Description: Vase with flowers in brilliant window light Background: In April, late in the afternoon, the sun shines for an hour or so from the southwest into our dining room window, forming a narrow beam. Walking past can be blinding if one is not careful. The brilliance is a blessing. With lightContinue Reading
After using the Maxxum 7000i, my first Minolta and real camera in more than three decades, I realized I wanted to try other Minolta cameras. That realization led me to research other models. On learning that Minolta favored the numbers 5, 7, and 9 when naming cameras, I decided that,Continue Reading
Pleasant surprises are wonderful events. Last year, I decided to dive into Minolta history by way of shooting all the major SLRs since the SR-2. Having made that decision, I went looking for lenses. After making a list of manual lenses, I found most were beyond my budget. I wasContinue Reading
There is nothing like using fresh herbs for cooking. When I lived in apartments, I usually tried to grow herbs with varying degrees of success. Basil usually worked well, as did thyme. Rosemary never worked—it always died. Naturally, when I planted a flower garden, I saved a small area forContinue Reading
Here is something I never thought I would say, “I can draw!” You see, I had no idea I could draw. In eighth grade, I took a five-week summer art class at my junior high school, along with two friends, both of whom were talented. In class, we painted, madeContinue Reading
By season four, I had settled on all the perennials. There were many failures before getting to that point. I love hyssop, but cannot grow it. Speedwell and geum did not work out either. Those failures left both gaps in the yard and me yearning for more color. I decidedContinue Reading
I never set out to buy an SR-2 in a deliberate sense—that is, in the same way I searched for my Maxxum 7. The Maxxum 7 was going to be the camera I used to achieve photographic perfection. At the time, the SR-2, and all SRs, for that matter, wereContinue Reading
