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Photography

Minolta 110 Zoom SLR, the first SLR in 110 format.

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I rediscovered my Minolta 110 Zoom SLR while sifting through old boxes in the workshop.

In April 1976, to celebrate my first real marketing job (a part-time marketing assistant position in the Bank of America marketing department), I bought this Minolta 110 Zoom SLR, the first SLR in 110 format.

Actually, my new boss asked me if I had a “good” camera that I could use to take pictures of merchandising in the bank branches. Of course I said “Yes” – even though I didn’t. So after work, I rushed over to the local Ritz Camera store and bought the best camera I couldn’t really afford for the assignment

Minolta produced the original Minolta 110 Zoom SLR from 1976 until 1979. I paid about $200 for it – that’s almost $950 in today’s dollars.

I still have it 45 years later, so here’s me imitating the photo from the original box. The 110 film cartridges are still sold for the camera, so I think I’ll buy a few rolls and give it a try.

Photography

Desert Rose of Pioneertown, California

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Her name is Desert Rose and she’s a performer in the Mane Street Stampede, which just returned to the wild, untamed streets of California’s Pioneertown.

Desert Rose was kind enough to pause for a portrait along the boardwalk of the infamous Mane Street Hotel. Pioneertown, a legendary movie set dating back to the 1940s, is located just a few miles up the hill from Joshua Tree National Park.

Photography

Desert X 2021: The North Face x Gucci Pit Stop

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To celebrate their collaboration and support of Desert X, Gucci and The North Face created a stylish geodesic dome to serve as the dedicated Pit Stop for visitors to Desert X 2021. This installation is covered in patterns from The North Face x Gucci collection, using different materials that relate to landscapes, travel and exploration.

Located in downtown Palm Springs, The Pit Stop is located in close proximity to a number of hiking trails in the area and just steps away from the Palm Springs Art Museum and the entrance of the Cactus to Clouds trailhead, a challenging 19.8 mile point-to-point trail featuring soaring Coachella Valley vistas.

Photography

Desert X 2021: “What Lies Behind the Walls” by Zahrah Alghamdi

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Zahrah Alghamdi’s monolithic wall is comprised of stacked forms impregnated with cements, soils, and dyes specific to the California Desert region.

She expresses a highly individualized language corresponding to feelings, cultural identity, memory, loss and emotions associated with this place and time.

Her laborious and meticulous process involves assembling particles of earth, clay, rocks, leather, and water to draw on the notion of “embodied memory.”