Minolta Files // Part 1

Photo by Scott - obviously not taken with my Minolta. Death Valley, 2014
Back in college, I found my dad's old Minolta camera from his photography days stuck in a box in the garage. I was fascinated, so I brought it to a camera shop and had the lenses cleaned, the battery replaced, and bought some film. My dad for the life of him could not understand what the big deal was - "why waste money on film and developing prints when digital cameras exist??" was his reasoning. I, on the other hand, loved the deliberate and careful efforts needed to compose a shot worth taking - plus the look of the film prints themselves, of course. In any case, my dad showed me how to use the camera and after developing my first roll - I was hooked.


If I remember correctly, this was from one of the first rolls of film I ever shot with this camera. Taken during my time in France (2010-2011) on the street I lived on.
I also loved that it's the same camera that my dad used back in the day when he was around my age - including some of him and my mamma. For their 35th wedding anniversary, my siblings and I bought them a slide scanner and started the process of scanning some of the hundreds of slides they have from their pre-kids days. It was great because there were so many I had never even seen before, and many that my parents hadn't seen in decades. The two below were taken on the same camera, roughly 35 years apart!

Mom and Dad - not sure about the year...I think it's late 70's? Mom, I know you read this - can you confirm? ;)

Mom and Dad - January 2012, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
I've taken it with me on a couple of trips and while the pictures aren't always great, usually only a handful of keepers per role, I've had a lot of fun figuring out how to shoot film. It also makes me appreciate the ones that do turn out good that much more. As an added bonus, ever since I've started dating Scott, I've had a professional eye to help me even more. He also remembers to bring it with us more often than I do :)


I took this photo (with direction from Scott) during our trip to Death Valley last spring, 2014.
Anyway, as part of my "Make it public, make it happen" motto this year, I thought it would be fun to post some Minolta pics that I've taken along with some my dad took when he was my age. Hopefully I can make this an ongoing series of posts, which will motivate me to use the Minolta more often!

Enjoy!


My sweet mom. Disneyland, California.

One of my favorites - a giggling, happy Lorenzo (my nephew) at 5 years old in 2011. Taken in front of the Griffith Observatory.

My late grandparents (dad's side). Downey, California. 1970's-ish. Side note: how great is my grandma's hair??

Travis the dalmation - 2011

My mama being adorable again. 1970's-ish.

My little brother's high school graduation in 2011.