Ian Austen
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ianausten.bsky.social
Ian Austen
@ianausten.bsky.social
12K followers 2.4K following 1.1K posts
Canada Correspondent, @nytimes.com. Mostly photos, mostly made on film, a lot of it large. [email protected]
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ianausten.bsky.social
‪It seemed best not to know what forms of leisure can be found in this Kuala Lumpur hotel. But its whale shaped front desk is quite extraordinary. (Leica M Monochrom, 35mm f1.4 Summilux ASPH)
The front of a narrow hotel has a sign reading Leo Leisure Hotel. The font for the word Leisure resembles a cut up Malaysian flag. A man sits at an enormous desk perhaps made from bamboo that resembles a whale. Behind him, a person is looking out from a staircase. A silver car is very poorly parked out front.
November 28, 2025 at 9:07 PM
ianausten.bsky.social
I'm not really sure how these motorcycle zones at traffic lights In Kuala Lumpur work. I do know that many of its lanes for bicycles are very ill conceived. The heat and humidity also limit the appeal of riding, even for me. (Hasselblad SWC, Zeiss 38mm f4.5 Biogon, Fuji 400H)
A stretch of road painted red with three painted motorbikes and the words Zon Motoskal. Someone in light colored clothing is on a small motorbike at the far side. Two cars are stopped behind the motorcyclist. A very weathered concrete abutment for a monorail looms above.
November 27, 2025 at 11:13 PM
ianausten.bsky.social
Rue Ontario Est, Montreal. The phone's dialtone was feeble. (Mamiya 7ii, 43mm f4.5, Kodak Tri X)
A phone kiosk next to an Esso service station sign. It's two steel protective guards are bent and the Bell logo is missing from its front. A large Canada Post van is parked near it and an apartment building with a curved corner is further back.
November 26, 2025 at 4:33 PM
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A hotel entrance in Singapore with a convenient outdoor vending machine. (Hasselblad SWC, Zeiss 38mm f4.5 Biogon, Fuji 400H)
A space into three sets of doors, two of them sliding. Script lettering on the doors at the right, a sliding one, reads "Hotel" and there is warm light inside. A red door mat is in front of the door. At the rear is a brightly lit, red and white striped vending machine. To its left are two exterior doors. Their glass is covered over with images of leaves. The ceiling is white with a few random red or black ceiling tiles.
November 26, 2025 at 2:12 AM
ianausten.bsky.social
‪During a trip that involved flying 30,000 km to, from and around Asia; this distinctive kiosk at the Telekom Museum in Kuala Lumpur is the closest I got to a payphone. The building was the British colonial telephone exchange. (Leica M5 on a tripod, 35mm f1.4 ASPH, Fuji Acros 100)
A scene lit by streetlight of a vaguely tulip-shaped payphone kisok without a phone but with a tiny sign reading TELEFON. it is in front of of a light colored stucco building that has narrow but tall and multipaned windows. To the right some steps lead up to double doors also with tall and narrow windows.
November 26, 2025 at 12:10 AM
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This swimming dock the @ncc-ccn.gc.ca opened in Ottawa this year was very popular. In season, there was rarely a time when people were not heading down for dip when I cycled past it. It's in Dow's Lake, a bend in the Rideau Canal (Shen Hao FCL810AC, 210mmf9Computar, @ilfordphoto.com FP4)
In the foreground is a bike path with light colored, squiggly bands inset into its surface. A metal and wood dock with cottage chairs and a Canadian flag is just offshore. Across a small lake is a line of trees.
November 25, 2025 at 7:24 PM
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Leaf Lake, Algonquin Provincial Park near Whitney, Ontario. It's the trailhead for an excellent cross country ski trail system in the winter. The general absence of cars during the rest of the year suggests it offers less great hiking. (Shen Hao FCL810-AC, 210mm f9 Computar, Kodak TXP 320)
A sandy road leading to a clearing surrounded by tall pines with skinny trunks. An outhouse sits at the far end of the clearing. The sun is peeking through the trees at the right.
November 25, 2025 at 3:42 AM
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And a relic of colonial Singpore: a 19th c Catholic convent that's now the Chijmes restaurant complex. I didn't have time to climb the stairs to see where they go and no sign left me the wiser. (Hasselblad SWC, Zeiss 38mm f4.5 Biogon, Fuji 400H)
An ornate, cast iron spiral staircase painted white. The floor has equally elaborate white, black and gray tiles. The wall is white with gray columns. A bit of a table and stool are in the frame.
