 Yo, what up welcome back to another episode about a recent road trip that I went on from California to Montana With some friends and you might be thinking wow, that's impressive Jason has friends. Yep. I don't even have to pay him anymore Well, it's party time in the USA. Just kidding things are pretty bad here long story short We've all had plans this year that were either put on hold or straight up cancelled that much is at least true for me and all My colleagues so one day a group of us just decided to say fuck it and hit the open road to Montana With a few stops in between on this road trip I went with my brother Matt and his roommates Tim and Brendan for the road trip Tim and Brendan would be on their scooters While Matt and I would be in his lifted Ford f-150. I Brought along the godly Mamiya 7, but I also had some new gear this time around namely just a Polaroid Sx-70 and a Nikon R10 which is an 8mm camera I was very fortunate to find a listing of this camera from a seller that said the camera came from a good loving and nurturing home And had stayed in the family since its purchase in 1993 I've never shot 8mm before and I started thinking that that fake 8mm film gate overlay that everyone uses looks kind of dumb So I just decided to do it for real which is 10 times cooler But 100 times less cost-effective that and the Nikon R10 kind of looks like a submachine gun So I was excited to see what kind of trouble that gets me and do I shot all my Super 8 footage on Kodak Vision 250d Which is a daylight balanced motion picture film, and I had it scanned in glorious 4k Anyway, it was time for me to go so I told my son slash meatball gobbler Baxter that he's the man of the house now We left Los Angeles and headed east towards Nevada just as California was beginning its annual ritual of burning to the ground While Tim and Brennan rode their Vespas through 113 degree heat in the Mojave Desert Matt and I cruised along in his Prius with the air conditioning on medium instead of high So I'm not sure who had it harder our first stop would be in Mesquite, Nevada Which is just like Disneyland if Disneyland sucked and wasn't fun Anyway, let's get to the meat of the video What film did I bring when it came time to choose my weapons? I knew what it had to be ten rolls of Portra 400 five rolls of HP 5 and the cherry on top six rolls of ectochrome And then the huge donkey shit on top of the entire analog sundae was a roll of ectar 100 Fortunately, I was able to delay the inevitable because I only shot about half the film that I brought the ectar lives another day Ectochrome has been growing on me a lot lately I shot some images earlier this year with ectochrome and I really enjoyed how painterly they looked Well, once was foe is now friend and it's time for me to stop hating it because it's different and I'm afraid of change But anyway for my first roll I shot some Portra 400 There's one shot of the hotel that I took twice at different times of the day and I'm not sure which one I like more The next day was time for us to head to Utah and trade the Nevada heat for bears On the way I picked up some haunted ghost pepper chips and when we got to camp I told the homies. They were nacho cheese Doritos. It's the kind of spicy Doritos though. Oh, no We got incredibly lucky and managed to snag one of the last first-come-first-serve campsites at Fish Lake National Forest Inside the tent There's my pillow for tonight. The site was at over 9,000 feet in elevation and was somewhat Waterfront real estate and even came with the unsettling feeling of being watched regardless It soon became happy hour because when you bring your own beer and whiskey camping happy hour never ends The lake and yeah, okay, I noticed it too. I seemed to like shooting my 8 millimeter footage like it was an episode of the office I like this shot a lot because of its simplicity and pastel colors, but damn I wish I could have placed the stop sign a little bit better between the gap in the trees The constant threat of altitude sickness my looming hangover and a bear attack akin to that scene from the Revenant Kept me awake pretty much all night. So I decided might as well get up and shoot the sunrise Loaded up some ectochrome and hope for the best Just as I finished off the roll the perfect shot came along in the form of a small boat perfectly framed between two trees But I didn't have any more film with me. So there's nothing I could do a true film photography horror story So why did I bring the Mamiya 7 to be perfectly honest with you? It wasn't so much about the photos as it was I wanted to flex on everyone while the price on that camera is as awful the Mamiya 7 for sure is the best camera That I've ever used I brought it because it's lightweight shoots 120 and the 80 millimeter lens on it is sharper than any murder weapon Anyway after singeing off my arm hair and an explosive bacon grease fire We hopped in the Prius and ventured forth the Salt Lake City to check it out and ultimately put their weird alcohol loss to the test In the saltiest Lake City in the world. We met up with Brendan's brother and headed to the park for some R&R Later that day I snapped this and it's one of my favorites of all time Which is funny to me because I don't think I even thought twice about it when I shot it The next day we straight up hauled ass to Yellowstone National Park oftentimes going over 120 kilometers per hour I really dig this photo I think it harkens back to the idea of framing your subjects in your shots in this case the waterfalls framed by the Trees and I believe I shot it at f-22 to maximize the range of focus Sometime later Brendan and Tim arrived on their scooters and we set up camp near the campsites complimentary sacrificial circle Guess we're gonna be neighbors again pal. You've been in my neighbor my whole life As Brendan left to go do Brendan stuff I snapped this photo looking back at it at first I kind of wished I sped up the shutter speed a little bit and got less motion blur on him But now I think it's kind of cool and shows motion in the shot the latitude on Portra is unbeatable Back at the camp a lady approached us and offered us her food because she had extra and was leaving the next day Which would be another stroke of luck that would kind of turn into a trend with this trip At dinner I got to have my first taste of a hot sauce that was harnessed straight from the bottom of hell The sauce was called ass blaster and boy did it live up to its name I woke up at 3 a.m. To an uneasy feeling scared and sweating in my tent So I got up quickly and you know what? Why am I telling you this story? Just use your imagination How'd you sleep? Eventually much to my own relief We left everybody's favorite apocalyptic super volcano and headed north but not before stopping at some hot springs as We schmab through Idaho and Montana in a Prius with California plates. We definitely started getting some looks Eventually we arrived in a really kitschy But really cool hotel in Missoula and we got an awesome room featuring a beautiful portrait of an elk's ass I really liked the aesthetic of the hotel So