Analog: Minolta X-370

I'm slowly crossing things off of my 2019 Goals & Intentions list. Well, not technically crossing them off, as most of them are things I will continue to to work on throughout the year, but one of the first to-do's was to buy a film camera and dive into the analog side of photography, and I finally purchased a vintage Minolta X-370 off of good ol' eBay. The body of the camera is in great condition (I mean, really - she is a beauty!), but I haven't tested it out yet to make sure it's fully functional. Let's cross our fingers on that one. This new hobby of analog photography will definitely take some getting used to, that's for sure. I've been told, even by a few professional photographers who I've been chatting with over the past couple of weeks, that using an SLR film camera for the first time will more than likely be a trial and error situation because of the unfamiliarity of it all (getting used to the camera, shooting strictly in manual, etc.), so there's a possibility that the first roll of film will just be practice shots - some may come out amazing, and some might end up looking like shit, and that's okay. Perhaps the real beauty of analog shooting is that you never know what you're gonna get, and you won't know until you send the roll of film off for developing, and receive them back several days later. Ooh, the anticipation of it all. It's already killing me.

I'm really excited to become more comfortable shooting in manual, even more excited about my upcoming time with this lovely vintage piece of equipment. I've been watching tons of videos about analog photography and my camera model in particular, and came across some cool YouTube channels. One channel in particular really stood out to me; their content is just so visually stimulating and enjoyable to watch. Wild We Roam is a husband + wife duo who are living their best lives as free-spirited creatives who reside in Berlin, but just recently purchased a 30 year-old Mercedes camper van to travel all over Europe for the next few years. That warms my heart. I love to see the different ways in which some content creators document their lives on social media, specifically when it appears authentic, and not just highlight reels. Presentation is everything, and Dana and Lou share their lives in such a beautiful way. The videos below were the first of theirs that I stumbled upon when searching Youtube for film camera topics. All of this photography talk is getting me pumped about getting outdoors once the weather breaks, and capturing my environment.