Hasselblad on the Road
Said to be one of the world's last great
adventures, the Allgäu-Orient Rally from Germany to Amman certainly
lived up to its billing. Philip Ruopp took along his Hasselblad to
record the event.
Proving the point that the spirit of adventure is alive and well,
the annual Allgäu-Orient Rally, consisting of a course stretching
from southern Germany to Amman in Jordon, is now in its sixth year
and continues to attract a steady flow of hardy drivers. This year
photographer Philip Ruopp was one of the entrants, and to make sure
he achieved a good documentary of the ultimate road trip he decided
to take along a Hasselblad H4D-40 with 80mm f/2.8 and 35-90mm
f/4-5.6 lenses.
"The whole rally is designed to test the
contestants," he says, "and it's done with a view to making it not
too competitive. For a start you have to take part in a car that is
at least 20 years old or which cost less than 1111,11 Euros, and
they have to be normal 'street' cars, so you can't work on them to
get extra performance." Hugely popular, each year 111 teams take
part with another 250 on the waiting list. "Each team has six
members," says Philip. "I had to take my turn doing all the tasks
such as driving and map reading, and I was also the video guy so I
was shooting footage and editing it on my laptop as we were driving
along in our battered old Vauxhall Astra."
Philip's aim was not so much to document the rally
but to achieve portraits of the people he encountered along the
way, and the H4D-40 was perfect for the job. "I used a Hasselblad
film camera at the start of my career," he says, "but I haven't
worked with one recently. However I was keen to see what a digital
Hasselblad could offer me because I knew it would suit the style of
my work, which is to create an editorial picture that has the look
of commercial advertising work."
A set of Elinchrom Ranger Quadra lights complete
with a 100cm softbox was squeezed on to the Astra's back seat and
Philip regularly stopped to set up pictures. "I always try to have
a conversation first," he says, "and only then do I start taking
pictures. I had to do everything in around ten minutes and it was
really hard, but it was a process that influenced my pictures a
lot. It helped that the Hasselblad was so well balanced that I was
able to hand hold it the whole time."
The rally was designed to test the resilience and
stamina of the contestants and this one pushed everyone to the
limit. The regular route through Syria had to be abandoned because
of tensions in the country and the alternative, which was to go by
ferry from Turkey to Cyprus and from Cyprus to Israel, failed when
Israel withdrew the entry permit for the cars while the rally was
underway. "The rally administration decided to go by ferry to
Egypt," says Philip. "The crossing took two-and-a-half days but
just before we reached the coast we found out that Egypt had also
withdrawn their entry permit. We just about had enough food, water
and fuel to make it back to Turkey, and the rally had to be
abandoned there."
It was a disappointing end to the adventure but
Philip had still achieved some great images and the whole
experience was one he relished. "It was certainly something
to say that I've done," he says. "I would do it again but maybe not
right away: it's a great challenge but I need to build myself up
before I feel ready to tackle it again!"