Thursday, May 8, 2014

I Like Tea - and Found a Nice New Place to Drink It

I've been on a bit of a tea kick lately. There's so much variety in tea - green, black, fermented (Puerh), and from so many interesting locations. And, I'll admit, I like the more subtle caffeine boost, as compared to coffee (which I still love, too).
 
I also believe that social networking is not the only thing killing real socialization, at least not directly. Where I live (Northern Virginia), now that book, camera, and music stores are a thing of the past, there is a dearth of places for people to meet in person, especially any not associated with drinking alcohol. Well, I found such a place. It's called Ching Ching Cha, and it's located in the Georgetown section of Washington, DC.
 
(Click Here) to go to Ching Ching Cha's website.
 
My wife is from Japan, where public places to meet and have a hot beverage with friends are not rare at all. So, I didn't have a hard time convincing her to go have tea with me. I brought along one of my favorite cameras from the "Skeletons From The Closet" series of last year, the Minolta Autocord medium format TLR. Here are a few images I made there.
 
 
Ching Ching Cha Tea House, by Reed A. George
Minolta Automat, Kodak Porta 400 Film
 
For all but the second image, I used my Rolleinar 1 closeup lenses, which mount to the front of the Autocord lenses perfectly, as the Minolta shares the bayonet filter mount with Rollei Bay 1 cameras. The Rolleinars significantly reduce depth of field, which I must admit was a challenge for me. I didn't exactly nail the focus on the shots of my wife. But, it's pretty close. The big medium format negative is pretty forgiving.
 
I'm glad to know about Ching Ching Cha, and will certainly be a repeat customer.
 
DMC-365.blogspot.com

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