Not long ago I posted this, Why I do it. It was a post declaring why I do what I do. Why do I spend hours of time and my own money to develop, maintain and keep my blog going? Well…That little post got me going. Why I do it is going to be a recurring theme. It won’t be any defined frequency of posting. The Why I do it posts will come randomly as I am reminded of just why I do what I do.

So…Why do I do it? Why do I keep blogging?  One of the big reasons is the people.

What I find so interesting and fascinating about blogs is that they are often focused on very specific hobbies and passions.  I am passionate about my hobbies of photography and cycling. As it turns out, so are other people all over the world. Blogs break down all the big barriers of distance and nationality. In fact, some of my most meaningful returns for my effort to keep my blog going come in surprise comments and emails from lands far away. Japan. New Zealand. UK. I could go on and on here. Blogs have no boundaries.

Not long ago when my interest in photography was growing, I ran across this website. It’s called the Ricoh GR Diary, or Cristian Sorega Photography. I have followed this blog for years because I was interested in Ricoh small cameras. Christian is currently residing in London. He is not only a talented photographer, but is also a very good technical writer and camera reviewer. I followed his blog and read every word of his reviews (more than once!).

The other day, he started posting pictures of Minneapolis and the surrounding areas. I was so excited I contacted him through his blog and asked if he wanted to get together for a photo walk, a bite to eat and a beer. Now, keep in mind that I have never before reached out to him other than maybe a single comment on his blog. I shared my blog info with him and low and behold, he responded and we set up a time to meet up.  Unfortunately our time of meeting got delayed due to horrific traffic and we lost all light to photograph, but we still got out for a photo or two and then grabbed a bite to eat and talked cameras and all things photography.  It was a great night and some day when I am in London, or wherever Cristian is, he will kindly return the favor.

We had planned to spend some time in and around the river valley. We started at Minnehaha Falls and took a short walk through that area.  Here are just a few pics from our short walk. These first three pics are of old canons looking out over the valley near the MN Veterens Hospital and Minnehaha Falls. With manufacturing being part of my day job, I just love the details of these old canons.

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Cristian also brought his Ricoh GXR with Leica M module. It was great to actually see this product as it is not something commonly found in US camera stores. This is a very serious photography tool. I love the design and thoughtful features of the Ricoh cameras. This GXR with Leica module is quite special with a large sensor and a no AA filter. For non camera geeks this means that it has extremely high image quality AND loads of detail due to no AA filter. The images it produces are quite unique and remarkable, especially when paired to M-Mount glass from Leica, Zeiss, Voigtlander, Jupiter and Ricoh.  Simply outstanding and it has got me thinking about owning one of these some day as I can share lenses with my old Bessa Rangefinder film camera. That combo would be very, very dangerous.

Anyway, thank you Cristian. It was a fun night. Looking forward to seeing you again somewhere out in this world. People. That is why I do it.

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