Towards the tail end of “spring” this year (and I put spring in quotes because up here in Alaska we call it “break up season” due to the freeze/thaw cycle of several feet of snow melting over the course of what should be spring, resulting in gray slush, mud pits, and crusty ice), we braved hockey rink roads to take our beloved Vanagon into the shop. The poor girl, dubbed Savannah, had been having some issues with her brakes last summer, preventing us from taking any trips with her for about a year and a half. Seeing as this is most likely the last summer that our girls will be able to both fit in her, we made it a priority to get Savannah all tuned up for one last hurrah.

So we loaded her up as soon as we could for our first foray of the summer to one of our favorite spots in Alaska, Kenai Lake. This is a glacial lake less than two hours from Anchorage and is the most beautiful icy blue hemmed in by dense evergreens and a black rock shoreline. While it’s pretty close to the highway, it feels quite secluded and is often very quiet. There were signs of bears and moose all over the beach and you could hear the eagles crying up above.

Our first day was lovely, with surprisingly perfect weather and almost completely blue skies (a rarity in Alaska). I shot a roll of Portra 400 and a roll of the new Harman Phoenix film on this day. I’ve been experimenting with light leaks and overall, I will say that I haven’t had great success with them so far. I was also a little underwhelmed by the colors with the Portra this time. Maybe I should’ve loaded up Ektar to take advantage of such sunny conditions.

Here are some results from the Harman Phoenix roll. This film was all shot during our afternoon visit to Seward and it did alright there. It really likes your subject to be front lit…forget about back lighting, and even side lighting is hit or miss. Shadows are almost always completely clipped and highlights are regularly blown regardless, but when you get a good frame I do enjoy the retro feel of it. Super grainy with funky colors and (too much) contrast. And I won’t argue with the beauty of what it does to blue skies. Just don’t expect a good portrait.

It did not like this lighting situation.

On our next camping day, it was reliably overcast and drizzly. I actually love these days because it’s the perfect excuse to stay cozied up in the van reading, writing, and playing games as a family, with plenty of hot drink breaks under the canopy. As I looked outside the window and felt taken by the moodiness of the day, I decided to be brave and give slide film another shot (ha!).

This was only my third time attempting slide film, and my first time using Provia 100F. My first time was with expired Ektachrome, which was a relative flop. My second time was on Velvia at high noon and was horribly overexposed. After further research, I learned that it’s best to shoot slide film on low contrast, i.e. overcast, days. And obviously, you have virtually no wiggle room with your exposure. So I loaded up the Provia, took out my external light meter and promptly disagreed with its readings. I decided to trust my gut and miraculously, I FINALLY got some decent images on slide film!

And then that second night, I got sick. Really sick. Like, puking my guts out all night omg can we go home now at 5 AM kind of sick. But I’m still so happy we finally got to go camping in Savannah again. Next week, our kids will be at a week long Girl Scout camp and just my husband and I are hitting the road in the Vanagon for the first time. Our plan is to head over to Valdez and take the ferry back to Whittier. I’m so excited and have tons of film ready for the adventure!