Shooting Old School...

My Dad gave me a Minolta X-370 Manual SLR film camera when I was about 15. He bought it used from some guy wanting to upgrade to newer equipment. It came in a bag with 3 lenses and a pocket full of miscellaneous accessories. At the time I thought it was the bomb. Today after Google searching to see if I could figure out when it was manufactured I found out it's really nothing special...except to me it totally special. For years I've toted it around from place to place, not sure what to do with it, yet totally unwilling to get rid of it.

It's no secret for the last 12 years of his life my father and I had well, shall we say a COMPLICATED relationship at best. But at one time I was totally a Daddy's girl. We were bound by our love of horses and an interest in photography, sparked by the darkroom he created in the basement bathroom of our rental house when I was 5.

In March I decided to buy a single roll of B&W film, replace the batteries in my old Minolta, slap on the good old 50 mm lens, and see what I could find to shoot. I finished up the roll of 36 exposures this past weekend and picked up the prints I had developed at Alexander's Photo today.



And just like that I'm reminded why I fell in love with photography in the first place...and how as cool as digital is, nothing can replace the feel of film...and I want to load up another roll of film...and another and another and another...only our budget has a conflicting opinion. So for today I will simply love this set of prints and memories they bring to the front of my thoughts.

You can see a few more shots from the set here.

Thanks Dad.


peace