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XEONIQ

@xeoniq

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Futurist Writer and Photographer
Shanghai, CN

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Anime-inspired 35mm Film Prints

Guangzhou, in the South of China, has always impressed me in its vivid and eclectic street life and urban scapes. The hot, humid climate beckons copious amounts of flora to prosper all around the man-made city, which sprawls out all directions in a vivid LED-lit network from a core of retail shopping districts, market centres and commercial skyscrapers.

Growing up with anime as a kid, I couldn’t help but feel inspired by the place, which to me had that same vibrant, futuristic aesthetic synonymous with those 80’s and 90’s Japanese videos. And before the advent of digital techniques, motion picture film was utilised on an animation stand to capture painted backgrounds and celluloid for each frame. Thus it felt appropriate to use a cinema film for my own street photography while shooting here.

As usual on trips, I took my Ricoh FF-3D 35mm camera along, connected using OP/TECH USA straps to a small nylon sacoche bag for protection. Compact, portable and with a manual flash system for creative photography, it's been a great travel camera for me. The FF-3D's 35mm f/3.5 lens provides sharp but relatively flat images when focused at a distance that I always felt looked more graphic and less photo realistic; ideal for referencing anime scenes.

I went with a roll of Cyberpunk 640T, which is a repack of Kodak Vision3 motion picture film that may have been similar to what was used to capture vintage anime with a slight grain and vivid colours. The three shots I’ve printed here were the frames that came out the best for this “anime on 35mm cinema film” idea.

I’ve also included a handful of frames from different vintage anime that I feel have aesthetic similarity to the shots in this set. With the exception of Cowboy Bebop, which is better placed in the science fiction genre, the other two titles are both featured in Shell Zine’s Cyberpunk Anime list, which is ordered by year of release. I’ll story a link for that directly, it’s really grown in the number of titles since I started Shell Zine a few years ago.

#cyberpunkphotography #ricohff3d #ricoh #35mmfilm #analogphotography #prints #animephotography #vision3 #guangzhou #china taken in Guangzhou, China by @xeoniq

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3 years ago

Our future is already here.
So live, adapt, create or destroy: and love what you do. The world waits for no one. taken in Shanghai by @xeoniq

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9 months ago

"A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure."

2025 is upon us. Create your own reality.

#bladerunner #bladerunnerrealworld #cyberpunkreality #cyberpunk #china taken in Shanghai, China by @xeoniq

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2 years ago

Hobart feels like the city at the edge of the world; a quiet seaside outpost with some of the country's oldest buildings.

First shot of me is by my brother, the rest I took with fellow photographer and reading enthusiast @natepashdesign
A book I recommended to him, which might be of interest to some here is: The Other Side of the Mountain (originally titled La montagne morte de la vie) by Michel Bernanos. It's a short but surreal novel in two parts about shipwrecked survivors wandering a strange land. Fans of Poe's Arthur Gordon Pym may enjoy it and it seemed an apt read in Hobart, and perhaps for those looking for something dark to read on Halloween as well.

#hobart #rosenxrosen taken in Hobart, Tasmania by @xeoniq

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5 days ago

Ghost in the Shell continuity network map for understanding the relationship between the different media in the series.

With the new Ghost in the Shell anime TV adaptation due to debut tonight, I created this map that would help new audiences understand various influences and connections between the huge number of media produced for the franchise.

While I love the 1995 Oshii film adaptation, I was pretty clueless about the entire series, believing it all was related in a large linear narrative. As I researched however, I realised that each creator, from Oshii to Kamiyama to Kise and others developed their own continuities from Shirow's original manga series that debuted in 1989.

I am still developing this map and it may have left out an entry or two or have inaccurate details. I will strive to update it for accuracy as needed.

An entire article hosting this map at high res to save and view at full resolution is available on SHELLZINE. I've also included watch orders for the various anime continuities and noted which media are simply remakes or compilations. I will have a link to that in my story, or you can find the article on SHELLZINE.NET directly. Enjoy.

#ghostintheshell #sciencesaru #gits by @xeoniq

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3 months ago

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4 months ago

Restored Japanese Covers for Classic Cyberpunk and SciFi Novels

While books are for reading, and not collecting for their covers, it should be said that clearly very talented artists were once commissioned to create covers, and Japan in the 20th century has put out some really unique and exquisite art, particularly in the SciFi genre. As we are now inundated with AI-generated images, especially in the cyberpunk and science fiction fields, I thought it was important to preserve these human-created artworks, even if they were made for commercial purposes to sell translated books. Especially given how poor the typical cover art used for soft cover novels is these days.

The method that I used to collect these covers was by going through Japanese auction sites such as Y!JP, Mercari and Amazon.jp, collecting any I thought stood out. Most of the images were under 500 pixels high and taken with a smart phone of a used copy of the novel, and in rare instances Amazon Japan had a better quality cover available to start with. I then edited the files using Affinity Photo, which is now available under a “freemium” license, trying to preserve as much as possible while increasing the resolution, which was often poor. In some cases details are lost.

