Metro Manila

I press the camera right against the tinted car window. We’re barely moving due to the traffic, and I watch people on scooters slowly making their way around us. Some of them are so close I can’t believe they don’t see me. Maybe it helps that the camera looks like a toy.

I click the shutter and the small screen starts to flash, cycling through the seven colors of ink to produce a new image. I expect the photos to come out hazy and blurry due to the all the motion and tinting, but the camera performs surprisingly well.

We’ve been listening to the same radio station for the past three days, and it seems like every thirty seconds they play this insanely catchy detergent ad (the first one in the video, for Pride Bar Blue). The key change at the end of the jingle is just masterful.

The latest eink.cam prototype uses the Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3, which has built-in autofocus that works surprisingly well. Even when it fails, the resulting photo has a softness that, when combined with the dithering, gives an interesting painterly feel.

I really wanted to get a photo of a jeepney but only caught one as it was approaching from behind and then overtaking us. The 30 second delay of the screen turned the whole thing into a fun challenge – do I snap the photo earlier and get a chance to take another one after, or do I wait for the perfect moment to do a single shot and risk having nothing good?

(i ended up doing one early and one slightly too late)

Some more people and street signs:

We arrived at Comuna, a really cool creative space in Makati, to see Chia’s exhibition on Filipino internet art KAKAKOMPYUTER MO YAN!.

The exhibit featured a modified pisonet terminal (above) and a home karaoke setup with a TV remote and microphone (below). I just can’t get enough of how cool the glow looks with the dithering of the camera.