Snowmobiling And Making Photos
January 1st, 2022, at 12 o'clock, I was more or less forced to go on a snowmobiling outing. The turnaround from having to agree to go and leaving was quick. Before I had even accepted the fact that I was part of this excursion, we were offloading the snowmobiles. Luckily the great Kelley Hawke and her soon-to-be cousin-in-law Tallie joined, which meant one incredible thing. We would have to stay close to the tracks. This is a rare occurrence; snowmobiling with the unnamed leader is usually represented by a mass struggle fighting against the elements and seeing who can cause the first avalanche. Staying on the tracks made the outing quite enjoyable.
Even though we were rushed out the door, I had time to pack up my entire camera bag, hoping to take a few photos. Our lunch location ended up being one of the most incredible places I have seen. I shot with 3 cameras; my trusty canon ae 1 with some black and white film, which I have yet to develop because amazon has slowed down delivery times. They don't sell chemicals at your local rite aid. I shot one roll of Portra 800 in my Mamiya 645. These are what you are seeing in this article. Finally, I shot a roll of color plus 200 in my new point and shoot Nikon L35AF. However, tragedy struck yesterday morning when I was unloading the camera. The debate is ongoing whether it was a user error or a camera rewound error. Still, those 36 exposures will never be seen. As I opened up the back of the camera to see the film still out, panic hit, and I knew immediately those frames were gone forever.
It was a tough pill to swallow especially seeing how nice the medium format pictures turned out. But that is the excitement of shooting on film; there are no guarantees. I scanned and turned all these negatives into positives, which means they could probably look even better. Still, I am just starting my journey with having complete control of my own film. Slowly transitioning from an active Pauls photos lab to Berto's self lab.
"Photography involves a series of related mechanical, optical, and chemical processes which lie between the subject and the photograph of it." (Ansel Adams)