Black and white photography is anything but colourless and dull.

I brought a vintage Yashica Electro 35 GSN along with me during my trip to Pulau Tioman. It's a film camera made in 1970.

Shooting in film may be considered a thing of the past by many. But shooting in film – black and white film in particular – poses new creative challenges. Firstly, it teaches one to look for contrasts in subjects, such as dark-coloured deck chairs on white sand. Secondly, you learn to take advantage of times during the day when there are long shadows.

With only black and white tones, you're also forced to look for objects with different textures to make your pictures stand out – for example, wood grain on floorboards and thatched roofs. Furthermore, you're limited to 36 exposures – each exposure becomes an exercise in putting more thought into your picture composition and shooting only what is necessary rather than the shoot-first-think-later instant gratification that digital photography has brought about.

The experience of holiday photography in black and white was a good lesson in looking beyond the orange glows of sunset or the stunning blue sea for photo opportunities, and learning to see that the lack of colour is not a limitation, but a way of seeing things as they really are.

Photos: Hannah Teoh