Contact Sheets from Mt Rainier National Park

Four new rolls, all of them from my trip to Mt Rainier National Park (#54 and #56 include a few shots from Porltand and Mt Hood though).

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Roll 52

Film: Bergger Pancro 400 rated at 400
Camera and lenses: Bronica SQ-Ai, 50mm f/3.5, 150mm f/4 and 250mm f/5.6
Developer: Kodak D76 1:1, 12 minutes and 15 seconds at 24C
Scanner: Epson V600
Location: Mt Rainier Ntl Park

I'd had these two rolls of Pancro here forever. I bought them among many other stocks months ago when I was getting started, trying to find one that I could call "the special one". Unfortunately for the french film, I chose HP5 even before shooting Pancro. Not only did I love the stock from Ilford, but it was $1.25 cheaper per roll.

I wasn't going to waste these rolls though, so I decided to shoot one of them on a fairly bright cloudy day in Washington. I shot it at the rated speed of 400: both to see how it looks "by default" and because I wasn't sure how it'd react to pushing.

But contact sheet #52 is the result. It's not enough for me to judge this stock, but I like the contrast. Blacks are really black. I didn't like how badly it curled though.

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Roll 53

Film: Ilford HP5+ 400 rated at 1600
Camera and lenses: Bronica SQ-Ai, 50mm f/3.5 and 150mm f/4
Developer: Kodak D76 stock, 14 minutes at 20C
Scanner: Epson V600
Location: Mt Rainier Ntl Park

Not as many things to say about this roll. I shot most of it at Grove of the Patriarchs - a short hike in the park through a forest of old growth, big Douglas Fir and fallen trees.

I was expecting a dark trail, so I shot it at 1600. Even at that ASA, I had to shoot most of the pictures with the lens wide open (3.5 on my 50mm) and slow shutter speeds. I was afraid of getting some blur (I was shooting handheld) but the results are good enough.

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Roll 54

Film: Ilford HP5+ 400 rated at 800
Camera and lenses: Bronica SQ-Ai, 50mm f/3.5 and 150mm f/4
Developer: Kodak D76 1+1, 11 minutes at 24C
Scanner: Epson V600
Location: Mt Rainier Ntl Park and Portland

When I finished this roll, I was convinced it was the best I'd shot so far with the Bronica. And I wasn't wrong.

I absolutely love the first frame (so much that it's on the front page of this website now), but also like a lot the ones I took of the Paradise Lodge with Mt Rainier in the background. And we are still half way through the roll.

Two shots of one of the most photogenic waterfalls I've ever seen (only second to Multnomah Falls): Christine Falls.

And even though the shots of the clouds I took from the rooftop back in Portland a few days later didn't turn out to be as good as I thought they'd be, I still like them. Making this, as I said, my personal favorite roll so far.

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Roll 56

Film: Arista EDU 400 rated at 400
Camera and lenses: Holga 120N
Developer: Kodak D76 1+1, 13 minutes at 20C
Scanner: Epson V600
Location: Mt Rainier Ntl Park and Mt Hood Ntl Forest

I haven't shot the Holga as much as I'd hoped lately, but I had this roll of Arista I hadn't shot yet so I decided to load it in the Holga and shoot the Paradise area in Mt Rainier.

I'm still trying to learn how to shoot this camera, the distortion is very severe on some these shots. I still like some, #1, #4, #5 and especially #7. But my favorite has to be #2. It's hard to tell but you can see the reflection of massive Mt Rainier on the glass of the building.

The rest of the roll was an underexposed shot of Christine Falls and 4 shots from two different trips to Mt Hood. Yes, #10 is a picture of a portable potty.