join me for a wonderful hike on the german-austrian border with my panoramic camera loaded with rollei infrared and kodak gold 200 colour film.
I went on a long-ish hike a few weeks ago as the weather has been really excellent all the way through September. I packed my gear and heavy tripod and mapped a circular route up to the Geigelstein mountain (1,808m), then down around the back part of it via a beer garden enroute (of course). I took my Linhof Technorama 617S camera along with one roll of Rollei Infrared film and 2 rolls of Kodak Colour 200. I also had my Nikonos 35mm camera with me for some smaller shots with one roll of Kodak Vision 50D film.
If at all possible view these on a laptop or larger screen, the panoramic shots deserve it! Or worse case, turn your phone to landscape mode.
I hiked in the Chiemgauer Alpen area, right near the Chiemsee lake (Bavaria’s largest lake at 80km2), and on the border with Austria. Zoomable map below.
Setting up the shot
Some of the best lighting I have ever seen on a hike. I started early-ish and only saw the most minimal amount of fog/air pollution in the distance, otherwise it was really clear.
Setting the shot up.
I like how this composition came out with a slight valley type view on either side with the mountains and some houses in the distance right in the middle of the shot.
The composition on this shot is not as good, I think the trees are a bit distracting and the mountains in the distance are a bit overexposed. However, if you look right in the middle of the shot, there are some nice shapes as you go through the various layers of the landscape.
I love how the final shot came out. This was take on the summit and there was less high dynamic range in the shot, so I think the colours are better balanced. You can clearly see the path I took to walk up the ridge to get to the base of the summit.
Setting up the next shot on the summit.
The final shot. I was not that close to the edge but it certainly felt high up when I was composing the shot. Great panoramic view.
This was taken enroute down, I think it was my last shot on the roll. I was looking for a “new” composition, which is hard to do on a panoramic camera looking at the same set of mountain ranges. I thought the houses at the bottom of the image made a nice middle scene in the shot.
Just to show off the crazy resolution of the large format lens that sits on the front of the Linhof Technorama 617
The colour gradient is a bit off in this shot but I still really like it. I wonder if it has to do with the time of day and how bright it was, however that is the beauty of film you never really know what you’re gonna get!
the infrared shots
After the debacle with my last set of infrared shots whilst out hiking-and-carrying-a-ridiculous-amount-of-weight-in-camera-gear, I was absolutely delighted that these came out well. I am always fascinated but the infrared effect and how it makes for such interesting compositions (when it works!).
A bit of flare on the Linhof lens but otherwise a really cool shot.
A bit overexposed (not sure why). This was the path taken on the way up.
Taken just at the base of the summit, I like how out-of-this-world this shot makes me feel when I look at it.
Taken from the summit. A bit of flare and what seem to be airplane trails.
the 35mm shots
For this trip I also brought along my Nikonos 35mm camera and some Kodak Vision 50D film. A gallery selection of shots below.
overall observations
Other than spending multiple hours thinking about how I definitely need to buy a lighter tripod setup, these are some of the best hiking film images I have ever taken. I immensely enjoyed the hike, despite the 15kg backpack, and found some real zen moments in working through the compositions and enjoying the view. It is becoming increasingly challenging to take interesting panoramic compositions in the vast expanse of mountain views and I am enjoying looking around more and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. The external Linhof viewfinder is great because it means I can scope out a composition without having to take all the gear out, I simply have it hanging around my neck as I hike.
I am also super pleased that the infrared shots work, I was massively disappointed on the last hike, although I think it has something to do with the angle of the sun or other environmental factors rather than any development or exposure issues. However, despite the risk of getting it “wrong” with such a heavy gear, I still really enjoy infrared film because you really don’t know exactly how it is going to turn out.
Thanks for spending the time reading such a long blog post and for tagging along on the journey!
See you next time,
Neil
