Ilford Film in Yellowstone
Winter is coming! That means it’s time for snowy shoots. Last winter, I hit up Lamar Valley in Yellowstone and had an incredible experience photographing the bison in winter, and overall exploring this amazing location in its off-season. Very few people were in the park in early February, which made our experience even better. See the entire gallery here!
One of the things I did while I was there was snap some images with my Rolleiflex. This camera was made in 1956 and is still in perfect working condition. Everytime I pull it out around other photographers, it always grabs their attention. It’s amazing that while this camera is older than my parents, it still works as it did the day it was manufactured. It shoots 120 film, which is easily available.
For my time in Yellowstone, I threw a roll of Ilford HP5+ film in the Rolleiflex. This black and white filmstock is rated at 400, so it’s a very easy film to shoot and develop. I was going for a bit more grain and low-res from my film shots to contrast my tact-sharp images on my Sony A7RIV, so I shot it and developed it as if it was 800.
If you’re unfamiliar with what it means to push film, let me explain it. Basically, when you shoot film you use a light meter (or skills from your experiences) to determine what your settings should be. You set your film speed (in this case, 400) on the light meter, and maybe your aperture, and the meter will tell you the shutter speed for a proper exposure. I actually have only ever used the Photo Light & Exposure Meter App, and it has never let me down.
When you push film, you meter it at a stop higher. In the case of Ilford HP5+ 400, I metered it at 800. This will actually lower the exposure, underexposing by one stop. When you’re done shooting, you write +1 on the film. When you develop it, you cook it a little longer (this is the push), thus bringing that underexposed image back to a normal exposure. Yet when you do this, you’ll typically get increased contrast and more grain than you would if you exposed the film the way it was meant to be exposed.
With the film loaded and settings dialed in, I began shooting as I normally would. The lens on the Rolleiflex is 75mm, but that’s not really what it is to 35mm shooter. Medium format lenses have a crop, and in the case of the Rolleiflex being 6x6 film, the formula is (Xmm x 0.55). Therefore my 75mm is actually 41mm, which is a fairly wide lens. Since it’s wide, most of my photos from around Yellowstone are just landscapes. I didn’t want to risk getting too close to the wildlife because, you know… death and dismemberment.
When I got my photos back, I learned a few things. Anytime you shoot with film, you really don’t know what’s happening until you get your film developed. This was my first time shooting Ilford HP5+ in the snow, and metering in the snow is much different than normal metering. When you’re shooting in snow, you want to over-expose a bit. This makes the white of the snow really pop and makes the images very bright.
While I was hoping for grainy images, I ended up trading more grain for increased contrast, something that isn’t great in snowy landscapes. I think if I had to redo this roll, I would shoot it at 400 and gone for less grain and less contrast.
This isn’t to say that these shots were a waste. I still like them, but rest assured that the next time I shoot black and white film in the snow, I’m going to do things a little differently. And honestly, that’s what this blog is about. Always be learning. Always evaluate. Always grow. When I have things turn out different than I expected or hoped for, I quickly deal with the disappointment and move onto the education. Not everything is within my control, but I can certainly learn to improve the things that are.
Winter is on the horizon, which means snowy shoots. I plan to shoot much more film this year than I ever have, and I plan to learn from every box of film I shoot.
Want to see more of my film photos? Check out my film gallery!