I decided that the main camera I was going to take on my trip to Dartmoor, was the Hasselblad 501CM. I reasoned that as I would be making almost exclusively landscape photo’s, it would slow me down a bit, and the quality would be good. It was also a good excuse to use some Ilford Pan-F for maybe the first time as a “main” filmstock, but also it is another of my cameras that has had very little use since I purchased it, and frankly I should be using it much more!
I’ve used it so little, that I had to fumble around to load the first film, making a few basic errors. “Oh- of course, I remember” was muttered under the breath more than once! Finally with the film in, I turned my attention to the meter, this I use quite a bit so I was fine there. It doesn’t go down to 50 ISO very often though! It soon became apparent that 50 is slow – really slow! In the following days I soon got used to 15th second as a often used shutter speed. Luckily I have enough experience that I guessed that my well be the case, so brought the tripod along too. So with meter, camera, tripod, backpack camera bag, spare film, spare back, 150mm lens off I set – just like Dora the Explorer!
The top photo of this post shows the summit of Brat Tor. I should perhaps explain Tor as in “rocky outcrop” NOT dark web! Not that I know anything about that other than apparently it involves onions! I digress, you may just make out a tiny cross on the summit, that was the goal. Brat Tor is incorrectly named or rather mis-translated. It most likely should be called Brai/Bray/Brae Tor, Although clearly marked as Brai Tor on older maps, Ordnance Survey named it Brat Tor and so it has stuck, and now mostly known by this “wrong” name. Anyway, atop stands a nearly 4 meter tall cross, so it’s also often known as “the one with the cross on top”. First I had to cross the river Lyd, pausing to make a photo of a rock in the river, then pausing again to make another of the footbridge over the river.
Several things soon became apparent. 1. I am not as fit as I used to be or should be! By half way up I was puffing like a steam train! 2. A medium format kit is heavy. I suspect heavier than a 5×4 field kit could be, but lets not go there. 3. I liked this tree so had to stop to make a photo, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! That cross is looking a bit closer.
Just under the summit, I also liked this formation (above) so stopped again. Hare Tor can be seen in the distance, looking south. Obviously I’m not showing all the photo’s I made, so I was almost re-acquainted but maybe not yet in a rhythm with the 6X6.
With only a few paces to go, I made another exposure, looking across the landscape. Here the film ran out. I sat on the rock and re-loaded. A little easier than last time! First roll in the bag!
S.H.O.U.T. 