A week in Van­cou­ver with a roll of Velvia 120 and FP4+ 35mm is about perfection.

Most­ly play­ing tourist and not too much explo­ration, but even that was reward­ing. Stan­ley Park is phe­nom­e­nal, Gas­town is great fun, and ran­dom side streets were well worth investigating.

On the tech­ni­cal side, I shot the Velvia with my Mamiya 645 Pro TL with the 45, 80 and 150mm lens­es. I don’t shoot that cam­era too much these days ‑ I have been work­ing with the GA645 more often for medi­um for­mat film. When I to man­age to set aside the time and ener­gy to show the Pro TL, the results are amaz­ing. Espe­cial­ly with slide film, look­ing at the actu­al media in real life is a treat. Not to men­tion the sheer size of the raw amount of data com­ing from the 6x45 negatives!

This was also the first trip with my Leica M3 and while I am not as quick with the focus­ing as I am with my A‑1, I am com­ing along with the rest of the process. Even hav­ing to meter with an exter­nal meter on this trip for it, I still was able to shoot rea­son­ably quick­ly when the time came. And the look of the images I real­ly love, espe­cial­ly on those pho­tos with a large amount of fine detail and contrast.

A great trip, real­ly wel­com­ing city and who knows? Maybe one day we’ll call it home.