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Bikepacking the Lac Du Bois Tranquility Route: Kodak 8 Super Film
Andrew McNeil recently rode our 125-mile Lac Du Bois Tranquility bikepacking route in British Columbia, where he carried a Super 8 film camera and shot a three-minute short documenting the trip. Find Andrew’s film, some background, and a collection of 35mm film frames here…
Words, photos, and video by Andrew McNeil
While gearing up to ride BIKEPACKING.com’s Lac Du Bois Tranquility route with my partner Jill and friend Colin, my mom asked me, “Why do you want to bike this? Why not drive it and sleep in your own bed!” On backcountry trips, she often worries, and I guess rightfully so, but it’s the challenge and knowing you can do something that makes it so compelling.
This year, I decided to only capture bikepacking trips on film. With that, I typically bring a 35mm film camera (usually my trusty Nikon FM3a or Olympus XA). However, I also wanted to supplement my photography with video footage that gave more insight into what the trip was like.
I dove into the world of Super 8 last year, not knowing what the results might be like, but I wanted to challenge myself. Watching Super 8 films has always felt magical. I love to consume them, and I find them very peaceful. Super 8 is expensive, so I reserve it for special occasions, such as documenting these trips with friends so we can look back on them and reminisce. After previous trips, I found I’d never look back at my thousands of digital photos and videos. They’d just sit in my camera roll. Now, I watch my Super 8 films every couple of months, more in the winter when I long for summertime adventure or I’m stressed at work and need a reminder that work isn’t everything.
Super 8 film, which was released in 1965 by Kodak, is a reel film that typically captures 18 or 24 miniature photographs per second depending on your camera. When it was released, revolutionized home moviemaking and made film accessible to a much broader audience (read some further history here).
The particular Super 8 camera I use is a Minolta XL601, which was released in 1978. It’s relatively straightforward to use, just as Kodak and Minolta intended. It is manual focus, but other than that, I really just point and shoot (and hold my breath so I don’t end up with shaky footage).
I’d say the hardest part about shooting Super 8 is timing. You only get about 3 minutes of film time, so budgeting it for a multi-day trip to tell the entire story can sometimes be tricky, but that’s what makes it fun, just quick snapshots along the way for a few seconds at a time. When I watch it back, memories flood from where I was and what I was doing beyond that two-second clip.
Sure, Super 8 film isn’t perfect. It’s far from it, especially with shaky hands and poor manual focus, but it’s such a fun challenge, and when the footage turns out, it’s a really rewarding experience and great way to document a trip that is also challenging. I mainly shot this for myself and my friends, but I really hope you enjoy it, too!
Further Reading
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