Olympus Stylus Zoom 14035mm Point & Shoot So many times in the past have I tried to share trip photographs as a whole story and so many times have I not made it to the end. If you visit my blog once in a while. you know what I am talking about. How about that 2023 trip to Alabama? Not finished yet. Remember that Czech Republic trip from 2016? Yep, still not finished! Why am I starting a blog post on this note? Maybe it's a fair warning to you not to expect too much. Maybe it's a challenge for myself to do better and make it through. After all, this one was just a week, I can surely finish that, can't I?

I kept my photographic equipment very light for this trip. Everything fit in a single small over the shoulder bag. I stuck to my usual two-camera system, one for color film and one for black and white. But I still managed to scale down the overall size and weight by leaving my usual SLR candidates for color at home. Those would be either the Nikon N75 or the Minolta Maxxum 5. For this trip, I went with the Olympus Stylus Zoom 140. For black and white. I rotated back to the Nikon FE, which was the camera that restarted me on film back in 2015.

First Glimpse of Lake CachumaCalifornia 2026

First Glimpse of Lake Cachuma, California
Photographed with a 35mm Olympus Stylus Zoom 140 on Kodak Colorplus 200 Color Negative Film

As we were nearing Solvang, California, we left the 101 and went up into the mountains leaving the crazy traffic behind and instead being treated to some breathtaking mountain vistas. Too bad there were not more spots to stop at along the 154 but maybe that was good, otherwise we'd have never made it to Solvang in daylight.

Lake Cachuma VistaCalifornia 2026

Lake Cachuma Vista, California, California
Photographed with a 35mm Olympus Stylus Zoom 140 on Kodak Colorplus 200 Color Negative Film

We checked in to our Solvang, CA base for the week and quickly headed out as the sun started going down over California. We wanted to get a quick initial peek at what we were in for and to get our bearings around town.

Nikon FE, Top35mm Film Camera Over the last couple years, I started making this annoying and expensive mistake while loading my Nikon FE. Not expensive in money terms but expensive by ruining hard to repeat or unrepeatable photos from faraway places.

For the first 5+ years I used the camera in manual mode and for each picture set both the shutter speed and the aperture based on the match needle meter in the viewfinder and the light situation. That allowed me to easily do exposure compensation without using the +/- dial that is not very natural on this camera and is easy to forget in the wrong position.

Then at some point I switched to aperture priority and started leaving the shutter speed at A. For the most part, that made photography simpler and quicker. Exposure compensation became trickier as I had to start using the top left dial but all was well. However, that is where the mistake comes in. When loading the camera, I insist on having the lens cap on and that throws the meter off and the shutter would take forever in the A mode. Thus, while I need to click away the initial three frames, I switch the shutter speed to 1/1000 sec. Things go bad when I leave it there and since I am now used to aperture priority I may not immediately notice. This results in quite underexposed pictures, sometimes still usable, other times not really.

On this evening we first headed to the Old Mission Santa Inés. And wow, was it photogenic. Despite the sun and light coming in from the wrong side at sunset I still felt the itch to photograph about ten frames despite knowing I would have the opportunity to return at sunrise and take advantage of better light. But I was there then! Almost all of those ten frames ended up being lost due to the very low light and the 1/1000 sec shutter speed. Fortunately, we were staying for the whole week and realizing this mistake a little while in I knew I had to come for a do over.

The photo of the chapel at the mission is one I like despite it also being underexposed and rescued on the computer after scanning. The huge empty wall with this single vintage door fed the minimalist in me and I was happy. I also like this black and white version quite a bit as removing the stucco color further simplified the scene. I would really like to run this frame through the darkroom and also as a cyanotype to see how that comes out.

Old Mission Santa Inés, Salvang, CACalifornia 2026

Old Mission Santa Inés, Salvang, California
Photographed with a 35mm Nikon FE on Ultrafine Xtreme UFX400 Black and White Negative Film

I will skip ahead a little here and finish my troubles with this first black and white roll. Apparently, goofing up the exposure on the first ten frames was not enough. At the end of the roll, for the first time ever with my bulk loaded film, the tape failed to hold the film attached and it came loose. That meant rewinding could not be done by standard means.

Back at the hotel, I took advantage of the windowless bathroom, placed a towel along the bottom door gap, opened the camera and pulled the film out manually. As the roll was now outside of its original cartridge, it needed to be kept from light by other means. I placed it into the black opaque canister the cartridge originally came in and wrapped the canister in a thick aluminum wrap harvested from a chocolate bar. This shows the canisters really should be opaque black and not transparent gray as they often are.

The final problem was that with a film secured this way I did not feel asking for a hand-check at the airport on the way back would be a success as it looked rather fishy. Therefore, this roll went into the carry-on that went through one of the new CT scanners at LAX. It did not raise any alarms and went through. I have to admit, while I certainly noticed the underexposure of the first ten frames that I goofed up due to camera settings I did not notice any CT scan induced problems with the rest of the roll. Maybe the first ten were so bad that I became blind to subtle problems?

First Windmill, SolvangCalifornia 2026

First Windmill, Solvang, California
Photographed with a 35mm Olympus Stylus Zoom 140 on Kodak Colorplus 200 Color Negative Film

We are ending the day with color as the final rays of the setting sun bathed Alisal Road in spectacular warm light that turned the colorful Solvang buildings into structures straight from a fairy tale, especially The Solvang Bakery below. Wow, was I glad I had the two-camera combo with me!

The Solvang BakeryCalifornia 2026

The Solvang Bakery, California
Photographed with a 35mm Olympus Stylus Zoom 140 on Kodak Colorplus 200 Color Negative Film

Thanks for joining me on this pilot episode of our California 2026 trip. If things go as planned there should be 8 more coming up soon and I hope you'll be back to travel with me.

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy

Do you enjoy reading my photography blog? Would you like to see more travel photographs? Visit my Travel Photography and Landscapes Faraway photo galleries for glimpses of places beyond my usual Western New York.

California 2026 Series: California 2026: Day 0: Arrival, ...

Sodus Bay LighthouseTravel Photography Inside Fort MississaugaTravel Photography The Pier Bar & GrillTravel Photography

In a Fairy TaleLandscapes Faraway Painted TreeLandscapes Faraway