As regular readers know, I have taken a fancy to rangefinder Minoltas. That new itch has been scratched by three recent rangefinder buys: 7sII, Super A, and basic Minolta A. The 7sII (my second) was bought cheaply for parts, although the seller said only the meter did not work. TheContinue Reading
Mark Hama is a legend in the Yashica TLR world. He actually worked at Yashica assembling TLRs for years. I became aware of Mr. Hama after buying my Yashica Mat 124. It seems that, going back years, every mention of having a Yashica repaired referenced him. His continued provision ofContinue Reading
Shooting in natural light is so easy. Of course, using natural light means waiting for the sun to be in just the correct position, which can be a pain. Naturally, I assumed having a studio space would make life easier—much easier. As it turns out, playing with light in aContinue Reading
A while back, I shared my take on shooting flower portraits in low light. During that shoot, I had to deal with breezes that made the 1/8 sec shutter speed a headache. At the time, I was irritated by how the breeze kept moving the agapanthus around, wasting my time,Continue Reading
Description: Office front, Little Five Points, Atlanta Background: I have passed by this office many times on my way to Zesto’s, Atlanta’s answer to Dairy Queen. Each time, I smile. There is something about the list of practices that strikes me as incongruent. I cannot explain why. Maybe it’s the factContinue Reading
The Vintage Minolta Love Project began as a stroll through Minolta’s SLR models, starting with the SR-2. No other camera types were given any serious consideration—TLRs were too expensive, point and shoots seemed like a waste of time, and I had an active dislike for rangefinders. Some may find this difficult toContinue Reading
Composition lies at the center of photography, painting, and drawing. Capturing the viewer’s attention, telling a story, invoking a mood all rely on composition at some level. In my quest to make better images, I have spent much of the last six months studying lighting and composition. I suppose oneContinue Reading
Some things look far easier to accomplish than they are. I learned this lesson again when trying to capture images of gear to use for user experience reports. Often, I would set up a spot to shoot and find that window light didn’t work—too much reflection, too dim, wrong angle,Continue Reading
Over the last two years, I have seen emulsions disappear and prices skyrocket. For example, two years ago, I bought two rolls of 35mm Kodak Ektar to use for garden shots. Those two rolls sat in my freezer until this July, when I finally used one. Thankfully, many of theContinue Reading
Buying old cameras, regardless of source, requires one to test them for functionality before any serious use. So, when I started buying vintage Minoltas in February 2019, I had to create a testing protocol. The first film I used was Fuji Superia Xtra 400 with 36 exposures (all I couldContinue Reading
