Like a true child of the 80’s, I took a photography class in high school. I absolutely fell in love with the process of developing film and making prints, but once the class ended, I no longer had access to continue experimenting. A few of those old photos survive, but aren’t worth sharing, as I had no clue at all what I was doing.
Some time around Christmas 2017, I obtained a Minolta X-370 and a pair of lenses. The camera had belonged to my wife’s uncle, who had passed away. Having just had a few rolls from the Mamiya C33 developed, I was interested in getting back to shooting 35mm and reliving that classic experience.
The X-370 sports an aperture priority mode, so it was a much simpler experience than the C-33, but it was still a manual focus camera, and even in my 30’s I refused to wear corrective lenses, hence a lot of soft focus. I really didn’t understand how aperture affected the depth of field yet either, so combine that with shooting mostly indoors on Christmas and it makes sense that these images are less than stellar. Still, they invoke a sense of nostalgia, and I smile whenever I look at them – but a lot of that has to do with my son’s Christmas morning hair.
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