Three days on a island with a roll of film

One of the memories I have about photography is of family trips with a classic Olympus Trip 35. The camera is long gone, but some photos still remain with tones ranging from the predominant reds to the greens of the Kodak and Fuji. In addition to the camera itself, I also remember a slower and more careful process in choosing the subject to be photographed due to the film’s limitations of 12, 24 or 36 exposures.

Partly because more film has recently become available on the market, the decision was made to take just one camera and one roll of film on a recent trip. The choice was a recently overhauled Minolta Hi Matic F and a Kodak Ultramax 400 with 36 photos. The destination: Ilhabela, an island located on the northern coast of São Paulo, a state in the Southeast region of Brazil. With typical Atlantic Forest vegetation, the island has beaches that range from more urbanized stretches to more isolated ones that can only be reached by boat. The clear waters and diverse marine life attract both occasional tourists and divers and university researchers.

The island is very close to the mainland and can be accessed by ferryboats that operate from the port of São Sebastião. The region is close to the port of Santos, the largest in the country. There are several smaller islands nearby that are diving destinations, including Alcatrazes, which until a few years ago was restricted to military use by the Brazilian Navy and today serves as an important point for biodiversity conservation.

The trip there took place over a long weekend. We spent three days traveling around the island and, despite the rain, there were good opportunities for photography. The cloudy sky ensured more uniform light, without harsh shadows.

The Minolta Hi Matic F has proven to be very good for travel and street photography. It had previously been used for a few days on the streets of São Paulo, with good results in terms of sharpness and colors. The camera is a small rangefinder with an automatic photometry system for both aperture and shutter speed, and uses a Minolta Rokkor 38mm f2.7 with manual focus by rangefinder. The focus is reasonably accurate, especially at shorter distances, but it also produces good results when using the infinity focus. There are natural limitations and the images obviously lose a little sharpness when compared to more sophisticated analog equipment such as reflex cameras, but the lens still produces sharp photos.

Take photos with film again brought back some interesting insights. Perhaps the main one was a slower and more selective look at the subjects and, consequently, a decrease in the pace of the trip itself. Photographing less and more slowly brought with it a more accurate and detailed observation of the days we spent in Ilhabela.

There are other limitations that accompany the rebirth of photographic film, especially the increase in prices. With some effort, however, it is always possible to expand the practice and, who knows, maintain it even in digital processes. There is an interesting gain when this happens, as photography can stop being a constant flow of bits and pixels and become the time for enjoying everyday life and memory.

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