Africa and Film

In September 2019, I had the opportunity to go to the Masai Mara, Africa with my dad for a two-week Earthwatch Expedition working with scientists and eight other volunteers to research lions and their prey. Each day, we embarked on a rough journey in two jeeps which spent little time on paved roads. Most of the time we were navigating between trees, around prickly shrubs, up steep hills, over small boulders,  and among free-roaming wildlife. I passed towers of giraffes that grazed on the treetops; mother and baby elephants with the males trailing behind; and hundreds of zebras and wildebeest as they worked together in mass to protect themselves from the lions.

I struggled with which cameras to bring for my first visit to Africa. I have seen so many images of this landscape, and thought I understood it, but nothing could have prepared me for what it felt like to see giraffes and zebras lining the roads.

I decided upon my Mamiya C330 twin lens reflex, medium format with a square 6x6cm image. It’s an ancient camera that was a gift. It has no batteries and the viewing image is flipped. Any light metering has to be done with an external meter which I used from an iPhone app, though I should have brought my Pentax spot meter. I used one lens, 80mm f/2.8, which has become my go-to lens.

The camera is burdensome to set up, but once I do, the results can be stunning. There is a crispness and dreamy quality laying over one another and I can never be sure what exactly will turn up on the contact sheet. I love this camera and this was the first time I've shot with it in years.

I also brought my Contax T3 point and shoot 35mm. It’s about the size of my hand, with a fixed wide-angle lens that also opens up to f/2.8. I can be a bit looser with this camera since there are 36 shots on the roll, versus 12 on the Mamiya C330.

Here are a few of my film favorites. I did have some iPhone favorites as well, posted below, but the images lack a bit of mystery and happy accidents that I get with film.

Film Images

 iPhone Images