as Lover Boy, Long Gone, and so on, I also talked with him about indie musicians a little bit. At the end of second day, there was Limp Bizkit as the headline, but I was too tired to catch them up on first row, just like what kak Pohan and Andika did, so I watch them from the distance.

On out third day, we did some touristy activities and also acted like local. We went to some beaches, culinary spots (this the touristy activities part), and also watched a local gig (this the acted like local part). First thing to do in the morning was picked up the car we rent, and then we ate at Nasi Pedes Ibu Andika. We also went to iconic coffee shop named Bhineka Jaya (the coffee is highly recommended, well, I love that place!).

On the afternoon, we went to beaches, we picked Tegal Wangi and Balangan. Tegal Wangi is (of course) beautiful. It located under the cliff (if I’m not mistaken), there are so many rocks near the sea side, but it’s alright. The wave was friendly when we went there. And then we watched the sunset on Balangan. It was really fun. We talked, took photos and made some jokes while drinking and waiting for the sunset.

After had some dinner on fast food resto, we went to Kimono Hotel to watch a local gig where some local musicians who played on Soundrenaline also would play there. At first, I hoped that I could watch The Panturas and Heals there, but there was a heavy traffic jam on our way to the venue. When we arrived, The Panuras already finished their performance. I managed to watch Manjakani and Heals. It was good and it was more than enough. I really am happy.

We came back home by plane on the next day. We had a lot of memories and stories from Bali. So, I really am grateful for unforgettable trip.

Well, here I want to share some of pictures that I took with my analog camera in Bali. Sorry if this article is little bit jumpy, there are a lot of things on my mind that I want to write and it’s been a while since the last time I’m blogging.