November 24, 2025 at 10:57 PM
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This restaurant or collection of restaurants in Singapore looked like a modest storefront from the the street but it stretched down most of this block-long interior walkway (Hasselblad SWC, Zeiss 38mm f4.5 Biogon, Fuji 400H)
A view into open doors leading to takeout food places with illuminated menus. rows of table and chairs, all yellow, are in the foreground. Overhead is the light colored underside of a stairway.
November 24, 2025 at 9:23 PM
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The new rest stops on Quebec's autoroute 20 may not have plywood fleur-de-lis above the entrance but they are much better otherwise. This one preserves a tiny bit of their payphone legacy although the space suggests that even more phones were planned. (Hasselblad SWC, Zeiss 38mm f4.5 Biogon, TriX)
A white wall with a dark covered inset containing a single payphone in a space that could accommodate two, maybe more. A insect trapping light is mounted left of the inset. A window opens out onto trees.
November 20, 2025 at 4:40 PM
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Another retailer outdid that with me this week. And, no, that wasn’t my entire order.
November 19, 2025 at 10:19 PM
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Wolfe Island, Ontario which sits in Lake Ontario at the head of the St. Lawrence River. For me, a rare color shot in 8x10. (Shen Hao FCL 810-AC, 190mm f6.3 Kodak Wide Field Ektar, Kodak Portra 160)
A narrow country road with cracked pavement leads out toward the sun with many shaded sections. A large tree to the left sits on the lakeshore.
November 19, 2025 at 4:49 PM
ianausten.bsky.social
A relatively new payphone at the University of Ottawa. (Leica M Monochrom, 50mm f1.2 Noctilux APSH M)
A payphone kiosk on an unpainted concrete block wall with a phone book holder dangling underneath. To the left is a poster about the campus security service. There is a entrance to a Mens' room. And a back lit add with a photo of a woman and the words: Un café avec Judith Fetzer. Some candy vending machines are next to it.
November 19, 2025 at 4:13 AM
ianausten.bsky.social
For a soft Canadian like me, the heat and humidity of Kuala Lumpur, even in late October, was, to put it mildly, excessive. (Hasselblad SWC, Zeiss 38mm Biogon, Fuji 400H)
The side of a buiding plastered in external air conditioning units. Ahead of it are two steel fences In front of them on gravel, mud and a rock are large plastic pails, a traffic cone and a rake. A sign notifies of camera surveillance. In the distance is a tall, glass covered building.
November 19, 2025 at 3:41 AM
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This phone in Barry's Bay, Ontario is on the highway where the payphone madness began over four years ago. I've been past this grocery store many times since but somehow only spotted the phone in August. A friendly watchman was proud of it (Chamonix57N1, Schneider 180mmf5.6 APO Symmar, Kodak TXP320)
A night photo of a wall mounted payphone to the right of a store entrance. A sign above it read: Welcome to Yuill's Valu-Mart. Underneath are a tidy trash bin and a recycling bin. Two empty plastic newspaper boxes for Bancroft This Week and a bagged ice freezer.
November 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
ianausten.bsky.social
5/5 While Kuala Lumpur's new luxury malls are impressive and overwhelming (the camera store in one sold only DJI drones and digital Hasselblads), the Wisma Cosway mall holds its own in a more useful, if modest and dated, way. (Hasselblad SWC, 38mm f4.5 Biogon, Fuji 400H)
Looking down two escalators with yellow warning stripes painted on their treads. There is a colorful row of ads at the bottom.
November 18, 2025 at 12:35 PM
ianausten.bsky.social
4/5 A bit like strip malls in distant North American suburbs, Kuala Lumpur's Wisma Cosway mall provides a low rent home to useful, but likely not highly profitable, businesses. Except it's in the commercial heart of the city. (Hasselblad SWC, 38mm f4.5 Biogon, Fuji 400H)
A storefront of a closed shop. Many gold colored trophys and a fan dominate one window. The other has a lot of glass and chinaware. There is also a rack of pens The sign reads: Himawari Malaysia's leading promotional products specialist.
