Minnesota: Como Zoo, Public Transit, and Cathedral Hill

For the past two years I have been attending Macalester College, a tiny liberal arts school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Though my school work keeps me very busy, I really enjoy exploring the Cities, usually via the amazingly functional bus system. Growing up in Kansas City, I never before experienced the convenience of a well functioning public transportation system. It is because of this system that I am able to travel around so much despite not owning a car.

This next set of photos were all taken around late April and early May of this year. Minnesota had a very long, cold winter this year. We had probably two more snow storms after these pictures were taken, which is why all of the trees look so barren. I had originally taken a bunch of pictures at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, but something happened to the role and I lost a lot of them.

This is and image of the conservatory. It is much larger than what is shown with another outdoor garden in the back. Inside was humid and filled with beautiful plants. The zoo itself was not that extraordinary. We walked through the entire thing in about and hour or so. There are amusement park rides for children in addition to the animal exhibits and conservatory. The entire park is free, however, so it spending the afternoon there was still pretty enjoyable. 

This is us waiting for a bus to return to campus. The bus does not go straight to the Como Zoo, but gets pretty close. It's only a few blocks of walking and the buses usually come every 15-20 minutes on the high frequency 84 line, which runs up and down Snelling Ave. On Sundays, however, they are much less frequent and we just happened to miss the one we had planned on taking! Some bus stops are covered, like this one. These are amazing in the winter because they block from the wind and snow. Some of them in the bigger areas (the southbound stop at Snelling and University) even have heaters to make it more comfortable for passengers. Some stops, on the other hand, are just sign posts on the side of the road, without even a bench. It's really hit and miss. Regardless, it's very easy to get most places in the Cities via bus!

The next photos are from the Cathedral Hill district. For my birthday this year, I went out with two of my friends, Maddie and Lidia. We went to a French cafe on Grande Ave. called Chez Arnaud. We all got a little sandwich and some kind of dessert. I got a delicious cold salmon sandwich, a berry filled tart, and a delicious cappuccino to go with. At school, I always feel deprived of espresso at school. Despite the coffee maker in my apartment, there is just something about espresso that regular coffee just can not match. 

A shot of our table and one of Grand Ave. There are multiple sections of Grand that have different shops, both local a commercial. 

The image is a little blurry, but the food is still clearly visible. After lunch, the three of us went for a walk on Cathedral Hill, aptly named for St. Paul's Cathedral sits up on the hill in perfect view of the surrounding neighborhood. It's beautiful, especially in the summer or after a big snow. These photos were taken while we were waiting for spring, but are lovely nonetheless. 

The shops in this particular area of Cathedral Hill are on the first floor of all these older buildings, complete with apartments on the upper levels. Even in the gloom of the false spring, they look lovely and give off a warm feeling. There are many restaurants in the area as well, each catering to different tastes. I have not yet eaten at many of them, but there is a rather special coffee shop there which I will save for my next post (because it truly deserves its own post).

Since the Cathedral is so large, I was not able to actually get a full shot of it. I may try again when I return for the Spring 2014 semester. I did manage to get some photos of its splendid domes and beautiful masonry. The second picture in this set is the view of Saint Paul from the corner in front of the Cathedral. During the summer months, it looks spectacular with bright green trees dotting the hillside. Sadly, I was not in Minnesota long enough this year to see spring fully arrive, let alone summer. 

For my next post, I'll write a little more about Minnesota, specifically my two favourite places: Macalester College and Nina's Coffee Cafe. As it stands, I am current beginning a 7 month odyssey around the world. I have pictures for a few more domestic posts and one or two about Prague, Czech Republic. As soon as I figure out where I can develop (and buy) film overseas, I will start posting things more current. 

San Francisco: An Introduction

Hello and welcome to the World in 35mm. This is a blog that serves to present the world through the lens of an ancient Canon 35mm film camera. There are no special effects. No digital. Sometimes no color. Always, I hope, interesting. 

To start things off, I have a few shots from back when I first dug this camera out of my mother's closet. I was in my second year of high school at the time, and taking a dark room photography class for the fun of it. 

This is a scan of one of those very first photos. It's a shot of a Chinatown lamp in San Francisco, California. The image is black and white (thought I admit the scan looks very sepia) with red oil pastel painted over the lanterns and yellow over the glass panels of the lamp. I had no clue what I was doing, but this is still probably one of my favorite pictures. 

I have a few more from that trip to San Francisco. It was a special trip my mother and I took. We stayed over Labor Day weekend, enjoying the city. We visited Chinatown, Japantown, Pier 39, Muir Wood, and so many other places. We walked along the beach and saw dolphins playing in the waves. We rode the trolley car and ate breakfast at a French restaurant. Of all the film photos I took on that vacation, very few of them turned out. 

The shot of the French restaurant is the only clear photo from the role of color film.

Most of them look like this:

Washed out colors, awkward angels, and blurry images are the traits of the vast majority of my early shots. I am no stranger to the camera. I own a regular Canon G10 that I take most of my pictures on. I understand lighting, angle, and focus. Yet the rules taught to me in art classes, film classes, and in my every day life that work perfectly well with my digital camera, are so much harder to master when all I have is a viewfinder and a light meter. My range of focus and vision becomes more more limited and suddenly I'm thinking about the photo in a whole new way. 

I admit it now: For me, there is an unmistakable romance in film photography that does not exist in digital media. There is something about it that is much more intimate and personal. There is no point and click. There is a understanding between you and the camera and the image you are trying to capture. There is a beautiful mystery in the science of it: the light moving through the lens and reacting with the film in a way that preserves and entire scene. 

The purpose then, I suppose, of this blog is to share with others my love of film photography. I want to share my most interesting adventures in this world with you through my 35mm lens. 

So sit back and enjoy! Because this world is a beautiful place and film is a beautiful way to express it!