Alpinaraid 1

This is it. After months of preparation of our Peugeot 205, we finally started our journey into the French and Italian Alps.

In this 10 set series, you can find the film photographies that I took during the whole adventure.

In this first set Alpinaraid 1, photos 1 and 2 were taken on the border of the Annecy Lake, in the early morning, on our way to the starting point at Col de la Madeleine (2000 m). The third photo was taken during the first day of the journey. I think it was the first glacier that we could see so well.

Photo details

Before July 2022, I was still indecisive whether to coose the Rollei 35S or the Yashica ZoomTec 90 for this trip.

I got the scans from the roll I took during my Helsinki trip using the Rollei, and it convinced me to take this small point and shoot with me for the journey.

As far as film roll was concerned, I wanted to shoot a color film, and decided to use the Fujifilm Superia Xtra 400.

Helsinki 1

First series of pictures from our Helsinki trip. I tried to capture there the city’s architecture. There are some notable buildings:

• Second picture is the exterior of the Amos Rex museum
• Fourth picture is the Kansallismuseo
• Fifth picture is the front of the Helsingin tuomiokirkko, the city’s Cathedral.

Photo details

This trip was the first time I used the Rollei 35S, which was perfectly adapted to travel due to its pocket form factor. I found the images really sharp, the Sonnar lens is impressive. The fact that it is a prime lens forced me to move around the structures I wanted to shoot to get the angles correctly.

The film used was a Kodak Tri-X 400, which gave this singular grain over the pictures, even on white buildings on a cloudy sky in the fourth image.

Alpinaraid 2

Here are the first pictures I took of our Genesis Blue Peugeot 205.

The first image was shot at the Lac du Mont-Cenis. It really looks like we were all alone in this beautiful scenery.

Second picture was taken somewhere in Italy, during a mountain pass downhill.

Last photo was taken at Col du Glandon (1924 m).

Photo details

Rollei 35S + Fujifilm Superia Xtra

I think the use of the Superia Xtra roll was a great choice for its pastel looking feel in the blue and green range. The car really stands out when taken in a green / gray background.

Alpinaraid 3

In this set, I decided to show various landscapes taken during the journey.

The first image is one of my favourite from the two rolls I shot during the adventure. It was 5 minutes before we ended surronded by the clouds seen in the background, at the Colle delle Finestre (2176 m).

Second image was taken during an uphill in an old italian military track.

Third one was shot in the morning at Camping Le Gravelotte, just after our first camp night.
Fun fact: This website’s homepage background image was shot right after the one you see here: I discovered that I could have cable cars going down and up at the same time in one picture.

Last image was taken at Lago Nero during the third day of the adventure.

Photo details

Rollei 35S + Fujifilm Superia Xtra

I’m very happy with how the first picture turned out. The blur of the weeds in the foreground is quite nice in my opinion.

I had to color correct a bit the last image as it turned out a bit too purpleish. It happened to some pictures of the end of my first roll for an unknown reason.

Alpinaraid 4

The two pictures were taken on the shore of Lago Di Rochemolles, on our way to the Colle Di Sommeiller.

Photo details

Rollei 35S + Fujifilm Superia Xtra

Focusing is a bit tricky with the Rollei, as it is made with a ring around the lens, according to a value the photographer has to measure (in my case, it was measured with stride length).

Alpinaraid 5

The first picture in this set is my favourite from the whole journey. I was lucky enough to take out the camera before the cloud could go further away, and managed to shoot it with the sunset hitting the grass in the foreground.
It was taken at the Rifugio dell’Assietta.

The second and third images were probably taken during cool-off breaks for the car, after long uphill roads (as seen in the background of image #3).

Photo details

Rollei 35S + Fujifilm Superia Xtra

As I already mentionned, I find this lens’ bokeh very pleasing to the eye, so I’m happy that I decided to shoot things with out-of-focus elements even if that meant possibly missing the focus on the subject.

Helsinki 3

Last series of pictures from our Helsinki trip. Some other great pieces of architecture:

• Second picture is the Finnish Parliament (Eduskusta)
• Third picture depicts the Vesikko submarine, it was taken on the island of Suomenlinna

Photo details

I had to edit the plane wing picture to remove some stains and noises, which I normally don’t do because they are part of the picture when doing film photography. But since they were quite large, I had to work around to make it viewable.

Rollei 35S + Kodak Tri-X 400.

Abandonned hotel in the mountains

Second part of the ‘abandonned hotel in the moutain’ series: a hotel on top of the mountains, built in the 1920s and closed since 1994.

