Shooting Film In The Desert

What a better place to try out the "Texas Leica" (aka the Fuji GW690) than the desert region of West Texas?

The Fuji GW690 is a film camera that takes 120mm film.  Unlike a regular 35mm camera that can shoot 36 photos per roll of film, this camera takes gigantic images and can fit 4, 8, or 16 exposures per roll depending on the setting.  This camera is great for capturing incredible detail in landscape photography.

We packed up our car and set off on the 7 hour drive from Austin to Marfa. Gas stations are few and far between once you get onto Highway 190, so we decided to stop at one that had some curious looking containers out back that we could climb up to take in the view.

From our new base of Marfa, we drove out towards Big Bend.  The last sliver of civilization before you reach Big Bend National Park is a small town named Terlingua.  We climbed up these incredible dirt formations outside of town to take photos and I am very pleased with how the images turned out!

We spent the night in Terlingua and then headed back towards Marfa.  A short detour to Fort Davis was well worth extra drive time.  Remnants from the Army fort established in 1854 are very photogenic.

Overall, shooting with the "Texas Leica" is a blast.  The limited amount of images on each roll encourages a more thoughtful shooting style.  Having the large image size allows for creative cropping of the photos with limited loss of quality.