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Summer Photog

Five purchases later I have two 35mm Minoltas that actually work and I am OBSESSED! Despite weighing 10,000 lbs, I yanked those suckers all over the place with me this summer and I can’t be more happy with how my pictures are starting to turn out!

It take a second to develop (I don’t have a local lab so I’ve been using darkroom.com), but there is something really lovely to learn in taking pictures with a 35mm camera. You’re in this cool spot, with a cool shot, and looking through that viewfinder knowing that your picture may or may not turn out with these old broads. What does that mean? You are so much more involved in the picture because you also have to be present to remember the moment since there’s a good chance you might not get it back! Bless, you can take the hobby our of the, er, the counselor out of the–whatever, you know what I’m trying to say!

With practice, I can also tell that I’m improving on reading the exposure and aperture and focusing and whatnot. But guess what? No need for pressure because you have about three weeks to develop and check in on your progress. You either have to go with it or put the camera down.

This Summer was such a needed rest. I tried to really be conscious about allowing myself to process the crazy year behind and the uncertain school year ahead. The cameras were a perfect way to check my efforts and force me to slow down.

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NEW SUMMER OBSESSIONS

By the end of the school year this year I was itching for a new hobby to dig into for the summer to avoid my mid-July-I’m-not-serving-society-no-one-loves-me-I-miss-the-students-and-I-am-bored funk. As if by cosmic design, while traveling in WV to see family in Ohio, I found a super cheap 35 mm camera in an antique store and I was ready!

I have some knowledge of film cameras because 1. I’m old, and 2. I had taken some photography classes in high school when you still got to barrel your own film and develop them in the darkroom (see: #1). I cleaned up the camera, bought film, joined the photographer Facebook groups, and grabbed books for my new summer obsession. Because, it would be too rational of me to not deep dive into the shallow end of a loose plan as per usual. Low and behold, the camera didn’t work. Womp womp womp. Soo…because I had already made the financial and mind space commitment, I had to take on another new skill. EBay.

After an obnoxiously long path filled with hidden bots, broken cameras, untested vs. tested, messages, and semi-unhinged stalkerish bidding, I finally got a little Minolta rangefinder gem. Minolta has always been my fav camera and their designs (insides and outsides) have always been the sleekest to me.

She’s a beaut and I love her. Of course, I was also still hoping to have a SLR so I also got another one of those.

Now I just ride around and snap pictures of pretty things and pray to the shutter speed/aperture gods that something will turn out. and it’s lovely.

Because I can’t just do anything without thinking of the SEL side of the activity, I have also found that I’m learning more than just film settings. It’s like going back to the days of waiting through the week for a favorite TV episode or holding on making plans until someone can get home and to a phone. I can’t see what I take, I can’t tell what will come out, and I can’t get the images right away. Patience is a virtue, but far from my strong point so in that respect, my cameras are giving me a full scope of newness, resilience, and needed holding. I’m currently holding back the urge to find a grant to help me build a darkroom in my school to teach kids how to develop. Where is the end for all saints’ sake?!

FYI- these are all of the parts, tools, and two dead cameras that delivered me to this post.