Nikon F in the Fog

Recently I traveled to a favorite part of Oregon, specifically north-central Oregon and the tiny town of Condon.  As is sometimes the case, an icy fog gripped the area not too long after I arrived.  I took quite a few digital images on the trip but I also shot a couple of rolls of film on my 60-year old Nikon F with an old 50 mm F2 Nikkor lens attached to it.  I’ve recently purchased the Nikon and have grown to enjoy using it, leaving my Leica M3 and Leica IIIa somewhat neglected.  This image is of the Nikon with an F1.4 lens but I tend to use the F2 more often.

I frankly did not anticipate the conditions I would encounter.  The forecast was for clear and seasonably cold January weather.  I was treated, however, to something much different for most of my stay.  But more on that in a bit.  I will start my story the morning of the day after I arrived.  Conditions in Condon were clear and chilly.  Few people spend a lot of time in Condon, but for those who might be interested, it is a town of about 700 people or so with a small historic downtown.  I snapped the following image, the first film image of the trip before I left for some hiking in a lovely desert canyon.  For these first images, I was shooting Ilford XP2, a favorite film stock of mine, not only because I like the look of the images it produces, but also because its C41 processing allows my lab, which normally has to send black and white film out for processing, to process in house, which gets me results much more quickly.

In any event, I did my hiking that day and, on my way back to the beautiful historic hotel in Condon in which I was staying, I stopped off to see what I might capture at a very old one-room schoolhouse in the “town” of Ajax.  There really isn’t a settlement of any kind but the old school is one I have visited before and is a reminder of what education once was in desolate areas on the high plains of Oregon.  When I arrived at the school it was bathed in sunlight.

Sunlight would not last long as fog from the north, visible in the background of these images, would soon engulf the school and the entire area.

Unfortunately, the interior of this old school contains little evidence of what occurred inside so long ago.  An old wood stove seems to be the only sign of what used to be.

As I poked around the interior, the fog outside shrouded the area.  When I returned to shooting exterior shots, many questions occurred to me.  What was it like to go to school there?  Where did the children who attended the school come from?  What were they taught? How did they get there?  Questions to which I had no answers.  The thick fog created a surreal scene, something that only heightened the mystery of this place.

When I finally returned to Condon later that afternoon, the fog that I encountered to the north had not arrived.  The town was still covered in bright sunlight.

I went up to my room in the old hotel, unloaded my gear and a while later, I looked outside.  The sunlight had been replaced by gray fog, something I would not escape for the next three days as sub-freezing temperatures accompanied the gray shroud.  The only brightness would be in my hotel room

The freezing temperatures, thick fog, and slick roads discouraged any thought of driving.  So I spent the remainder of my visit wandering around the town, which was not only covered in a thick gray blanket but also a coating of frost.  Because it was icy from freezing moisture, it was not easy walking around the town.  But fortunately I had cleats to attach to my shoes, which gave me traction.  Having exhausted my roll of Ilford film, I loaded another black and white film stock, Kentmere Pan 200, something I had never shot before.  One morning I shot the entire roll while wandering the streets of the village.  I’ve heard it said that the worse the weather, the better the photography.  I subscribe to that philosophy.

I found no shortage of subjects in this isolated town.  The fog and frost, combined with many old buildings, created a target-rich environment.  I wasn’t sure how the Nikon F would function in the temperatures well below freezing.  But it performed well, which shouldn’t be surprising given its reputation for toughness.  Though picture taking was not very comfortable,  it was still a most enjoyable experience.

And finally, a self-portrait of sorts.

So what did I think of the film stock I shot?  My experience reaffirmed my regard for the XP2.  As for the Kentmere, its graininess surprised me a bit.  It seemed more prominent than it was in the higher ISO Ilford film.  It struck me as a gritty, grainy, old fashioned film, not unsuited to the kinds of conditions and subjects I was photographing.   Would I use it again?  Perhaps.  For now, the XP2 is my go-to film for the reasons previously noted.

I hope everyone enjoyed this peek into a lesser known region of Oregon.  Though not nearly as famous as the Palouse region of southeast Washington, north-central Oregon can be a most interesting region to explore.  Thanks for your interest!

More of my work maybe seen at curtisheikkinen.smugmug.com or @curtisheikkinen on Instagram.

Share this post: