Today, we’re featuring a beautiful travel story from Taylor Blanchard of her time in Banff National Park. Here is more from Taylor about capturing her trip to Canada on film…
We visited Banff National Park in Alberta in early October – a shoulder season between the summer crowds and ski season. Our timing was impeccable to see the aspens and larch trees popping in their fall yellow-orange glory.
Banff is so expansive and vast and often feels impossible to capture with a camera. Again and again, I found myself reaching for our most wide angle cameras: the Reto Ultra Slim and Wide and the Zero Image Pinhole 6×9. With the glacier-fed lakes and yellow trees, I shot plenty of color; however, I also love monochrome landscapes and always had black and white film in at least one camera.
Analog cameras and films used: Rolleiflex Automat MX-EVS (Find at KEH Camera or on eBay), Zero Image Pinhole 6×9 (Find at zeroimage.com), Reto Ultra Wide and Slim (Find on Amazon), Minolta Maxxum 7000 (Find at KEH Camera or on eBay), Holga 120 GCFN (Find on Amazon) | Kodak Portra 160 (Find on Amazon), Kodak Portra 400 (Find on Amazon), Kodak Gold 200 (Find on Amazon), Fuji Pro 400H (Find on Amazon), Fuji Acros 100 (Find on Amazon), FPP Svema Foto 100 (Find at Film Photography Project), Ilford SFX 200 (Find on Amazon)
Connect with Taylor: Instagram
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Blog Comments
Mert Jones
May 3, 2023 at 4:46 pm
Beautiful work, Taylor!!! The image are ethereal, beautiful texture too.
Taylor
May 6, 2023 at 1:18 am
Thank you Mert! ❤️
Gary
May 5, 2023 at 1:45 am
Some of the photos are sharp (yes, I know…) and worthy of printing, and others are blurry. I assume the sharp ones were taken with the Minolta SLR. I honestly can’t see the benefit of shooting landscapes with an inferior camera. (Pinholes are different, and have their own charms.)
Taylor
May 6, 2023 at 1:02 am
Hi Gary – thank you for your comment! I also shot many of these with a Rolleiflex MX-EVS – I must have forgotten to list it. I also shot my 4×5 in Banff; those photos are in my article about 4×5. I was actually surprised by the crispness of the images with the Reto Ultra Wide and Slim. One of the reasons I used that camera is it’s so easy to quickly shoot while hiking. One final thought: I’ve printed countless images from my Holga in the darkroom with excellent results. Yes, there is some vignetting and image sharpness falloff at the corners. I think that adds to the charm, although I know not everyone feels that way.
Gary
May 6, 2023 at 3:00 am
Thanks, Taylor. That’s a lot of cameras to haul with you for a brief meetup with an old friend! I’ll have to check out the cameras you mention. If you’re after sharp images, as I usually am, which of these would you recommend? (Other than the 4×5, of course, with its unsurpassed image quality.)
Taylor Blanchard
May 9, 2023 at 12:50 am
Hi Gary! I think the Rolleiflex MX-EVS is incredibly sharp. I bought it about 7 years ago because Harry Fleenor, who is a well-known Rollei repair expert, recommended the Automat line. It’s a f3.5 and not the highly saught after f2.8 line, and it doesn’t have a built-in light meter, but it’s also much more affordable in the second hand market. I’m also a sucker for TLRs. It’s tough because as you know, the film camera market is very pricey right now. Of the other cameras I have, the Minolta Maxxum is very affordable right now and you can pick up lenses and accessories easily.