There are more titles in the SHELLZINE article, which I will link in my story, and I included synopsis and some commentary about the authors and their work. Thanks to Johannes for making the translucent Kobo eReader case for me. And if you enjoy cyberpunk genre fiction, @jordhammer regularly posts old classics he finds and reviews.

If one or more of these books are among your favourites, you might enjoy seeing how their cover was imagined by a completely different culture and literature industry. It was a fun exercise to collect and restore these covers, and in some cases prompted me to read some of the books I had not yet started. Enjoy.

#cyberpunk #williamgibson #brucesterling #philipkdick by @xeoniq

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4 months ago

35mm Cinestill 800T

I enjoy shooting all types of film but when travelling it's hard to argue with an 800ISO stock. Helps being able to just belt out low light shots like on frames 2 and 5 from the hip with that extra shutter speed. Despite the hassle of shooting film, I still prefer using it. The result is softer, the colours less realistic; feels less clinical and more humanistic to me, like memories. A better way to capture people, imo.

This year's just hurtling by with a quarter of it near gone already and turmoil all over the world. Makes me reflect on how much growth I've seen in Shanghai over just a few years since moving here. The kind of futuristic scale you see being developed in China comes from stability, cohesion, networking, and long term planning. Dog eat dog isn't gonna take a place that far I reckon. Something we should all keep in mind, especially during harder times.

Oh it's also Kye's birthday today, and his brother Clae's and mine was a week or so ago too. Generously threw a shot of Coby in, even though he decided to not have a birthday this year and just stay 19. Wise choice, tbh.

#rosenxrosen #cinestill800T #cyberpunkphotography taken in Shanghai by @xeoniq

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7 months ago

Kodak E100 Twilight Long Exposures

After purchasing a photo book from the 90s of LA which included numerous impressive colour positive medium format shots at night, I wanted to try my hand at it. Kodak's E100 slide film is readily available and more affordable here than Fuji's Velvia or Provia stocks. I had no issue with exposures just using a smart phone app for light metering and then adding half a stop.

Of the 12 frames of this first attempt, these were my favourite. Needing almost no colour correction, the blue tint of the film worked well for such twilight photography. I find the compositions a bit "literal" as I only took the 50mm lens out on my Bronica SQ-Ai (28mm equivalent on a 35mm camera), which is something to consider the next time I attempt this. I'll add a few 35mm shots I took on a zoom point and shoot from the same night to my story.

There are several figures that stand out in some of these shots, frozen still while other people moved around them, including a cleaner resting on their broom and a woman fixated on her phone. That's one of my favourite aspects I enjoyed about this set aside from the vibrant colours. The almost complete lack of film grain on these shots was quite impressive for film, though the de-noise algorithms on smart phone cameras or post processing apps perhaps makes this aspect of medium format slide film banal these days.

I've travelled quite a lot lately, but have come to realise that Shanghai itself offers many opportunities for capturing aesthetic city scapes, so I'd like to try exploring more here rather than relying on the novelty of a new place for inspiration.

#kodake100 #bronicasqai #newtopographics #shanghai taken in Shanghai by @xeoniq

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8 months ago

Night Walks in 2026

Clears your head and offers slow burn cardio, put on a audio book or music for mental stim or just enjoy the silence; no screens give your eyes a break. And contrary to popular belief, it is possible to enjoy taking photos or videos even with just a phone. Don't get jaded and have fun. The process is the point, not the outcome.

Wearing my ROSEN-X Ares jacket, that I've been putting through the paces the past year. It's got a very rough textured face fabric that I'm hoping will get wear and patina as much as my Aeon jacket has picked up.

Media-wise, currently reading Kobo Abe's The Ruined Map, which is a surreal detective mystery. Been absolutely flying through books this winter in China. The snippets of music on these tracks are from @filmmakerr_
He makes some great electronic and shares most of his albums free on his YouTube. Worth checking out if you like that sort of sound.

Weekends coming up, there's only 3000-5000 we might get in our life if we are lucky. They burn through quick, so enjoy.

#rosenxrosen #nightwalk #cyberpunk by @xeoniq

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9 months ago

ROSEN-X: ARES

#rosenxrosen #cyberpunk taken in Shanghai, China by @xeoniq

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a year ago

May Digitals: Surveillance Shanghai

No real theme for this set of test shots; they were taken with a 40 year old zoom lens from Tokina's AT-X line that I picked up a couple weeks ago. CCTV and wires heavy: Shanghai has both in spades and they serve as easy subjects for brief photo walks on my commute. The last frame is probably my favourite of the set, it has a nice balance to its composition with the organic greenery being dissected by the harsh metal and plastic of the CCTV system.

The coat is my old Triton, which just seems to get better with age. The watch is from MWC with a Marathon ballistic nylon strap. It's not very big at 38mm, is relatively minimal in design and wears well with my wardrobe of dark neutrals. With things so hectic lately, it is nice to have some dependable fall backs to just go out and live life in.

#rosenxrosen #supermodernclothing #tokina #shanghaiphotography #cyberpunkfashion taken in Shanghai, China by @xeoniq

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a year ago