Images shot on Kodak Ektar 100 in the Yashica Electro 35 GSN
It’s been a long time since I left Shanghai. So long actually that it sometimes feels like I shouldn’t still be writing about my time there on this site. Like I’m still thinking too much about the past instead of living in the present or looking to the future.
However, I do still have a bit of a backlog of images from then that I’m yet to post on here, and I would like to get them all published no matter how long ago it was that I shot them.
So in a way, tying up these loose ends like this is living in the present and looking to the future. A present where I’m working on having less of my older Shanghai photographs sitting unpublished, and a future where there will be none.
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‘Website’ reasons for still posting older Shanghai photos
The images in this post are from 2019 and here we are publishing them in 2026. I’m going to rationalise that this situation is both a product of how my brain works and how I prioritise what I work on for this site.
I’ll explain what I mean with both of those, starting with the latter.
It’s the product reviews that bring visitors here, really. Film reviews, camera reviews, lens reviews.
When I do a post that can be boiled down to I went here and took these photographs, like for example this one from Barcelona, nobody is really looking for those.
That means they aren’t the priority, but they are still important to do, for three reasons.
First, they’re a creative outlet for me, and give me a more casual – and honestly enjoyable – type of post to write than the more information-heavy reviews.
Second, they’re (hopefully) a trust-builder for the reader, i.e. you, and show that I do go out and do photography myself. This isn’t just a website that puts content together from a place of all research and no experience.
Third, I’m not sure if this is still a thing, but I believe Google at least used to care somewhat about topical authority. The way I understood that was if the only time Kodak Ektar 100 or the Yashica Electro were talked about on here was on their reviews, those reviews probably wouldn’t rank as high in search results.
So while posts like this probably aren’t going to be found themselves, especially through organic search means, their existence is potentially helping the reviews to be found in that way.
A couple of less-than-perfect shots for you there ⌃.
One where the light had faded enough that I didn’t have the shutter speed for a sharp photo, and one where I just missed focus on those two birds.
But they are a nice segue from those few Xujiahui shots and back to some from my old neighbourhood of Qibao.
‘My brain’ reasons for still posting older Shanghai photos
So we’ve explained the behind-the-scenes website reasons why I’m still posting these older Shanghai images on here so many years later, and now it’s time for the my brain ones.
This is a combination of two things that might sound like they shouldn’t co-exist, but I imagine are quite a common combo in other people too. They’re certainly things I see get mentioned occasionally.
First is the old shiny object syndrome, and second is the need for completeness.
We’ll start with the former.
Once I’ve got the film review posted – in this case the Kodak Ektar 100 one – getting each last one of these accompanying blog posts out as well becomes less attractive. I want to move on to the next review and a couple, but most likely again not all, of the posts that support that too.
So these images sit there on my hard drive for years and years doing nothing but growing less relevant to the life I live now.
But that nagging need for everything to be completed doesn’t go away. I still have to wrap up all the loose ends so I can mentally close the chapter.
In this case, the Kodak Ektar 100 chapter.
The review is done. It was done a long time ago. And now with this post, all the Ektar 100 images have been published on here too.
With so many other films out there to shoot and write about, I don’t really have to think about Ektar 100 again now unless I want to shoot some more of it for me.
And that – everything you’ve just read – is why I’m still posting my older Shanghai photographs.
I still have quite a few sets of images from there, and lots from the UK since I moved back here too, that I need to get published on here. Each one I get done is me getting one step nearer to mentally closing all those loops.
It’s a bit of a Sisyphean task though, because I’m still going out and shooting new photographs which just adds to the pile.
But without this whole thing on my plate, I’m not sure what I’d do. Not having a project to work on would drive me insane, and this is the one I’ve chosen and for some reason can’t give up. 🙂
If that explanation for why I’m still posting older Shanghai photographs resonated and made you want more posts illustrated with film photography, why not have a look at some of these:
And if you think others will find this post worth a read, help them find it by giving it a share 😀
