Chile with an Autocord

[Julio1fer]

I went to Chile with the family, to meet with good friends there for the New Year and visit some areas of their North.  Had to take a film camera besides the digital P&S; after the usual agony, I chose the Autocord loaded with HP5+ (had several rolls just expired). It was the first time I took a TLR to a trip; should have done it before.

1. A wooden bridge in a national park in the Andes, near Santiago.



2. Creek below the bridge.



3. Another view of the mountain stream.



4. Grapes cultivated in the Maipo valley - these are for white Chardonnay wine. No wonder they get good wine with that sun.



5. A view of Reñaca, a sea resort to the north of Viña del Mar. The fog is called "manchaca", it comes from the Pacific Ocean every morning and lasts until early afternoon. The coast is relatively cool because of the cold Kurosivo current.



6. Valparaiso harbor from the Gervasoni walkway.



7. Pisco barrels in a distillery in Pisco Elqui - in the old times, people would sit there and get some Pisco from the barrels between some domino games. Pisco is a sweet wine distillate, very popular en Chile and Peru, especially with lemon juice ("Pisco Sauer").



8. Distilling equipment for Pisco (from the XIX century), preserved in a museum



9. A view of the Elqui valley. This is a very dry place, there are lots of astronomical observatories in the area. Winegrapes and fruit trees are grown by drop irrigation (even up in the side of the mountains).



The TLR proved a great conversation starter, as noted before by many people. The kids would look at the viewfinder and marvel at the definition of the display as compared to their digicams. About one hundred people asked me where did I get film!

On the technical side, I am just learning to scan in the V600, so please forgive any errors. One problem is film curl; this is why some of these pictures are uneven (brighter at the left and right borders). There is a black plastic card, supposed to help with curl, but I have not played with all of the scanner toys yet. 

Thanks for looking!

[Hoosier_Rich]

Nice job with the Autocord! I know what you mean about them being conversation starters, had a few of my own when wandering San Francisco. I think the shot of the Pisco barrels is tops, but all look good to me.

[br1078lum]

That is one strange looking tree in #5, Julio, and well captured at that.  Looking forward to more scenes of your vacation.

PF

[LarryD]

I made chili over the last 3 days... It is not a one pot dish... The fog made those coastal shots priceless,

[lesged]

Julio,

What a great series of photos you've made. The lovely Chilean countryside and seascape begged the photographer and his companion Minolta Autocord, "Look at me! and snap my picture, please."

I bought my first Autocord in 1955, when it first appeared in Boston. I bought a later basic Autocord and the third model had a meter, and a counter for 220 rolls. It's a great camera. I didn't get my first Rollei till the 1980s.

[Mike Kovacs]

Beautiful country. Have always wanted to visit and fill my belly with their amazing wine!

[Austintatious]

What a great trip ! A beautiful country, and your photos are first rate as always.
Thanks for posting them.

Charles

[Julio1fer]

Thanks for the kind comments!

I learned that the three Rs in the Pisco barrel come from the original owner of the distillery back in the 1840s, Mr. Rigoberto Rodriguez Rodriguez.

Mike, if you want to become an instant expert on wine you can visit a Chilean "viña". In our case we got to sample four different wines with detailed explanations of the "character" etc. of the wines - to me, each one tasted better than the predecessor, hard to tell if it was because of the wine or the taster getting mellower!

I have a few more of Chile,  in the digital and from the Vito received from CarlosE. Will try to prepare a post.

[Olypen]

I enjoyed all of your posted photos; in particular, I thought that the two Pisco-related ones were fine examples of what the Autocord does with black and white film.  The wooden bridge photo could cause a little vertigo.  I chuckled at your reference to the "usual agony" of choosing equipment for a trip.  I also have a little "agony" if I choose b&w for family type photos; I'm the youngest of a large family and I have sometimes heard from an older sibling, "that's a nice picture; too bad it's in b&w"--the next two generations, however, think it's cool.  So thanks for showing how well a film camera and b&w film can do with travel photos.

[Julio1fer]

Thanks, Olypen! Choosing equipment for a trip is always hard. I usually take one 35mm camera only. Typical cameras I have carried on trips are Oly XA, Oly 35 SP and a Pentax SLR with a few lenses, depending on the pace of the trip, expected transportation and physical effort, temperatures, etc.

I use almost exclusively color negative film on trips, because of flexibility.

This time, however, I had this stock of HP5+ in 120 size that just had to be used, so it was either a folder or the TLR. I was curious as to how do you manage with a TLR on a trip, having read posts of members in similar situations (I remembered one of Kovacs in Germany with his Rollei). And 120 B&W is different enough from digital.

Actually, the TLR came out as a very ergonomic design for me. I found that a TLR and a P&S digicam complement nicely; you can also use the P&S as a light meter!

[Graham Serretta]

Julio, again - thank you for taking us to a place that most have never been to, and sharing your experience.  Great B&W work.