You’re in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, home to the famous Orange Moose, and you have a few cameras and different film stocks with you. What would you do? Shoot the moose on four different films, of course.
Located just off Interstate 94, the Orange Moose stands approximately 15 feet tall, near a restaurant conveniently called the “Orange Moose Bar and Grill,” although it’s not entirely clear which came first, the restaurant or the moose. The story goes that the great moose was won in a dice game, and was originally brown in color. After the owner’s death, the moose made its way to the highway oasis and acquired its orange paint.
Armed with a Mamiya 645 ProTL and Mamiya 6, I set out to capture the moose on four film stocks, Kodak Ektar 100, Kodak Portra 160, Fuji Pro 400H, and Lomography X-Pro 200 (processed C-41). All film was processed by Richard Photo Lab. Take a look at the results:
The two square images were taken on the Mamiya 6 with the Mamiya 50mm f/4 lens. The remaining two were shot on the Mamiya 645 Pro TL with the Mamiya 80mm f/1.9 lens. To add a twist, one of the rolls shot on the Mamiya 645 Pro TL with a roll of 35mm, shot using the Mamiya 135 insert. Have you made your guesses? Let’s see how you did.
Let’s start with the easiest, the Lomography X-Pro 200, shot on the Mamiya 6. This can be processed with E-6 or C-41 per the label. This roll was processed C-41, and certainly produced the citrusy tones promised by the folks at Lomography.
The other image shot on the Mamiya 6 was shot on Kodak Ektar 100. It brought vibrant colors and was closest to the color of the moose as I remembered it.
The next two were shot on the Mamiya 645 Pro TL. The image in the upper right hand corner above was shot on the Mamiya 645 Pro TL using the Mamiya 135 insert with a 35mm roll of Kodak Portra 160. Great for skin tones. Not so great for an orange moose.
The last shot on the Mamiya 645 Pro TL was a 120 roll of Fuji Pro 400H. This film loves greens and blues, but doesn’t embrace orange like the Ektar, although the sky looks great.
The road takes us to more stops around Wisconsin and Minnesota this month, so stay tuned.