Ten Favourite Photographs of 2024 - Shot on Film
I spent most of the year in France. Overall, I felt the need to return and spend time with my family to reflect. I rediscovered familiar places, capturing them from fresh perspectives.
I also experimented with new slide films, such as Fujifilm Velvia 50 and Fujifilm Provia 100F. Additionally, I took the opportunity to explore locations I had wanted to visit for a long time, such as the Mer de Glace in Chamonix.
This is a short collection of my favourite images from 2024.
10 - A Day on Mont d’Arbois
1833m | Haute-Savoie, 74
On yet another very hot summer day in the French Alps, we decided to seek fresher air at higher altitudes. We drove to Megève and then boarded the téléphérique (cable car) to Mont d’Arbois. The day was quite hazy, so I constantly swapped between a red filter and an orange filter to bring back some contrast and hopefully cut through the haze.
On our way back, we thought we’d cut through a grazing field. We followed the path made by cows, which became increasingly damaged due to the cows. Not only was it steep, but we soon reached a source of water that made the ground look like marshes. The path led us beneath a ski lift pillar, and I thought this would make a good shot, especially in black-and-white, as it would render the scene timeless. I found some balance on the uneven ground to grab this shot. Upon looking at the final image, it reminded me of the countless archive images I had seen of the French Alps.
Nikon F3T - Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 AI - Ilford Pan-F 50 Plus - Orange Filter9 - Port-Cros
Parc National de Port-Cros | Var, 83
One day on Port-Cros Island National Park, part of the Golden Islands in southern France, I found myself enchanted by this small, natural island. It’s also included in the European Pelagos Sanctuary, a maritime protected area stretching between France and Italy. I am more familiar with its larger sister, Porquerolles, and this was only my second visit to Port-Cros.
We chose to explore the island after the busy summer season had ended. Port-Cros is relatively small, and you can hike around it in a single day. Besides the main street and the small harbour, the rest of the island is a wild sanctuary rich in diverse plants and animals. After hiking for part of the morning, we stopped at a small cove. There, we enjoyed lunch and swam in the clear, transparent water. As we continued our hike, I couldn’t resist capturing one last photograph of that beautiful cove.
Nikon F3T - Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 AIS - Kodak Portra 160 - Polarizer Filter8 - Barrage de Roselend
1600m | Arêches-Beaufort, Savoie 73
The last time I was in Beaufort was nine years ago, and I had visited Roselend Lake and the dam. This year, I wanted to take another trip to Beaufort to capture the autumn colours on one of the only sunny days we had in October. I had my combo of Nikon F3T loaded with colour film, but I also borrowed my dad’s Leica M6 and loaded it with a roll of Ilford FP4 Plus.
As the sun was setting, I left Cormet de Roselend, a mountain pass on the other side of the lake, and drove to the dam, as when it’s open, you can drive on it. However, first, I stopped by the viewpoint to capture the dam from a different angle than I had nine years earlier. Despite the gorgeous colours around the lake contrasting with the blue water, I decided that black and white was the better medium.
Leica M6 - Summicron 35mm f/2 - Ilford FP4 Plus 1257 - Star Trail Above The Family Cabin
1000m | Haute-Savoie, 74
This shot is nothing exceptional and could have benefited from a longer exposure and better planning. After nine years, I aimed to try star photography again at our family cabin, which is ideal for stargazing due to the low light pollution in the valley. I wanted to capture natural star trails of the Milky Way without stacking images. Using both digital and analog cameras, I took several shots over three nights.
On the first night, I shot digitally to test framing and lighting, but the second night was cloudy. The third night was hazy at first, but later, the stars appeared. As this was the final night on location, I wanted to try out my luck, and I set up for a one-hour exposure, adding some light in the cabin for contrast. While the final shot was interesting, it could have been improved with better planning. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the process. On top of that, it was featured by Ilford as a Friday Favourite a few weeks ago!
Nikon F3T - Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 AIS - Ilford Pan-F Plus 50 - f/2.8 - 1hour - 50ISO6 - Pierra Menta
1700m | Beaufort, Savoie 73
It was another game of hide-and-seek above the lake of Roselend. I had been there nine years ago and knew that particular scene. However, back then, my longest focal length was a fixed 85mm. This time, I returned with a Nikkor 105mm and my 100-400mm for the Canon R5C.
With gear in hand, it was then a game of patience to wait for the few clouds to clear the Pierra Menta mountain.
Despite the beautiful Autumn colours well represented on this roll of Kodak Portra, 400 pushed one stop. I think this scene would have been impressive on Ilford FP4 or HP5. Unfortunately, the Leica M6 was my monochrome body and I didn’t have a long lens for that one.
Nikon F3 - Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 AI - Kodak PORTRA 400 +1 (Pushed One Stop)5 - Balcon Nord, Aiguille Du Dru
2200m | Chamonix, 74
The Mer de Glace above Chamonix is quite iconic. I had been there when I was maybe 3 or 4 years old, so I don’t remember it. For the second and only somewhat sunny day of October, I drove to Chamonix, boarded the Montenvers mountain train, and reached the Mer de Glace. Unfortunately, there isn’t much left of it, but that’s a story for another day.
