Tell us about yourself:

Hi! I'm Kim Lim, I am a photographer and one of the owners of a film lab in Manila, Philippines. I used to focus on shooting weddings and events but had to retire because I chose to pursue a new found passion, Sunny16 Lab. These days I like shooting street as my own form of contemplation and meditation. I usually wake up early in the morning and take the train to anywhere, put my headphones on and listen to podcasts whilst on the lookout for anything interesting to shoot. My favorite photographers are Ernst Haas and Saul Leiter.

Currently, I am using my time and energy into creating personal projects, usually photo series/essays.

What attracts you to photographing with film?

It's simplicity and delayed gratification. I guess, coming from an all digital system... I got tired of getting all the gears but not really using them. With film, I have a simple point and shoot that I can carry around all the time and the limitation of exposure also challenges me to think whether a shot is worth it or not. The opportunity it gives to do more with less.

What type of gear/film do you tend to gravitate to as of this writing?

Point and shoot film cameras. I have a tiara zoom and an autoboy d5. My all time favorite however is my Contax 137ma. I currently have a stash of Fuji Industrial 100. I might hoard high speed films soon. Cinestill is still one of my favorites... but part of my new year's resolution is not to stay broke whilst shooting film so i am helping myself with budget friendly films... hahaha

Tell us about the work you're submitting.

These are some frames from my current photo series called B L U E. I'm planning to release it March 2019 but hey, first look for themikepadua. :)

I was traveling with my friends whom I haven't seen in a long time. We caught up with how our lives are going and a common experience is that we all went through depression and anxiety. This was completely unplanned, I just thought the pool from the beach resort we were staying was "aesthetically" pleasing so I asked my two friends to model for me. That's it, i thought I'd use the color theme blue as it is often used to describe feelings of loneliness but it is also said that being surrounded by blue gives you feelings of peace.

Shot with Tiara Zoom and Fujifilm Industrial 100 // Western Samar, Philippines.