November 18, 2025 at 12:29 PM
ianausten.bsky.social
3/5 Many of the noodle shops and other restaurants in Kuala Lumpur's Wisma Cosway mall were open and bustling during my early morning visit. There is also a bar, some sort of rooftop bar-cafe and this fine dining restaurant up on the highest level. (Hasselblad SWC, 38mm f4.5 Biogon, Fuji 400H)
A mall hallway with brown tile floors and a metal strip ceiling. Pieces of some sort of plastic cut into squares have been taped to the floor at regular intervals. The windows of one shop front have been blocked by diagonal colored stripes. To the right is a butchering chart of a cow labeled in a character based written language. Small letters below say: Beef Chart. A sticker at the bottom reads: Stamina.
November 14, 2025 at 5:30 PM
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2/5 Kuala Lumpur's Wisma Cosway has become the mall where all the people who work in vast new luxury malls eat, get tailoring, have film developed and get other services. Some presumably relax at this gaming arcade with its very intimidating "eyes". (Hasselblad SWC, 38mm f4.5 Biogon, Fuji 400H)
A brown tiled mall hallway in front of the corner of a blacked out store front. In place of windows there are UV lighting drawings of various computer games. In the corner are a pair of brightly lit orange eyes. They are reflected on the metal ceiling. A bit of a brightly lit shop is at left.
November 14, 2025 at 3:30 AM
ianausten.bsky.social
When Kuala Lumpur's Wisma Cosway Complex opened in during the 70s, I assume its 28 story tower and 4 level shopping mall were a big deal. Now in a city with some of the world's tallest buildings and vast, luxurious malls, it's a bit of a backwater. 1/5 (Hasselblad SWC, 38mm f4.5 Biogon, Fuji 400H)
A shop with large windows and with two signs reading "Fall In Love Tarot" that both make prominent use of pink. There are many small statutes of decorative animals, some in a glass case. A table at the back has a gold, shiny Christmas tree. There is a curtain with character lettering on it presumably to ensure the privacy of customers.
November 13, 2025 at 6:13 PM
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The Indiatown of Kuala Lumpur is to the right, the Chinatown to the left. (Leica M Monochrom, 35mm f1.4 Summilux ASPH)
Night view of an intersection underneath an elevated train line. There are identical LED ad displays on all of its pillars. Broad painted lines marke a crosswalk and and a no gridlock zone. A small house-like building is across the intersection and a shop with a covered walkway is to the right. A few pedestrians are waiting to cross.
November 11, 2025 at 3:45 PM
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A defiant C-Band satellite dish on proud display, if not in use, at the former hotel and tavern in Golden Lake, Ontario on Hwy 60. It's now SRO apartments as far as I can tell. (Mamiya 7ii, 43mm f4.5, Kodak TRIX)
A squat building with narrow, high windows in the foreground. Behind is a two story building with a sloping roof and a sign reading tavern. The squat building has a very large satellite dish on its roof. The sidewalk and road out front curve distinctly to the left.
November 10, 2025 at 3:47 AM
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Inside one of the news media vans following Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada in Gyeongju, South Korea. (Leica M Monochrom, 50mm f1.2 Noctilux ASPH)
Night scene of a windshield being sprayed with cleaning fluid by a driver wearing a cap. A dashcam screen is below the rear view mirror and a phone with a map on the screen is near his right hand.
November 9, 2025 at 10:10 PM
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Granite glory for a trio in an entrance to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway and Central Station, Montreal. I have photographed about 700 phones (I know, I know.) But these are the first I've seen with that extra bezel on the front. (HasselbladSWC, Zeiss38mmf4.5 Biogon, KodakTRIX)
Three payphone in stainless steel kiosks with glass dividers and their phone directories long removed. They are in an alcove with polished dark stone walls.
November 9, 2025 at 3:45 AM
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The Madrid 2.0 service centre, Quebec Autoroute 20 near Drummondville. The photo L shows the original Madrid which it replaced in 2012. It featured monster trucks and life size-ish dinosaur statues now replaced by McDonald's, St. Hubert and Couche Tard. (HasselbladSWC, Zeiss38mmf4.5 Biogon, KodakTX)
A Télébec payphone mounted on a wall next to a ATM. Above them is an insect light. to the left is a photo of a former hotel with portraits made to resemble Polaroids beneath it.
November 8, 2025 at 3:09 AM