"Morvan Secret" by Benjamin Arias and Loris Fae with the Lomography Color Negative 120

Two passionate advocates of analogue photography, Benjamin Arias and Loris Fae, took advantage of a short getaway in Morvan in order to capture the magical landscapes. During their little adventure, they brought with them some medium format cameras and a few rolls of 120 films: the Lomography Color Negative 800 and the Lomography Color Negative 400. Benjamin now discusses the days they spent in the wild.

Morvan Secret, a Micro and Wild Adventure

In September 2020, Loris and I (Benjamin) had only one thing in mind - Go on a adventure outside of Paris in order to recharge our batteries, take our time and enjoy the nature. The choice was easily made and we opted for a long weekend in the Morvan region. It is a little mountain massif in Bourgogne. Just like we previously did in Iceland, Serbia or Scotland, we left with our tents and all of our camping equipment for an exclusive medium format photography weekend.

Loris brought along his Mamiya C220 (6x6) and his Kiev 60 (6x6), while I carried my Yashica D (6x6) and my Pentax 6x7. And well, I though that if we were to have a full analogue experience, I might as well document the process with the Canon 514xl, a Super 8 camera that I never tried out before and got for 10€ on a flea market.

Day 1: We met down my street at 7 am and took the road, the sky was gloomy and remained this way even upon our arrival two and a half hours later. However, we appreciated that atmosphere, and we anticipated the situation as we brought 6 rolls of the Lomography Color Negative 800 films, as well as the Lomography Color Negative 400 film in case of a sunny spell. We were used to the Lomo 400 that I personally adore, but it was our first time using the Lomo 800 so we did not really know what to expect - even though we heard only positive feedback. I will admit right now, we clearly were not disappointed.

We discovered a spot next to a lake, in a deserted, humid and magnificent area. We prepared our lunch with the help of our camping stove, and started considering this place as our sleeping corner for the night. We made use of the afternoon to explore the surroundings and we understood that we made the right choice by opting for the 800 ISO film, as the lighting seems weak, particularly in the woods we explored. After using a few rolls, we decided to return to the lake in order to pitch our tents. It was in the autumn, so the sun went down quite early, and after preparing the dinner with our headlamps, we decided it was finally time to sleep.

Day 2: In the morning, the sky remained quite gray, the clouds were low and the top of surrounding pine trees was veiled by the brume. We spent the day taking photos with the Lomo 800 film, and we also tried out some black and white rolls we had kept in our bags. Towards the end of the day, while searching for a new spot, we realized that our first sleeping camp was still probably the best option, as it was a beautiful location. Since it was only a few kilometers away, we decided to return. The weather forecasts were promising, as we should be able to see the sun on the next morning. However, the night was expected to be freezing, so we prepared ourselves with a little campfire in order to gain strength before getting into our sleeping bags, designed to support a minimal temperature of 0°.

Day 3: Indeed, the night was extremely cold, and the thin iced layer recovering the interior of our tents made it quite obvious. However, the atmosphere that we had been waiting for so long finally arrived... The sun was rising through an heavy morning fog, dancing across the lake. We gobbled our breakfast and we grasped our cameras, using films after films. We could finally start using the Lomo 400 to capture the scenery. After two hours, and with a little amount of rolls left, we packed up all of our belongings, and decided to go look for ever prettier locations benefiting from the sunlight.

Towards the end of the afternoon, we left the Morvan with heads full of magnificent pictures and our films as witnesses. We looked back, knowing that we will definitely come back sooner than later, surely to enjoy a new wintery landscape.

You can check out Loris and Benjamin's adventure in the following video, with images filmed with a Super 8 camera:

We would like to thank Benjamin and Loris for sharing their analogue adventures with us. You can follow their future projects on Benjamin's website and Instagram, as well as Loris' own website and Instagram.

written by florinegarcin on 2021-02-06 #people #places #videos