My original plan was to get the Balcon Nord hiking itinerary from the train station. Looking at the weather, I almost gave up and took the train back down. However, I decided to push on. This turned out to be a wise choice. The light shone through on the other side of the mountains, illuminating the forest of yellow larches.
This image shows the path to Balcon Nord with l’Aiguille du Dru in the background. It was at that exact moment that I knew I had made the right decision to persevere. The hike that followed was one of the best of the season.
Leica M6 - Summicron 35mm f/2 - Ilford HP5 Plus 4004 - Ruisseau Du Fételay
1000m | Montmin, Haute-Savoie 74
Back in 2023, I bought three rolls of Fujichrome: Velvia 50, Velvia 100 and Provia 100 F. These are pretty hard to find these days, and I had mine shipped from Manitoba to British Columbia. And since we never know when Fujifilm is going to discontinue a film stock, I wanted to make sure I would be able to shoot those at least once.
I used the roll of Velvia 100 in the Autumn of 2023 on Vancouver Island. Unfortunately, despite being careful with the exposure, I didn’t get great results. In 2024, I decided to shoot Velvia 50 and Provia 100F to capture the Autumn in the French Alps and for long-exposure photography.
I found this creek on a road turn towards Montmin above Annecy Lake. Fortunately, there was a wide space to park, so I grabbed my tripod and walked along the muddy path toward the falls. Between the bright yellow trees, the fallen orange leaves and the falls, everything fell into place. The one thing I wished I had done was centring more on the falls.
Nikon F3T - Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 AIS - Fujifilm Velvia 50 - Polarizer Filter3 - Alexandre Bourdonnais, Maître-Luthier
Heaven Guitars | Crespières, 78
This was my first shot on medium-format colour film, Kodak Gold 200, to be precise. It happened during a photoshoot with my friend Alex. Alex is a master luthier who builds beautiful acoustic and electric guitars in his shop near Versailles. He has been building guitars for well over ten years now. That day, I mainly shot in 35mm format, both film and digital. But I knew I would grab a portrait of Alex with my Yashica-Mat 6x6.
I decided to use a tripod for a slower shutter speed to capture a slight motion blur. On the Yashica-Mat, there is no mirror, so if you turn right, you are actually going left. On top of that, the tripod was quite elevated, so I had to balance myself on a small box to be able to peek inside the viewfinder. Overall, it took me a little time to set up my shot. Upon reviewing the negative, It turned out to be exactly what I had imagined and planned, and since it rarely happens, I’m pretty happy with this shot.
Yashica-Mat 6x6 - Yashinon 80mm f/3.5 - Kodak Gold 2002 - Cormet de Roselend
1900m | Beaufort, Savoie 73
This final photograph is my favourite monochrome shot of 2024, not because of its quality or the final print but because it is another shot that could have been amazing if I hadn’t messed up. Upon reaching the Cormet de Roselend—a mountain pass—I parked the car and set off on a brief hike. The path led through meadows nestled against the mountain, immediately reminding me of Salgado’s cover image for his photobook Genesis. Above the mountains, the sun peeked through the clouds, illuminating the meadows below and the winding river. I captured three images quickly at f/8 and was thrilled to have gotten them before moving to another viewpoint.
At that moment, the film counter on my Leica displayed 35—just two frames left. However, it suddenly jumped to 37 and then 38, without any resistance from the film. This was not a good sign; I had poorly loaded the film and consequently lost all the photographs from the day. I quickly reloaded the film correctly and hurried back to the meadows, but unfortunately, the sun had vanished behind the clouds. I was furious with myself for missing what I believed was my best shot of the day, potentially even the year.
I waited about 30-40 minutes for the sun to reappear. When it finally did, I captured a series of images. This could have been the end of my troubles. However, when I received the film from the lab, I was unpleasantly surprised by the extensive lens flare on my best images. While the one I chose to share has the least flare, it’s certainly not the strongest of the set. Perhaps the original image was significantly better (or maybe that’s just how I remember it), but this uncertainty is one of the key aspects of film photography.
So much can happen between the moment you see a scene, press the shutter, and then view the final image. Maybe the photograph is underexposed, perhaps it’s damaged, or even worse, the roll wasn’t loaded properly at all! You might end up with nothing to show for it. However, chances are that exact moment is forever locked in your memory.
Leica M6 - Summicron 35mm f/2 - Ilford HP5 Plus (400iso)1 - Col Des Aravis
1500m |Savoie & Haute-Savoie
My favourite colour photograph of 2024 was definitely unexpected. I was on my way to Beaufort, having left mid-morning. Instead of getting on the highway, I took the longer road between the mountains, and the first part was through the Col des Aravis (the mountain pass between Haute-Savoie and Savoie). The sky was low, yet the sun was low enough to illuminate the col. I thought the bright yellow and orange trees would contrast nicely with the snow-capped peaks.
I grabbed the shot digitally and then thought maybe I’d try Velvia 50 as well, but I had very little hope since I was metering for the midtones on the mountains; I was pretty sure the fog would be overexposed into oblivion. I didn’t think much of it afterward. It was only once I got back the film from the lab and inspected the film strip that I immediately knew this photograph would be one of my favourites of the year.
Nikon F3T - Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 AI - Fujifilm Velvia 50
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