Wallace Koopmans Artlog

A few more Minolta X700 shots.

When you’re out photographing and you notice something interesting the first reaction may be to snap a picture, you wouldn’t be wrong.  The next reaction should be how can I make that better.  Questions such as camera settings and  where should I stand and how will that look need to be thought through.  It may come naturally to envision a scene from a different vantage point or it may come from practice.  Practice should take the form of thinking about how something will look from somewhere else and then going there and seeing for yourself.  Technically you don’t even need a camera it just requires actually thinking about what you are seeing around you.  Using a zoom lens gives more options but may actually hinder this type of creativity as it tends to make you stand where you are and try to frame a scene, rather than actively searching.

Here is an example.  I saw this scene and took an initial image.  I then noticed the curve of the shore and how the fence could make an interesting foreground element.  So I left the trail and headed for the beach.

And here is the image that resulted.  I did have to wait for the man trying to fly the parachute to get it airborne again and luckily this seagull was the bravest of them all and didn’t fly off.

My first serious camera that I bought for myself was the Minolta X700.  I still consider it one of the last great manual focus SLR cameras and it has always been reliable and accurate.  It was first introduced in 1981 and apparently it was made right up until 1999.  I purchased mine in the late 1980’s at a department store across the border in Washington state.  I’m not sure how many rolls of Kodachrome 64 I ran through it but where ever I traveled it went along.  I recently shot two rolls of film with it and was reminded why it is so good.  It is functional, without frills, with easy to control settings that don’t get in the way of creativity.