Lens Surprise: Minolta MD Zoom 75-150mm, f4
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
Herb Garden
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
Photography and Drawing: Shadows, Values, and Light
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
Experimenting with Annuals
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
VMLP 3: The Minolta SR-2, the Start of Something Big
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
Frame Works? Basket in Winter Light
Description: Woven basket filled with fruits and vegetables in winter afternoon light Background: Since I began gardening, I have become attuned to the yearly cycles of sun and rain. The sun holds a particular fascination. I have tracked it through the seasons and marked out– in house and garden–where it willContinue Reading
Garden Frame: Pincushions in Spring
Description: A bed of pincushion flowers in early spring on a mildly hazy, beautiful April day. Background: Pincushion flowers made it into the garden purely on color. They are the exact shade of lavender that I love. The foliage is also interesting because the leaves take on different forms. The first yearContinue Reading
Midtown: Into the New City
A beautiful spring day is the perfect setting for exploring. This particular day, I chose Midtown Atlanta because I once lived in the neighborhood. Since moved away from the area, I rarely visit. When I relocated to Atlanta in the early 1990s, the area was half new, half crumbling. AtContinue Reading
The Pandemic, the Darkroom, and Me
After deciding I wanted to do more with photography than take pictures of the garden, I joined a community darkroom, The Photographer’s Studio (TPS) in May 2019. Membership isn’t cheap, but I was drawn to the range of classes offered and a chance to meet experienced photographers. My first classContinue Reading
VMLP 2: Sony–The Revenge of Minolta, the Re-birth of the Cool
I have before me a Minolta Maxxum 5D camera and a Sony a100. The a100 was a pandemic buy—I hadn’t planned to buy another digital camera because the Olympus e300 works fine for testing manual lenses. The a100 was the first A-mount camera Sony made after buying Minolta’s camera IP.Continue Reading
