EP249: Knowing When to Fold — Olympus C-AF 38mm f2.8 with CatLabs X Film 320 Pro

Roll #249 — the Olympus C-AF still hasn't stopped impressing me

Film: CatLabs X Film 320 Pro (metered at ISO 100)
Developed & scanned: Li-lai Photo, 2025/4/1
Camera: Olympus C-AF 38mm f2.8

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Today — April 27, 2025 — was our monthly book club, and this month's read was Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away by Annie Duke. The writing itself isn't particularly good, but the core idea is worth sitting with: when we've already invested heavily in something, we tend to keep going even as the odds of success shrink — because we can't bring ourselves to write off what we've already put in. The result is that losses compound far beyond what they needed to be.

It's a pattern that shows up all the time in business. A company's revenue is clearly declining, but the owners keep propping it up — borrowing money, trying anything to extend its runway — until the hole is so deep there's no way out. If they'd recognized the signs earlier and pulled back in time, the damage could have been contained. Instead, they shut down with far more debt than they started with.

This hit close to home. My income still isn't where it needs to be. Should I pivot to something else, or keep pushing? Looking for some clarity, I made a detour after book club to the Eslite at Zhongshan underground station and found a few business books I wanted. But since I was flat broke, I couldn't buy them there — ended up ordering secondhand copies on Shopee instead. Felt a little guilty about that, honestly.

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#1
A rare occasion — I actually used the flash.

 

#2
Night market with my wife and son — and again, I used the flash. Something about flash on black and white feels less harsh than it does on color.

 

#3
A water dispenser design so familiar it's become iconic.

 

#4
Taking my son for a bike ride along the Rainbow Bikeway in Neihu with my wife.

 

#5
The night before, we'd been given a small goldfish by the scooping game vendor at the night market. Today we headed to the aquarium district in Taipei to pick up everything we needed to actually keep it alive.

 

#6
Kids grow up fast.

 

#7
Grave sweeping day. Remembering where you came from matters to me.

 

#8
Grave sweeping feels meaningful to me as an act of remembrance — but burning joss paper is genuinely terrible for the environment.

 

#9
There happen to be goats near my place. Rare to get this close.

 

#10
A rare morning run with my wife. This is what we see along the route.

 

#11
I've photographed this small tree with different cameras and lenses over the years. I want to keep a record of how it looks across time.

 

#12
Right to left: my wife and me. We argue a lot, probably more than you'd expect — maybe once every two weeks or so.

 

#13
Focusing on a cat walking straight toward you is genuinely difficult. A Sony Alpha could probably handle it though.

 

#14
Zhongshan Station, Taipei MRT — currently my favorite station in the system.

 

#15
I've branched out a little this year and started taking on work outside of web design. This is a lightbox ad I designed for a client.

 

#16
Another lightbox design for the same client — displayed in their own storefront, which takes a little pressure off. When a client is paying for ad space, the stakes are higher: results matter, and there's no room to be careless. In-store placements give you a bit more breathing room.

 

#17
After work, took the MRT to Beimen Station to pick up film from Violet Color.

 

#18
Really like the sense of motion in this one. Near Taipei Main Station.

 

#19
Violet Color — look at that "Konica Digital Imaging" sign. A living piece of history.

 

#20
A closer look at the typography on Violet Color's signage.

 

#21
Violet Color is conveniently located and always busy — almost everyone there for film-related work. There's something genuinely good about being surrounded by people who share the same niche interest. You don't feel like you're alone in it.

 

#22
We've forgotten what we used to do with waiting time before smartphones. Taipei Main Station platform.

 

#23
Just boarded the train.

 

#24
Off the train, looking up at the sky. That quality of light — I think this is what's called the gloaming.

 

#25
Our grocery cart at home, for the record.

 

#26
The neighbor's cat. Always stares straight into the lens — every single time.

 

#27
You develop a real attachment to a car over the years. I've laughed in this one. I've cried in this one. Selling it would hurt.

 

#28
I've forgotten the context for this one. Sorry — it's been too long between shooting and writing.

 

That's the full roll — Olympus C-AF 38mm f2.8 with CatLabs X Film 320 Pro. Thanks for reading.