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.
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Why 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 MoreJoe's Valley Bouldering /
Several months ago, my friend Chris approached me at the climbing gym, psyche-level at an all-time high. "Dude, we need to recreate the Bishop magic, and I need you there!" Of course, I give a verbal, purposely half-committed, "Sure, that sounds fun! I could get down." I mean, Bishop was a lot of fun. And I love climbing. But October was several months away, and I am a chronic non-planner. "How about Joe's Valley?" Chris continues, confirming that, with my half-ass commitment, there would be at least three of us going. Little did I know this was just the start of amassing an entire crew of Portlanders to head out to the Utah desert. I am not sure how a random group of 15 people all got off of work the same random week in October. With different jobs and life activities, I thought it would be impossible to reunite everyone. I believe this shows how the sense of adventure ties all of us together.
Read MoreHoh River Trail to Blue Glacier, Olympic National Park /
“I think we’ll do 15 miles the first day,” I announced looking up from the wilderness map. “But the first 13 miles are REALLY flat,” I continue in hopes of quelling the looks of skepticism that Hanna gives me from the adjacent couch, “Don’t let the mileage scare you: we’re reasonably fit people, we’ll be fine.” I think I also said this to reassure myself that the trail I picked would be doable in a three day weekend. I will admit – 15 miles in a day seemed like a lot. But with the time constraint, I couldn’t figure out how else to spread out the mileage. Surprisingly Hanna doesn’t seem phased by the proposed expedition. “It’ll be fun!” I exclaim. All summer, we’ve been talking about doing a backpacking trip. I hadn’t been out in the backcountry since the Enchantments and was itching for some adventure time before winter sets in. And Hanna, just moving to the Northwest, was ready to explore her new home.
Read MoreLabor Day in Leavenworth /
A short post this time! Over the long Labor Day holiday this year, Leavenworth was experiencing some relatively cool weather for September, so I grabbed my friend Jenn and drove up. We met up Kevin, who you may recognize from other adventure posts, as well as some other Portland folk who also made the trek up to utilize the nice weather window.
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