Inside: a pool, dancefloor, kitchen, rooms, and more. There is a second building which unfortunately burnt down.

The place is quite well known from exploration enjoyers, hence some artists beautifully decorated some of the rooms.

• The first picture shows a graffiti of a masked man
• The second picture depicts a fully decorated room with music scores, pins, and typewritten letters. There was a red rope going from the entrance of the building up to this room, which was very enjoyable following to discover this little exhibit.

Photo details

First part of my BGC PHC-50 film roll. The Yashica ZoomTec 90 did a great job getting shots of this piece of history atop of the mountains.

Its portable form factor and its sturdiness were a plus for this kind of visit.

The roll used (BGC PHC-50) was a great choice considering the low light inside the buildings. The integrated flash from the camera was used for almost all my interior shots.

Charon’s Charge Al Bumen

Al Bumen sculpt is a collaboration between Nightcaps and Primecaps.

Charon’s Charge colorway was released during a Halloween sale, it is, I think, my favourite from this very detailed sculpt.

Alpinaraid 6

The two pictures from this set are also among my favourites. They were taken at the Colle di Sommeiller, at 3000 m altitude. We were enjoying the landscape after going uphill about 800 m of positive elevation.
Notice how the hood is a bit open: we called it the ‘race mode’, the goal was to cool-off the engine bay a bit faster.

Photo details

Rollei 35S + Fujifilm Superia Xtra

For these two images, I used a short exposure as the goal was to capture the splashes from driving in the water, so I had to open wide. The result came out a lot better than expected, and I am grateful that we were able to keep a physical memory of this moment.

Blackjack Reaper v1

Reaper v1 is my all time favourite sculpt. It was made by Brocaps.

Here, in my favourite colorway, Blackjack (black hood has some glitter dust, and eyes are red foiled).

Fun fact: I had the chance to acquire this cap as my first Reaper (now I own around 30 of them). I traded it two years later. Missed it instantly, so I tried hard to get it back.

Found another one for trade so I got one back. Still, it wasn’t my original one. Fast forward one year later, the person I traded it to decided to sell it, so I had the chance to buy it again.

At that point, I had two of them, so I traded the second one I got for another great Reaper v1 colorway.

BBv2 Berserk Eva

Brocaps’ most famous sculpt: Brobot v2.

Here in a Berserk colorway, commissionned in 2022. Inspired from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Abandonned hotel in the mountains

First part of the ‘abandonned hotel in the moutain’ series: a hotel on top of the mountains, built in the 1920s and closed since 1994.

Inside: a pool, dancefloor, kitchen, rooms, and more. There is a second building which unfortunately burnt down (last picture).

Photo details

First part of my BGC PHC-50 film roll. The Yashica ZoomTec 90 did a great job getting shots of this piece of history atop of the mountains.

Its portable form factor and its sturdiness were a plus for this kind of visit.

The roll used (BGC PHC-50) was a great choice considering the low light inside the buildings. The integrated flash from the camera was used for almost all my interior shots.

Alpinaraid 7

The first image was taken at the Caserme Della Bandia. It was very interesting to explore these ruins perched so high in the mountains.

Second and third pictures were shot during our visit of the Vallée de Névache: one of the most beautiful valley we took during this journey.

Photo details

Rollei 35S + Fujifilm Superia Xtra

Drunken Skull

Clack Factory’s Skull is among the first artisans ever created.

Here, in a classic Drunken colorway.

PFU HHKB Professionnal 2

A full stock HHKB Pro 2. Topre switches.

Artisans

Queasy Green Skull from Clack Factory, and a matching Bianchi Celeste diamond-arrow set from KeyKollectiv.

Helsinki 2

Second series of pictures from our Helsinki trip. This time, it is consacred to the University’s Botanical garden (Kaisaniemen kasvitieteellinen puutarha).

Photo details

For these pictures, I had to play with the focus ring on the Rollei 35S, to get the focus on objects not in the infinite range. It is a bit imprecise, but some pictures turned out great.

Rollei 35S + Kodak Tri-X 400.

Foiled-eyes Reapers

Reapers from Brocaps.

Here is one of my favourite (almost complete) set: the ‘Foiled-eyes’ collection.

From left to Right: Nuggdaddy, Dark Tide, Cauldron Brew, Princess Morgan, Witching Hour. Missing Hellfire (red), the search continues.

Heavy Metal 2 Reaper

Reapers from Brocaps.

Here is a Heavy Metal 2 (HM2) Reaper, with a ‘Y’ Reaper (from the CMY trio).

