Images & desin by Eric Bucholtz
May your New Year bring you and those you love peace, contentment, and reprieve from the storms you have weathered, and strength and resolve through those ahead. Most of all, keep reaching upward.
Shot on Kodak BW400CN medium format film in a Holga 120S medium format film toy camera while out for a stroll.
A life motto, really. The toy camera that inspired Instagram, the Holga, was my escape from the Digital SLRs that had helped to jump start my photography endeavors. All that whiz-bang technology, wireless photo transfer accessories, those hours poring over editing presets and bad effects just needed to be simplified.
In addition to instantly reviewing my DSLR shots came the rushed pace of taking, reviewing, editing and uploading photos faster than I could appreciate them. Most of all it was a race to fill social media feeds with snapshots rather than to wait for an interesting subject and make, not just take an image.
While my children were in school a few blocks away I began walking the neighborhood to pick them up. I had just bought film to try out and it seemed like the perfect time to get to know my surroundings and photograph unique finds along the way. We’d stroll back home together and talk about their day in class, noting interesting architecture, cars, and yard art. I saw vines overtaking a garage along my walk and made sure to bring my Holga along the next time I would be passing by.
This image further illustrates many problems with and characteristics inherent in Holga photography. Most noteworthy of the quirks are light leaks and streaking, questimated zone focusing, unpredictable vignetting, questionable sharpness just to name a few. It is a distant opposite to the clean, crisp, predictable digital image reviewed down to each pixel.
Finally, just go shoot. Whether the results are interesting or artistic are up to each viewer to decide. What I found in carrying my Holga around was that it helped me clear the larger hurdle of just taking a camera along with me. Probably the hardest part for a camera gear collector is just choosing what to bring! Most all my other cameras have multiple lens choices, but my Holga only has that dead-simple “Optical Lens” on the front.
A camera with very few options makes that first step to creating a simple choice: take a photo or do not take a photo. There is no try. Either you press the shutter lever and snap an image or you don’t. Whatever photo making thing you’re carrying with you today, #JustGoShoot!
Pick up a Holga here on eBay or Amazon
Join me at Instagram or Flickr to see a larger version of this scan.
Last summer I picked up the classically cheap and funky photo making Holga camera as part of my creative escape from the immediacy and trigger happy shooting of digital photography. The Holga has become a quick low tech favorite of mine, and I’ve had some pretty cool candid snaps printed from some of our summer weddings. One of my favorites is… this one!
This outdoor wedding day was not only a fantastic celebration but a perfect day for Holga photos. I snapped 3 candid frames and especially liked the way this one came out. A high-res scan of it made it into the album too.
Check out that classic plastic lens Holga look – semi-sharp center and wonderfully “soft focused” and vignetted edges – all in camera! All that from medium format film from the mid 1990s – not too shabby!
Add this low-fi look to your photo arsenal! Pick up a Holga on eBay or Amazon. If you like what you’ve read here, buying through these links drops some change in the photo supplies jar. Thanks!
I love eBay shopping. Random, unpredictable, spontaneous, competitive shopping. After getting a gem of a low tech camera – the Holga – I looked around on eBay for expired film. Wacky color shifts and even more unpredictable photo outcome. Here’s a sampling of the slide and print film from the mid 1990s that should have some fun outcome!
Want to shoot some old film in a cheap plastic camera too? Pick up a Holga on eBay or Amazon. If you like what you’ve read here, buying through these links drops some change in the photo supplies jar. Thanks!
