5 frames with Ilford Delta 3200 and Canon EOS 7

The Nanakuri Shrine Autumn Naked Festival (七久里神社秋季祭典宵祭り) is held annually in Iida city, Nagano prefecture, Japan. Nanakuri Shrine is tucked away on the outskirts of Iida. First let me explain about Iida, it has a population of about 101,000 and is about 658 square kilometers (254.31 sq mi) in size. It is a small city by Japanese standards.

The shrine is small and quiet, but on this festival night it is lively and packed with people. The onlookers want to see the seven young men dance under the sparks from the handmade fireworks while holding wooden buckets. This dance is called “okefuri” and the men must raise the buckets up over their heads. Sparks fall onto the men from a 10-meter (32.8 ft) pole with the handmade firework at the top.

This festival has a 700-year history. Autumn festivals are traditional events to pray for a good harvest and health.

The first time I went to this festival was in 2019 and the next few years it was canceled due to the pandemic. However, 2023 was the first year since 2019 and I was going to go no matter what. It is just a high energy and interesting festival. Along with my digital camera, I thought I would bring a film camera loaded with high-speed film. I went with Ilford Delta 3200 because it is cheaper than Kodak P3200.

I have never shot a festival at night with film, so I was unsure about how my shots would turn out. The festival is dark with flashes of bright light. So, I decided that I would set the ISO to 3200. After I had finished the roll, I felt pretty confident that I did not get any usable shots and so the film sat on the shelf for more than 4 months teasing me. I finally built up the courage to develop the roll with my current go to developer, Fujifilm SPD (Super Prodol). To my shock and surprise, I actually got usable images. The shots are grainy and soft, but I actually kind of like that contrast to the digital shots I got. Also, I had turned off autofocus because I wasn’t so sure how well it would perform in this kind of situation.

Are these shots perfect, no. Could the scan be better, yes but I work with what I got. Do I like the results I got, yes. I went to this festival with this film thinking it would be fun to try and get some shots on film. I left the festival thinking I messed it up. I am happy with what I got, even if I had to piss off a few old Japanese men.

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