Garnet Cosmo

Omniclectic’s Cosmo has been a long time favourite sculpt of mine.

Here, in the Garnet colorway with a Mavic drone.

Unnamed Paranoid Reaper

Reaper from Brocaps.

Colorway was a commission, it was not named at the time, so it became ‘Unnamed Paranoid’ in reference to its eyes effect.

Photo credits

Pictures taken by Maude Masini.

Alpinaraid 8

In this set, I chose three images I took during our stroll in Saint-Véran (one of Europe’s most elevated village). It it a peaceful village we enjoyed discovering.

The last image of this set was shot during a downhill in Italy. Cows were on the other side of the lake.

Photo details

Rollei 35S + Fujifilm Superia Xtra

I really like how the water turns out with this roll of film. It looks almost cyan, but the real color was not far away from that.

OG New Reaper

New Reaper from Brocaps. After releasing the Erebus sculpt, inspired from the original Reaper v1, Bro released the New Reaper.

This colorway is ‘OG’. It has the skull in green glow in the dark.

Photo was taken with a Ribbit from Brocaps on the right, and a tube amp for the orange effects.

Last Bone Reaper

Reaper from Brocaps.

Colorway is Last Bone. It is the last Reaper commission before the sculpt retirement from Bro. I had the chance to be part of this commission with other Reaper collectors and friends.

BBW Vaporwave

Rubrehose is a designer creating caps inspired by rubber hose styled animation.

BBW (Big Bad Wolf) in Vaporwave colorway. Photo taken in a bathtub with phones as neon color sources.

Photo credits

Pictures taken by Maude Masini.

E6V2 R2

First keyboard from a “true” Group Buy. E6V2 R2 was the second iteration of Exclusive’s E6V2, offering custom engraving in the top right badge, and top & bottom + middle pieces color combination choice.

Built with Zeal Tealios (R10), lubed and stickered. Keyset on top is GMK Hyperfuse Origins.

Artisans

Two Kosmo v2 (Challenger and Columbia) from Omniclectic and KeyKollectiv, with a Sparkly Purple FPS Gamerset from Brocaps.

Photo credits

Pictures taken by Maude Masini.

3D & Brigid the Exhalted One Karkinos

Karkinos is a great sculpt from Kaphaus. It looks like a crab with a visible brain.

Shown here in the 3D and Brigid the Exhalted One colorways.

Clean Conscience

Clean Conscience artisan keycap from Bludgeoned Kaps.

Alpinaraid 9

Finish line! The first image was taken at the Menton Beach, where we finished the Alpinaraid.
It was an amazing experience, I saw places, sceneries and landscapes that I have never seen before.

Second picture was taken during our trip along the Côte d’Azur.

Photo details

Rollei 35S + Fujifilm Superia Xtra

The scenery from the first picture was so colorful, I couldn’t be happier with how the result turned out.

However, the second picture was too audacious from someone who has trembling hands. Moreover, I tried to shoot it standing still without a tripod. It could have resulted in a great picture.

Lawn Flamingo Nerdvana

This sculpt is a collaboration between Primecaps and BoganCaps. It is based off a Lurdvana from Primecaps.

Here displayed in the Lawn Flamingo Colorway.

Abandonned convent

A small convent in the alsacian wineyards. Besides a cat that scared us at the end, it was a very calm and relaxing visit. Lots of small empty rooms, a chapel, kitchen, interior garden.

Last picture was to finish the roll: we stumbled across some hang-gliders flying.

Photo details

Second part of my BGC PHC-50 film roll. I think the blacks are really deep, and the 50 ISO + use of flash really made these look dramatic.

Alpinaraid 10

This last set from the Alpinaraid series regroup all pictures I took during our trip to come back home. We drove by the Gorges du Verdon, which is where I took the different pictures.

It is a beautiful, natural place, that was unfortunately a bit dry when we were there.

Photo details

Rollei 35S + Fujifilm Superia Xtra

GMK Universe Squatch

Squatch is a sculpt made by LevelCaps.

Here in the “GMK Universe” Colorway, in collaboration with the eponym keyset.

TGR Alice Prototype

One of the early prototypes made by Yuktsi from TGR, before the official run of the TGR Alice keyboard.

This is the board that started the trend of Alice-like layouts.

It is built with lubed vintage Cherry MX Browns, and the keyset used is ePBT’s Purple Hangul.

Artisans

Quantum Creep Typebeast from GAF and Dire Wire Moondrop from Nightcaps.

Photo credits

Pictures taken by Maude Masini.