Bavaria by Gravel
Join me for a gravel tour around southern bavaria and into austria with a single roll of black & white film and my trustyworthy small olympus xa2 camera.
For a long and unusually warm weekend in October, I went on a gravel riding trip with my mate and partner in crime Dan to the south of Bavaria and into Austria. Our aim was simple “gravel & beers”, and I think we were successful at both. The trip saw us travel the long way round from Murnau to Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Day 1, then onto Reutte in Austria via the picturesque Plansee on Day 2, and returning to Murnau via a direct route on Day 3 for the return train trip to Munich.
Along with my gravel bike, I had a backpack and my Olympus XA2 camera loaded with a single roll of Agfa APX 100 film. I quite like black and white landscape shots, however I was a bit disappointed I didn’t have any colour film with me this time as some of the colours were saw, especially the lakes, were really vivid. Thankfully i had my phone with me (as did Dan) so at the end of the post I have included some digital snaps.
The cycling routes we took.
Hours of gravel riding fun.
This shot was completely over exposed but I really like how it feels.
There were many rolling hills.
And flowing rivers, lakes, and empty river beds.
I know shooting directly in the sun is a no-no, but I live dangerously.
A quick photo stop at Ettal Abbey.
Day 2 saw us head out towards the Zugspitze and onto Reutte in Austria, an amazing day trip.
Quite overexposed sky but I like how it came out. A route through a nice valley enroute from Reutte in Austria back into Germany.
phone snaps
I feel a bit like I am cheating but putting these up on a film/analogue only blog, however given my poor choice of film and no back up colour film, it would be amiss not to put up some phone captured shots given the excellent weather and lighting. Photo credits go to my mate Dan who took many of these (and had to put up with me stopping multiple times to take a decent 35mm black & white shot).
overall observations
It goes without saying we had a great weekend. Whilst it was fun to take along my super small Olympus XA2 camera, it wasn’t the easiest thing to operate and think about when in the middle of cycling. I have seen photos of cyclists with expensive cameras around their bodies, however it doesn’t take away from the fact that it is near impossible to take a decent shot when moving and it necessitates stopping and thinking about composition, etc.
Regardless though, I really enjoyed seeing the developed shots and it brought back some cool memories, which is the whole point of this blog in some sense. Note to self: always keep some cheap and cheerful Kodak Gold colour film in the fridge “just in case”.
Thanks for joining us along our gravel trip in Bavaria/Austria!
Cheers,
Neil
