The American Southwest on 35mm Film

The southwest is surely the most spectacular place in the continental United States. Years of touring brought me close enough for a peek, but I knew I had to find a way to spend some time taking it in. Lucky for me, a friend of mine was driving from Toronto to Nevada for Burning Man and offered me a seat for a camping trip on his way out. These photos are some of my favourite film shots from that journey. All are available as prints on my shop.

We started in Colorado for our first hike, feeling prepared and fit, we tackled a fourteen thousand foot beast known as Mount Elbert. This was a mistake for our first hike as no one was acclimatized to the attitude yet. On the way to summit, I nearly gave up 3 times and turned around, but with my friend’s encouragement I summited the frickin thing through darkened eyes and a nauseous stomach.

Shot on a Leica M6 TTL with mostly Portra 160 with a 35mm f2, Voigtlander 50mm f1.5, or a Leica 90mm f2.



New York on Kodak Vision3 Cine Film

I took a few rolls of Kodak Vision3 500T motion picture film spooled for 35mm stills with me to New York. My intention was to just walk around Manhattan and take photos. Strangely, I found myself enjoying shooting more in the subway system than anywhere else in the city. 

This film stock in particular was well suited to shooting in the subway since it is tungsten balanced. It’s the film stock that Cinestill processes to Cinestill 800T. In its original form however it does not create red halation in red highlights. The grain is incredibly fine and the colours are fantastic. I can’t recommend it enough.

Shot on Leica M6 TTL.

Processed & scanned by QWD Lab in Philadelphia.

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