I snapped a few frames and one of them turned out to be one of my favorites Granted it's just a 7-up machine and I think we can all agree Mountain Dew is better, but the shot itself is pretty moody Here's a cool comparison of the same gas station shot moments apart on ectochrome and portrait 400 I think I dig the portrait more ectochrome sometimes kind of leans into this purple slash blue look a bit much in this Case portrait warmth works well in my opinion the following day It was time for us to reach our final destination not like the movie just where we'd be posted up for a few days Again somehow we got incredibly lucky with this campsite Not only did we show up last minute to a reservation only campsite But we got one of the best sites in the entire campground because it was next to a river with a view that would make even the toughest moose In Montana itself because the campsite was one of the most beautiful that I've ever been to I had to shoot away Ectochrome seemed like it was the best choice for the setting as it delivers on those blue green and purple tones that Montana displays Why is your phone all f**king cracked? This is one of my favorite photos from the trip the lighting is very beautiful and the single lone tent makes the whole scene feel pretty isolated The f**k is a huckleberry At this point I hopped on the back of Brendan's hog and we tore up some pavement on the ride I was so excited about the footage. I was capturing that Brendan kept complaining about something jabbing his lower back But it just assumed it was my camera Back at camp the huckleberries finally hit my bloodstream and I huckle smashed our axe damn Jason So yoked as I came down from the peak of the huckleberry high I started trembling and felt cold let that be a lesson to everyone out there thinking of trying drugs. It's never worth it This is an interesting photo it wasn't foggy when I took it but it kind of looks like it It got kind of swampy in my tent during the morning rain and anything that was glass in there kind of fogged up It was only after I took the photo that I realized that I had a free heavy diffusion filter Why was it so steamy in my tent you may wonder that's for me to know and for you to never find out It was time for me and my merry gang of respectable individuals to head into Glacier National Park and it did not disappoint We headed across the park to a waterfall hike and I had loaded up some portrait 400 in my Mamiya 7 I shot two versions of this this one being my favorite because it's somewhat Underexposed as you can see the shadows get a bit muddy, but you know what I think it actually works quite well It makes the water really pop out on the way back. I switched over to some ectochrome and got a moose shot Kind of Glacier National Park is really a sight to behold at Apgar village We decompressed from our very short hike and ate some huckleberry sandwiches And I shot some of my favorite photos from the trip here Back at camp the clouds had rolled in and it started healing So we covered the wood and did what we do best in a moment of utter chaos We cracked open a beer The next morning would be our last at a campsite that we had called home for the past two nights So we packed up all our crap and headed across the road to a different campsite To make the transition easier and the pain go away the campground host brought us peanut butter cookies She was the best. We hung out at the campsite for the better half of the day Until it started raining and so we packed up everything and headed into the park Of course, you know me if we're riding I'm packing We set up our little operation on the shores of Lake McDonald with nothing but beer camp chairs and a dream I finished up my roll of portrait 400 and threw in some illford HP 5 Here's a rare shot of me taken on film by my buddy Tim. Why is it rare? You may ask Well, if you look closely you can see I'm drinking water Here's another photo of me, but dear Now this whole episode you might be like why do all this Polaroids look like a baboon's butthole? I think there are several issues with my SX-70 stemming mostly from the fact that I don't think it's been kept up or repaired since its original purchase way back in the day The next day the fun was over and it was time to head home But as the purple guy and Avengers once said a thing is not beautiful because it lasts We headed back down through Idaho and stopped in salmon where uh, there wasn't a whole lot to do Mostly just driving back down to Salt Lake City because we missed Timmy the cat Unfortunately Timmy's owners are dicks and they iced us It was then time to head west to the salt flats I had some xp2 in the momia which later got swapped for some portrait 400 This was kind of an interesting scenario to shoot because I'd never really run into a problem like this Because it was so bright out and the light was bouncing off the salt and blinding everyone The momia 7 couldn't go fast enough to expose properly at 400 ISO These were all shot at f22 and one five hundredth of a second and the light meter was still telling me to push it darker So I don't know what to tell you all my hands were tied and I had to overexpose I also shot some eight millimeter footage here and for whatever reason it just did not turn out After we were done Tokyo drifting in the Prius out on the salt flats We headed to our final national park great basin It seems that our luck still had not run out because we were able to snag a campsite next to a river Which we prefer because the frigid mountain water keeps our beers cold Unfortunately at this campsite there were fire restrictions So we had to improvise and drink our own piss like bear grills how that makes sense I'm still not sure the next day. We slowly made our way to Las Vegas where nothing of importance happened to us I shot some porter 400 at sunset while we were outside. Let's say eating huckleberries and Finally, we made our desert voyage back home to Los Angeles And it was an awesome trip and you know It's an awesome trip when you wake up every day with a smile on your face and the motto today is a good day to die in your head In all seriousness, I do enjoy being on the road and this trip was one of my favorites The people that you travel with are what make the experience worthwhile Unfortunately the people I was with are dicks, so that's not the case here, but in general, that's true Some of the photos I took on this trip are some of my favorites ever But I gotta say I think I enjoyed the 8 millimeter footage the most It just looks so magical and nostalgic for some reason now part of me really wants to shoot a whole music video on 8 millimeter But I doubt I'll ever be able to get ahold of Aaron Carter or the 18s I think this is my favorite shot from the trip. It captures the mood I look for in my work perfectly and every time I look at it I wish I could just throw myself into the shot But that may just be me projecting my own emotions onto it because that was one of my favorite days Anyway, that's about it. I hope you enjoyed the ride and I'll see you on the next one You know once I'm out of Huckleberry rehab