Unboxing ‘Suburban East Tokyo’

Dominic Teagle‘s “Suburban East Tokyo” zine documents the Edogawa district of Tokyo, a not-yet-gentrified part of the sprawling metropolis. I don’t know much about Tokyo, but this area looks like every other suburb of a large, sprawling city I’ve ever seen, a humble, working class melange of homes and small businesses—Teagle refers to them as “lacunae in the fabric of the megacity”—and it’s clear that some developer or city planner is likely drooling over the prospect of opening up this area to development. 

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Mercy

Today, I’m grateful for (and hope for) Allah’s mercy.

Abu Hurarirah narrated that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said

إِنَّ لِلَّهِ مِائَةَ رَحْمَةٍ قَسَمَ مِنْهَا رَحْمَةً بَيْنَ جَمِيعِ الْخَلاَئِقِ فَبِهَا يَتَرَاحَمُونَ وَبِهَا يَتَعَاطَفُونَ وَبِهَا تَعْطِفُ الْوَحْشُ عَلَى أَوْلاَدِهَا وَأَخَّرَ تِسْعَةً وَتِسْعِينَ رَحْمَةً يَرْحَمُ بِهَا عِبَادَهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ

Allah has one hundred (degrees of) mercy, of which He has shared one between all of creation, by virtue of which you show mercy and compassion towards one another and the wild animals show compassion towards their young. And He has kept back ninety-nine (degrees of) mercy by virtue of which He will show mercy to His slaves on the Day of Resurrection.

Allah is truly, Ar-Rahman, Ar-Raheem, Al-Ghafur. Ya Allah forgive me!

#PolaroidWeek! (1)

It’s Polaroid Week again! Woo! I’ve been a bit slow so far, just 2 packs of Instax, 1 of new Polaroid Originals iType Color, and 1 (my last) of Impossible Project 600, but I have two packs loaded so more to come later… For now, lets compare/contrast the old Impossible Color, the new iType color, and Instax Mini.

Apologies in advance for my poor cropping. It’s more accurate than the viewfinder on the OneStep 2, but that’s not saying much… most of these are askew and show some bit of scanner lid. Shame on me, but I’m too lazy to re-crop just now. Continue reading “#PolaroidWeek! (1)”

that piece of flesh

An Nouman bin Bashir heard Allah’s messenger, peace be upon him, say

الْحَلاَلُ بَيِّنٌ وَالْحَرَامُ بَيِّنٌ، وَبَيْنَهُمَا مُشَبَّهَاتٌ لاَ يَعْلَمُهَا كَثِيرٌ مِنَ النَّاسِ، فَمَنِ اتَّقَى الْمُشَبَّهَاتِ اسْتَبْرَأَ لِدِيِنِهِ وَعِرْضِهِ، وَمَنْ وَقَعَ فِي الشُّبُهَاتِ كَرَاعٍ يَرْعَى حَوْلَ الْحِمَى، يُوشِكُ أَنْ يُوَاقِعَهُ‏.‏ أَلاَ وَإِنَّ لِكُلِّ مَلِكٍ حِمًى، أَلاَ إِنَّ حِمَى اللَّهِ فِي أَرْضِهِ مَحَارِمُهُ، أَلاَ وَإِنَّ فِي الْجَسَدِ مُضْغَةً إِذَا صَلَحَتْ صَلَحَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ، وَإِذَا فَسَدَتْ فَسَدَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ‏.‏ أَلاَ وَهِيَ الْقَلْبُ

Both halal (legal) and haram (illegal) things are evident but in between them there are doubtful (suspicious) things and most of the people have no knowledge about them. So whoever saves himself from these suspicious things saves his religion and his honor. And whoever indulges in these suspicious things is like a shepherd who grazes (his animals) near the Hima (private pasture) of someone else and at any moment he is liable to get in it. (O people!) Beware! Every king has a Hima and the Hima of Allah on the earth is His illegal (forbidden) things. Beware! There is a piece of flesh in the body if it becomes good (reformed) the whole body becomes good but if it gets spoilt the whole body gets spoilt and that is the heart.

Ya Allah, Turner of Hearts, direct my heart toward your religion, and keep me firm on it, ameen.

The October #DeltaDefJam: 3200 at 1000 at 3200

For the October installment of the #DeltaDefJam, I shot another roll of Delta 3200. This time, instead of pushing it to 6400, I exposed it at EI 1000 and developed it normally, partly hoping for smoother grain, mostly on the recommendation of @Adi W:

Thanks! And, well… it was interesting, at least.

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