A visit to the mausoleum, 29 May 2022

Wilhelm Mausoleum, 29 May 2022. Minolta Hi-Matic 7s/Ilford HP5+/Ilfosol 3 1:9 at 5:30 in Rondinax 35U Down in the Sellwood neighborhood of SE is Wilhelm's Portland Memorial Funeral Home and Mausoleum. According to Wikipedia it is the first and oldest crematorium west of the Mississippi River, and the largest privately-managed indoor burial site in the Pacific Northwest. It's big,...

Photography as therapy

One thing that many of us have needed, especially over these past two years, is some form of therapy. It could come in the form of an actual professional therapist, or more likely from activities that make you feel good. While feeling good doesn't negate all the problems in our life or the world at...

In praise of the (n)ever-ready case

If you hang around a particular community or subculture long enough, you get hip to its lingo. Getting back into film photography, the term "Never-Ready Case" comes up frequently. It's the sometimes-leather, sometimes-not case that came with certain cameras. The point of the Ever-Ready Case, as it's technically called, is to protect the camera in...

Pre-order my new photo zine GOING TO CALIFORNIA

Hello, friends! After crafting HALF-FRAME JOURNAL #1, a document of my July Willamette Valley bike tour, I've gotten into the groove of creating photo zines. Here's one featuring writings and photos from my recent Southern California trip (Nov 1-13). The shots are primarily black-and-white, taken on Ilford HP5+ film with my Minolta Hi-Matic 7s camera....

Westside Explorations

My view of the "west side", the suburban land-mass of Portland that starts in the West Hills (Tualatin Hills) and continues westward until it peters out before the Coast Range, has definitely evolved over the years. I was definitely in the "hater" territory when I had a holiday temp job in Hillsboro in 2005. But...

The return of the Minolta Hi-Matic 7s, and an appreciation of its charms

It's June 2nd when I originally wrote this post. (What can I say, sometimes my posts gestate for a bit.) The day before I got my second shot of the Moderna vaccine, and on June 2nd I'm feeling the side-effects: basically it feels like a moderate cold, with aching and a lack of energy. The...

PDX Coffee Outside at Mt. Tabor, 29 May 2021

Another week, another PDX Coffee Outside! This one happened atop Mt. Tabor on Saturday May 29th. After the reinstatement of Coffee Outside the week previous, and the shift to Saturdays at 9, I'm committed to hitting up as many of them as possible. It doesn't hurt that the destination was just two miles from my...

Experimenting with slide film, and capturing spring blossoms

Over the year-plus of my film photography journey I've tried out many different film stocks. I've alternated between black and white and color negative rolls. I've developed some favorites (like ColorPlus 200). But there's one type of film I haven't tried yet: Slide film, also known as color reversal stock or transparency film. This is...