Analog Journey #1 – Travel in France
Arguably, the picture below was the first one I took after a long hiatus from shooting film (if you don't count disposable cameras).
During a trip to southern France, we stopped in Nice and decided to visit a local flea market. There, I found a guy selling camera gear for quite cheap. I came across a working Canon T70 with a 35–70mm kit lens. It wasn't anything special, but we were travelling, and I thought it would be nice to take some film photos while on the trip.
I tried to purchase the camera using my broken French (even though I technically have a B2 certificate), which led to some confusion when my "60" was mistaken for "50." After a minute of confused back-and-forth, I realised I'd somehow managed to pay only €50, so I quietly accepted my luck and left. We then stopped by a nearby camera shop to pick up some Kodak Gold and Portra.
The first roll I shot was Kodak Gold, which produced the photo above. Here are a few more snapshots from Nice, Cannes, and Monaco.
Southern France and Monaco - Kodak Gold 200 - Canon T70 with 35-70mm lens
For comparison, here are the pictures I took at the same locations with a mirrorless camera (Canon R10 and Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8).
Digital Photos for Reference - Canon R10 with Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8
Later on, we travelled further north to Paris. I decided to explore the local vintage lens scene. With a little bit of convincing, I managed to sell the 35–70mm for €30 and used the proceeds to buy a Canon 50mm f/1.4 S.S.C. lens. Now I was much better equipped! With a faster prime lens mounted, it finally felt worth loading the more expensive Portra 400.
Paris - Kodak Portra 400 - Canon T70 with 50mm f/1.4 S.S.C. lens
For better or worse, I got too carried away with the shiny new f/1.4 lens, which meant that many shots turned out out-of-focus. As I was still learning how to use the split-prism/micro-prism combo, I missed the focus on quite a few shots. However, the ones I shot in bright light using higher apertures turned out fine. Most of the pictures I took were portraits of my girlfriend, though, so I will not be sharing them here.
Digital Photos for Reference - Canon R10 with Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8
In the end, this trip served a great purpose: bringing me back to film photography. And also to delight my palate with great wine and cheese 😄