A last minute Easter break to the Black Forest (Schwarzwald auf Deutsch) sees some spectacular views, a crazy treetop walk, and of course, lots of spas!
Heading south from Frankfurt for about 2 and a half hours you reach Bad Wilbad, a small town of about 11,000 inhabitants nestled between the rolling hills of the Black Forest. Known for its luxurious spas, Bad Wilbad is also popular with hill walkers and mountain bike enthusiasts.
The Black Forest is in the south western corner of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, and is about 150km long and 60km at its widest. It is bordered by the town of Baden-Baden (so good they named it twice!) to the north and Freiburg to the south.
From a film perspective, I chose the Fuji 160NS due to its large exposure latitude, which would be useful for the changeable weather we experienced over Easter. I also thought it would be good at bringing out all the various shades of green in the Black Forest.
As always, all photographs are clickable for full screen view. Enjoy!
Steep funicular railway heading up from Bad Wilbad to the top where the crazy treetop walk is. Nice and bright greens in this shot.
Nice closeup, I really like how clear this shot is!
View from the hotel with the funicular on the top left of the shot.
I really like how the colours came out in this shot - look how bright it is! Definitely one of my favourites shot of the week. This film must be really good on a bright day for portrait shots.
Another really nice shot, with nicely displayed colours. The tram goes along the main road and finishes in Bad Wilbad.
The beginning of the treetop walk, a wonderful piece of German engineering. The walk stretches up and into the trees for about 1km, before finishing up at a circular walkway that goes high and above the trees, with a slide in the middle! Actually the rays of light were stronger in reality, I probably did not expose this shot as well as I could have. However, with some post processing (which I did not do here), it would bring all the detail out.
The walk snakes in between the trees.
Gradually getting higher and higher.
At the end of the walk this is what you come across. It has 8 levels and trust me, it takes a while to get to the top.
Leaning over the edge to get this one, looking down from about 2 levels beneath the top, with the slide going through the middle.
A view out into the dense forest, so many different shades of green to look at!
Shot from the bottom up.
I actually did not really get the exposure right on the original shot, but liked it so much I edited it slightly in post processing. I was really surprised how much green the film captured that I was able to rescue.
Shot across the valley from the top of the funicular railway.
A traditional Black Forest farmhouse.
Trees, trees, and more trees.
The town of Baden-Baden, en-route back to Frankfurt.
The world famous Black Forest Gateau - very amusing to order this in German, it isn't easy the first time round!
Overall impressions
I was very pleased with the results of this film, especially given the changing lighting conditions. It is true that it does have a very large exposure latitude, and if properly exposed in bright weather the results are quite stunning. I was impressed by how well it captured all the various shades of green you see in the Black Forest. As with other Fuji professional films, you certainly get what you pay for.
Some say it is called the Black Forest because it gives off a darker green (which it does), others say it is because the forest is so dense sunlight cannot penetrate it (also somewhat true). Either way, it really is a wonderful place to visit.
Back to the film, I will definitely keep some of this in the fridge for summer time shooting, and try it out for portraits. And speaking of portraits, Week 27 is in development and is my first try at family portraits - fingers crossed for some good shots!
Now go back out there and take some more photographs!
All the best,
Neil
