Sandstone, Steaks & Six-by-Six Dreams: Biking Luxembourg with Claire, a Blonde on Gravel and a Medium Format Obsession

It all started with a suspiciously perfect flat white and Claire saying:

“Let’s bike through Luxembourg—with your Hasselblad, my thighs of steel, and just enough logic to ignore the weather forecast.”

Claire, blonde and bold, pedaled Luna, her gravel bike. I followed on Savanna, my sand-colored Ruffian e-bike, equal parts sculpture and silent assassin. On my back: the Hasselblad 500 C/M, that square-framed relic of Nordic engineering. Inside: either Portra 400 or the new CFV 100C digital back—because why not carry both analog nostalgia and 100 megapixels of pixel anxiety?

We rode into the Mullerthal under soft mist and filtered sun. Sandstone cliffs rose like mythical pages carved by a careless god. “If a fairy dropped out of that tree and offered trail mix, I wouldn’t question it,” Claire said, adjusting her helmet and her playlist.

📷 TIP 1: When shooting Portra 400 in misty conditions, meter for the shadows and embrace the mood. The film handles highlights better than you think.

📷 TIP 2: Use a yellow or orange filter to add subtle contrast when photographing sandstone or foliage-heavy scenes.

As Claire filmed a reel on her Olympus, I unstrapped the Hasselblad. The digital back hummed to life. I focused manually—slowly, ritualistically—and shot a frame of her riding under a tree arched like a cathedral nave.

📷 TIP 3: Zone focusing is tricky on the 500 C/M. Use the split prism (if you have one) or live view on the digital back for dynamic scenes.

📷 TIP 4: With the CFV 100C, don’t forget: the native ISO is lower than film. Adjust your exposures mindfully—especially under tree canopy

We reached the Bech railway tunnel, covered in vines and smelling of moss and tax secrets. Inside, the diffused light created a perfect softbox.

📷 TIP 5: The waist-level finder is a gift in tunnels. Place the camera low for a cinematic angle and watch the lines converge.

📷 TIP 6: Use a cable release for slow shutter speeds. Handholding a Hasselblad at 1/30s is optimistic unless you’re carved from marble.

Claire stopped beside a glowing moss wall, unknowingly becoming part of a Renaissance diptych. I shot one frame on Portra, one digital. Same lens, two universes.

📷 TIP 7: Switching backs? Always re-check your ISO, shutter, and aperture. The 500 C/M doesn’t forgive assumptions.

In Berdorf, we met a local biker, who led us into the Wolfsschlucht. Rock walls leaned over us like a collapsed cathedral.

📷 TIP 8: Film loves texture. Use side light and f/5.6 or f/8 to bring out surface grain on sandstone.

I squeezed the Hasselblad through a gap barely shoulder-wide. Claire held my bike. “This better be worth it,” she said. It was.

📷 TIP 9: Pre-compose in your head. The square format is unforgiving when rushed—avoid ‘almost-there’ framing by slowing down.

We entered the Eislek region, rolling hills mirrored in the lake below. I marveled over the landscape.

📷 TIP 10: The 80mm Zeiss Planar on the 500 C/M is magic at f/8. Don’t be afraid to stop down and shoot landscapes tripod-mounted with mirror lock-up.

On a ridge near Bourscheid Castle, Claire stood against the skyline, hair backlit like a shampoo ad from 1973. I shot wide open on Portra.

📷 TIP 11: Backlight film subjects for dreamy halation. Portra handles overexposure like a champ—rate it at ISO 200 or 250 if you love soft highlights.

Later, at Finger Gottes, a rock pointing heavenward, I lined up Claire and Savanna in the foreground.

📷 TIP 12: Use geometry and lines. The square format is made for symmetry—but you can also embrace diagonals and tension within the square.

Dinner at Beim Hunn was fire and folklore. Steaks grilled by a man who looked like he wrestled livestock for fun. The restaurant smoked like a Viking BBQ.

📷 TIP 13: For low-light interiors, embrace the digital back’s latitude. The CFV 100C’s dynamic range is incredible—underexpose slightly and recover.

📷 TIP 14: On film, push Portra to 800 or 1600 for indoor shots—just meter carefully and overexpose by 2/3 if you want to keep skin tones clean.

Claire shot a video of the chef wielding steak tongs like a cinematic weapon. I shot a still life of the steak. It looked like a religious offering.

In Luxembourg City, we wandered through winding cobbled streets. Students, suits, spires.

We reached the Grund, with its weeping willows and slow river. The light dimmed. Claire leaned against Luna, eyes closed. The Hasselblad framed her with the silence only medium format can achieve.

📷 TIP 15: Let the square breathe. Leave space around your subject. Medium format portraits are less about compression, more about stillness.

Click.

Film wound. Pixels saved. Moment captured both ways. I didn’t know which version I’d print. Maybe both.

Shot on:

– Hasselblad 500 C/M

– Portra 400 (rated at 250, most of the time)

– CFV 100C digital back

– Steak-powered muscle memory, blonde commentary, and one sand-colored Ruffian named Savanna.