Sometimes it all goes wrong

I have recently returned from a snowboarding trip to the fantastic resort of Le Deux Alps. I was really excited as last years conditions were about as much use as a chocolate tea pot. This year there was plenty of snow and they were getting some blue skies.

This would prove to be perfect for some photos. I have started to get quite into planning my equipment and my shots. This year was no different I had probably spent about 2 hours looking through good snowy shots and looking at what film and cameras they had used.

Photo by norkateer.

I really liked the pinkyness of some of the new shots coming out of the relatively new tungsten film by lomography. Tungsten is a 35mm, 64 ISO color slide film – its low ISO gives you photos with ultra-fine grain and it can be used with all 35mm cameras. I also had my very last roll of Kodak EB3. Since the sad demise of Kodak they are no longer making this film so this truely was one of the last roles left in the world and in all honesty probably the last time it would be used on snowboarding.

I also took 2 Lomo chrome 100iso films out with me. I did not stop there with the prep. A week before going out I ran the Tungsten film through the dishwasher, dried it for a few days. Then unravelled it (in the dark) used Lucys hairdryer to dry it thoroughly and wound it back in with a chopstick. The dishwashed technique is a strange one and can produce amazing results or it can look like rubbish. It was worth a go and I think it was a world first to try and dishwash the tungsten.

This is one great example of the dishwashed technique by Novakmisi

So i was all set, had a fantastic holiday, all but one day was fantastic conditions. I shot just under a role a day. On the last day we went riding with a seasonair friend, Dan Colas, who is incredible. I got photos of him jumping OVER trees and grinding benchs, hopping rocks, the loot. All on the precious tungsten. I also got some great riding shots of Lucy and two mates who came with us. I was really looking forward to these. So much so I paid for the hour service at Colourstream lab!

I waited that delicious hour, had a coffee, refreshed twitter a bijillion times took a slow walk back to the lab to be greeted by the technician shuffling her feet looking coy.

All four films were blank, all of them, not a single shot had come out. I couldn’t understand it, the camera had been well protected, all films had been with me in hand luggage, batteries were fine. Unfortunately the -20 conditions had rendered the camera useless. The circuit from the batteries to the workings had basically seized.

I am so annoyed about this, the amount of research and effort I went through and the patience my holiday crew had with me while I framed the perfect shot and they are lost forever. It is a real bitter sweet thing as the holiday was great and I was riding better than ever.

Thank god for digital else we would have nothing to show! It was a neglected camera but it did come out at some points.This is a photo from a mid station restaurant overlooking the half pipe. Sorry I couldn’t of shown you more but that is what you must accept if you use film. Nothing is guaranteed.