A seasoned photographer always has a camera with them and travelling is a great excuse to get some extra practice in. Come join me for some super wide travel shots!
I am a big believer in always having a camera on me, in case I see things I want to take a quick snapshot of. It isn't very practical to lug around a large medium format film camera always, and that is why I recently picked up the tiny Rollei 35s camera (one of the smallest 35mm cameras out there). I will review that camera in an upcoming post.
However, these shots were all taken on my Hasselblad Xpan camera on my journey from from Frankfurt to London by train, and from there onwards to Boston, for our annual rowing camp trip (see last post for shots of that).
I figured I could use up a roll on the trip into London and maybe get some nice shots. The weather was extremely non-cooperative and it poured the whole way through Germany into Belgium, pity as some of the stations along the way have some really great architecture.
All shots taken on Illford HP5+ film. As these are super wide I highly recommend you turn your mobile device sideways for full angle viewing! Enjoy!
6am train to London. I really enjoy the cinematic feel from Xpan shots, especially in black and white!
St. Pancras arrival at midday, I really like the strong contrast in this shot.
A different view of the train platforms at St. Pancras.
The vertical shots don't always work with the Xpan, but this one is a winner...so much going on in this frame! (If you click on the shot it will create one image so you don't have to scroll).
I like how part of this shot shows movement and the other people waiting patiently.
Bit of a busy image, but I like the horizontal view...I caught this snap on the way down a long escalator and just about managed to get everything lined up.
Another half moving / half standstill shot...pretty cool.
Boarding chaos. Bit underexposed, but I left the shot in as I liked it.
Really enjoying how these Ilford HP5 shots came out, really great contrast.
Probably the only happy person amidst the boarding chaos. Nice shot of Eoin!
Overall observations
I really enjoyed taking these shots, probably because I was on holiday! It goes to show you that there are photography possibilities everywhere, even in something as mundane as commuting/transportation. I always enjoy the wide views the Xpan creates and how many different elements you can capture in one frame. I haven't shot Ilford HP5 for a while so it was nice to get that old black & white look again.
Thanks for stopping by and see you next time!
Neil
