For my 40th birthday, my girlfriend and I decided to go on a trip to Iceland and drive the Ring Road. I was psyched for ten days in one of the most photogenic countries in the world. Black sand beaches, glaciers, rolling hills, moss covered volcanic rock, farms, small towns, cities, and who knows what else. I did a little bit of research but I didn’t know what to expect. What would the weather be like? How much actual daylight would we have in late October? How close could I really get to an Icelandic horse? Would it rain the entire trip? How cold is 4 degrees Celsius? Should I shoot film or digital?
I decided to shoot all film. I know digital would have been easier, and require less gear but I truly love shooting film – both the look and the act. To me, shooting film is almost a Zen approach to photography. I like “being in the now,” just looking through the lens, taking the photo, and moving on – not looking at the back of the camera and overthinking small details. I felt that the look of film would do justice to such a serene and magical place like Iceland. Plus, this was a vacation, not a job. I didn’t have to deliver anything to anyone, I was just shooting for myself and having fun.
Cameras and Gear
I just had to figure out exactly what I wanted to bring with me and keep it all to one bag. I decided to pack my Pentax 645, Canon Elan 7e, Canonet QL19, my trusty Canon AE-1 program that I’ve had since I was 14, and every lens I had from the widest fisheye to the furthest zoom. I also packed my Canon 5D so my girlfriend could use that instead of her iPhone. I figured I’d be doing a lot of landscapes and long exposures, so I brought a Manfrotto 3021 Pro tripod with 3030 head and cable releases for the cameras. I even packed a Gossen hand held light meter and a Canon 430EXII speedlight just to be safe. I managed to fit all of that plus a MacBook pro into my Chrome Niko Camera Pack, which meant I could have all my camera gear as my carry-on luggage (minus the tripod, that was in my checked luggage).
Film
Now I needed to get film, but what kind should I bring and how much would I need for ten days? I decided to get Kodak Ektar 100 for the Pentax medium format because it would be nice for warm colors if I wanted to shoot during a sunny day. Also, sunrises or sunsets are pretty nice with Kodak film. I got Fuji Velva 50 for the Elan 7e. I thought the cool tones delivered by the Velvia 50 would be nice if it was rainy or overcast, and it would also be a great choice for shooting glaciers or doing long exposures at night. Plus, I could do longer exposures of waterfalls during the day. I loaded the Canonete with Kodak Portra 800 because I wanted a fast versatile film in the little camera that I would have slung around my neck at all times. Finally, I picked up some Fuji Natura 1600 for my AE-1 program just in case the 800 wasn’t fast enough for shooting handheld at night. I just had to figure out how much to buy. I decided on 14 rolls of the Ektar, two rolls of the Natura, and five rolls each of the Velvia and Portra. That was 642 frames for 10 days in a place where I had no idea what to expect. Was this enough film? I couldn’t just dump the rolls onto my laptop, format them and have the counter go back down to one if I needed more frames.
Shooting Strategy
Once in Iceland, the system I came up with was pretty simple. I kept the Canonet with me in the front seat so I could grab it at any time. I kept the Niko in the back of our little rented SUV. When we saw something cool or interesting, I would go to the back of the car and grab what I thought I wanted. The way the bag opens is great, it unzips all the way around so you can see all the bodies and lenses without having to dig. I also packed an empty Tenba Messenger Camera Bag in my checked luggage. If we had to hike a bit to a waterfall or were walking around the city, I could grab a body and have few lens options with me.
The Wait
Once I got back to DC, I dropped off the rolls to be developed and scanned. It killed me to have to wait a week to see my photos. I was anxious. What if the photos came out terrible? What if my focus was off on every frame? What if the cameras weren’t shooting properly? What if my metering was off? What if there was camera shake? What if I forgot to take the lens cap off for every single picture?! When I got the call that my film was in and I got home, I was excited and a little nervous. I started importing everything into Lightroom and organizing. Everything was looking good aside from seven frames of what were probably the friendliest, most fearless sheep in all of Iceland. I don’t know what I did wrong but all the photos I took of this group of sheep came out so underexposed which is something that wouldn’t have happened if I was shooting digital. The frames before and after these shots looked great so I had no one to blame but myself. I must have gotten so excited that these sheep weren’t running away from us that I just wasn’t paying attention to my metering. Aside from that, I was very happy with everything.
The Results
The different cameras and types of film I brought helped create very different feels to the same locations. Shooting glaciers with the Canonet/Portra/handheld combination produced photos that had a grainy, dark, contrasted quality to them. The same exact glaciers shot with the Elan 7e/Velvia/Tripod combination looked very soft and had a different color range that brought out more greys and purples than the previous combination. In Lightroom, I would make basic density and color corrections just like I used to do in the darkroom. I tried to keep the adjustments to a minimum and let the qualities of film and camera make the image. The look of film is just something that can’t be easily duplicated with digital.
*Follow Jeff Marsala on Instagram at @JeffMarsalaPhotography
