The Minolta Hi-Matic 7SII was a fixed lens 35mm rangefinder produced in 1977. It's a super compact metal body camera, equipped with the sharp and pretty fast Rokkor 40mm f/1.7 lens and a Copal shutter up to 1/500. This was a time when Leitz and Minolta were working in cooperation with each other, manufacturing Leica products out of the Minolta factory in Japan. This is when the Leica CL series and the Minolta CLE were manufactured. I am a firm believer that the quality of the lens on this 7SII is largely attributed to that. But more of that to come.
Read MoreOlympic National Park - Cat Basin/High Divide Trail/Seven Lakes Basin /
As the third edition of our 4th of July trips to the backcountry, I was able to get a last minute permit to Olympic National Park to do the High Divide trail. I first learned about this trail when I met a father-son team hiking the Hoh River Trail. They were on their way up to Hoh Lake and to do the High Divide Trail. This trail straddles the ridge between the Seven Lakes Basin and high above the Hoh River Valley. It's one of the limited quota trails in Olympic National Park, where backcountry permits are hard to come by. I sent in a permit request to the ranger station a week prior to the 4th, and miraculously was able to get one. Kevin and Tia, my usual adventure partners from Seattle, agreed to meet me and spend the 4th in the backcountry.
Read MoreGoat Rocks Wilderness /
Last year, a group of us went out to the Enchantments to get away from all the crowds, heat, and fireworks. We wanted to continue celebrating the holiday with the tradition of adventure. Goat Rocks Wilderness has been on my to-do list for quite sometime, as I continually hear about it's beauty and grandeur. Add lack of permit requirements and it's equi-distance between Portland and Seattle made it an irresistible destination. My good friend Tia picked out the route: a shuttled loop starting at the Lily Basin trailhead, hiking through Lily Basin, down to Snowgrass Flats, on the Knife Blade section of the Pacific Crest Trail, and back out to the Packwood Trailhead. After work on Thursday, Kevin and Tia met me in the town of Packwood and we headed out to the trailhead.
Read MoreWhy Film Photography Sucks (and Why I Love It Anyway) /
Shooting in film really sucks sometimes. Rest assured, for those of you who know me well, I routinely sing the praises of film photography - the look, the feel, the methodology, the technical demands. I love it. I feel my own photography has drastically improved since shooting film. It's one of few things I truly get super, unabashedly geeked out about. And nothing is quite as exciting or satisfying than holding a properly exposed, properly developed negative. But there is a dark side to this: there nothing quite as devastating when the perfect shot is ruined because I flubbed it. Big time. And while this doesn't happen very often, it does happen, and it's beyond frustrating.
Read MoreHome /
In the beginning of November, I took a trip back down to my childhood home in Arkansas to visit my parents. It had been a couple of years since I had been back to visit, so I figure a trip was overdue. Normally, I try to visit during this time in lieu of Thanksgiving or Christmas because I have a holiday off work (Veteran's Day) and generally flying to Arkansas is much cheaper at that time. In addition, I can catch the end of the autumn foliage, as well as get some perfect climbing temperatures.
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