Into Analogue Wilderness

My name is Clément and I have travelled extensively before finally settling in the happiest country in the world, Finland. Nature and photography are my passions, and my brain is hard-wired to engineering since I spent my entire life studying and working in electronics and software. I like to go hiking, packrafting and backcountry skiing in my free time. I always take my camera with me. I usually go on my own to remote places where I might not meet anyone for several days.

It was my curiosity that first got me travelling, discovering and learning about other cultures, lifestyles and environments. I volunteered and worked in lots of places, met people by hitchhiking and was inspired by Christopher McCandless. If you haven’t already, I would really recommend watching or reading Into the Wild. I’m open to meeting new people and consider myself a world citizen, but I’m also quite shy and not the most talkative person. So, for me, photography is the perfect way to express myself. I started out with a digital point-and-shoot camera, but I felt its limited capabilities considering my growing interest in landscape and wildlife. So I got a DSLR with a couple of cheap zoom lenses, learnt the basics of photography, and practiced while travelling the world, from Aotearoa / New Zealand to Sumatra to Europe, with Mother Nature as my source of inspiration.

Almost a decade later, my DSLR was showing its age and I wanted a more compact and lightweight setup for longer hiking trips without compromising on image quality. So, I switched to OM System (formerly Olympus) with the OM-5. The wide range of micro four third lenses is great. The OM-5 has a nice retro look, and it is rainproof when used with pro lenses. It’s often the case that interesting landscape photos are taken when the weather is bad. The rain and fog create a pleasant atmosphere, and rainbows only appear when it’s raining. It also feels magical when the sun shines through falling snow. The camera also introduced me some film photography techniques. The in-body double exposure and real-time black-and-white preview helped me get more creative.

When I’m back home, I do global adjustments to the raw image using exclusively free and open source software, mostly with RawTherapee, but the less I post-process, the better I feel, and the more time I spend outside. One of my favourite and most noticeable RawTherapee filter is the film simulation.

It’s not natural to create pixel-perfect photos, there is beauty in imperfection, and authenticity is more important than ever in this era of generative artificial intelligence. That pushed me into film photography about one year ago – the grain, the colours, the dynamic range are marvelous without any post-processing. It is aligned with my aim to prove that the most beautiful things are natural.

Margaret Lee Runbeck said that “happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of travelling.” Well, photography is not just about creating stunning photos, it’s also about the process and the experience. I am no professional photographer, but I give myself a few rules: no large human infrastructure (nothing more than a hut), no location scouting (I do look at maps a lot, but the photo experience is always a surprise), no specific time of day (I move all day and can take a photo any time) and no feeding to wildlife.

I knew nothing about the analogue world. I wasn’t confident enough to buy second-hand. So, I got a brand new Pentax 17, which is good for beginners. It is a half-frame for cheaper experimentations. The plastic body makes it light enough to carry it in my backpack all day long. The analogue journey was neither easy, nor cheap. When the local lab sent me blank scan files, I started scanning myself. When another lab failed to develop my roll, I started developing myself with the C-41 process. Learning film photography is like learning to cook vegan: fun, meaningful, enlightening, healthy. When I shared my experience on the Fediverse (Mastodon, Pixelfed, etc.), I realised how friendly, alive and helpful the analogue community is. Also, a new photographer can be as much visible as a popular one since the Fediverse does not have a questionable algorithm. You only see posts from the people you follow, in order of when they were published. Your network grows organically, just like in real life.

On my last 17-day winter expedition in Swedish Lapland, I wanted to take photos both digitally and on film. I needed a freeze-proof camera with interchangeable lenses, considering that I like shooting landscapes with both wide-angle and telephoto lenses. I inherited a Nikkor AI-S 50mm f/1.4, and I found the Nikon FM with other prime lenses: 20 and 100mm. I also took my OM-5 with the 12-100mm zoom lens, which is very versatile. 

Carrying both analogue and digital gear may feel too much, but everything could fit in the pulk. Sometimes I shoot digital, sometimes analogue, depending on my mood. Sometimes the digital photo renders better, quite often the analogue one is nicer. Surprisingly, the Nikon FM – which is almost half a century old – handled the cold (down to -23°C) very well, except for the light meter, which was completely inaccurate. I instantly noticed the issue because the FM is fully manual. Setting a shutter speed of half a second on a bright, sunny day is clearly unexpected. For the first few days, I metered with my OM-5. In the end, I metered with my eyes. The Kodak Portra 400 has been quite forgiving, the Kodak Portra 800 maybe even more. Anyway, the risk of a failed exposure was not really a concern compared to the risk of crossing a river that was partially frozen! On the plus side, the Nikon FM forced me to take my time and enjoy the view. The FM has fewer buttons, and they are bigger than the OM-5, so it was easier to use in the cold with mittens, except when it was time to change the roll… You can’t stay without gloves for long, and touching metal parts with bare hands is a risk of frostbite. I enjoyed the FM experience so much that I got the FM2/T – for me, it is the ultimate film camera.

My travels around the world have been eye-opening. I’ve also come to see the unsustainable nature of such adventures. Now, when I travel, it is always in my region, Fennoscandia. Basically, I go where I see green on the maps, the most remote, least accessible and least popular locations I can find. I’d rather go by bicycle or public transport than car or plane. Travelling sustainably does not limit me, there is so much to see and do in the area. The same mindset applies to analogue photography: slow down and look with intention. My intention is to live my greatest dreams in the simplest possible way, and share them.

Find out more on my website:
https://www.explorewilder.com

You can find many ways to contact or follow me on the about page:
https://www.explorewilder.com/en/about

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Text and Photos by Clément Fontaine