Stopping over in Frankfurt en route up north, I took the opportunity to meet some fellow analogue photographers and visit the incredible ‘Sprudelhof’ spa in Bad Nauheim. Join me for a look back in time with plenty of cameras to look at too!
We stopped off in Frankfurt for the weekend en route up north and I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with some photographer friends and be given the chance to visit the famous spa town of Bad Nauheim and its ‘Sprudelhof’ spa, the largest example of closed Art Nouveau architecture in Germany.
I really enjoyed the few hours of photograph at the ‘Sprudelhof’ with Volker, Roland, Jim, and Dom.
A bit more about the location
Bad Nauheim is a town of c.30,000 about 35km north of Frankfurt. It is world famous for its salt springs and a special type of spa bath through which carbon dioxide is bubbled (which makes sense when you see the enormous C02 tanks later in this post). Curiously, the town also has an annual Elvis Presley festival, as Elvis actually lived in Bad Nauheim during his time with the US Army. More information on this fascinating town can be found here.
The spa (‘Sprudelhof’) was built between 1905-1911, comprising of six bathhouses and a total of 265 bathing units. The whole area is formed around a courtyard complex fully preserved in its original form. Unfortunately the weather was less that cooperative and there was a large amount of building works being completed outside, which limited where we could photograph. However, on the bright side, we were given direct access to some of the bath houses and internal courtyards, as well as the fascinating C02 tank building. The shot below shows an aerial view of the courtyard (reference: https://sprudelhof-therme.org/)
A bit more about my setup
For this trip I brought along my Linhof Master Technika 4x5 camera with 90mm, 150mm, and 270mm lenses. All large format shots taken on Fomapan 100 film. I also borrowed Jim’s Fuji GS645 camera so I was testing that out (with a roll of Kodak Portra 400 & Ilford HP5).
All shots are clickable for full screen view, which I highly recommend in particular for the large format shots!
A series of phone shots showing our various camera setups - there was some serious gear on this trip!
My first large format shot of the day - an internal courtyard area. The lighting was a bit flat, but I really like how the image came out.
I love the detail in this shot.
A selection of shots taken with the Fuji GS645, a great travel medium format camera.
I found the final shot a bit disappointing. I started with the wide 90mm lens, but there was too much going on around the sides of the frame to make it an interesting shot. In the end I used a longer lens, but the final image is just OK in my mind.
When you run out of things to photograph, start taking photos of other cameras!
Some more shots of the area in and around the Sprudelhof. Shot on Ilford HP5 film with a Fuji GS645 camera.
We were also allowed special access into a massive room with the largest tank I have ever seen. Apparently it is a C02 tank, which I think is used for some of the special spa baths. I am not sure if it is still in use or not, but it was really impressive to look at.
This is one of my favourite shots of the day, taken on Jim’s Fuji GS645 - I just love the contrast.
This shot took ages to setup. Not only was it very hard to meter for the lighting, but it was near impossible to frame the shot. The max aperture wide open on the Linhof is f5.6, which usually is fine but not with such a dark scene - I could barely see anything on the ground glass.
I am thrilled with the result, it came out better than I expected.
I really like how this shot came out, there was such a striking difference in lighting across the scene.
A few more shots from the Fuji GS645 camera - really nice black & white shots!
A selection of phone shots of the tank area.
Some bonus shots of Frankfurt, as I went for an early morning photo walk to try out Jim’s excellent Fuji GS645 camera.
Overall observations
I had a really productive photography day on the visit to Bad Nauheim. Not only did I visit somewhere I would never have thought of visiting, we also had special access to some of the interior rooms and bath areas of this large complex. It was also great to spend time with other analogue photographs and watch (and learn) how they approach their photography. Nothing like a good geek out over film cameras!
Bad Nauheim is a lovely town, in fact I have been there before when it was much sunnier - throwback to my old 52 rolls of film project and some shots taken in Bad Nauheim here.
However, I had never visited the ‘Sprudelhof’ and I really enjoyed taking the time to explore and take some large format shots. I would like to thank Volker for organizing this trip.
See you next time!
Neil
