Switzerland on Slide Film
The Understated Beauty of Provia 100F.
I palmed my face as the plane emerged from the underbelly of the cloud layer we descended through. What species of half-wit goes to Switzerland with just one lens, a 35mm too? I saw mountains, lakes, greenery, rivers, and mountains. Did I mention I saw mountains? I needed a wider lens and roughly 200 more rolls of slide film.
Regret is useless. I couldn’t do anything to stretch the lens wider. But a little luck struck me at a tiny camera and souvenir shop in the homely town of Wengen where I stayed. I saw three rolls of Fujifilm Provia 100F idly sitting on a shelf behind the counter, just minding their own business. I bought two and left the third to be good luck for another half-wit slide film shooter.
I enjoy shooting slide film. I love the limitations, the process, and the results. By now most film stocks have in-depth technical reviews on a variety of websites and YouTube channels. And they’re loaded with images of old gas stations. My intention in this series of articles is to show what these rolls can look like beautifully shot, and offer my own perspective from my experience working with the particular film stock.
As I noted in a previous rant, slide film is a dying category. The only stock left with reliable supply is Kodak Ektachrome (E100). And it’s still out of budget for…
