Why use a Holga camera? Many people have asked me this recently. The Holga is a plastic medium format camera (although now you can get other types now) that costs about USD 35 - it has no light meter, a plastic lens & body, only one aperture setting f/8 and very approximative lens focusing - it also leaks light, burning your film - from time to time. Many people call it a toy camera, I have about 20 or so cameras, and my favorite is the Holga! Well - let me try to explain in a few lines why I use it so much: I started using the Holga in 2003. I love the simplicity of it, the approximate technical approach, and the fact I only have 12 photos to take. All the hassle of proper picture taking disappears - I dont worry about my focus as its a complete guess, I only have two exposures to choose from so I dont ponder on that either - all technical matters are gone!! So the process changes, much more simple - Im more concerned with the image itself, and not worrying about all the usual technicalities. I feel like a child trying to simply capture vanishing scenes of life and put them in my box. Its all about making a simple image with a simple box - no technology to deal with. When people see it they dont take me seriously - fantastic! Its super light, if it gets stolen I dont care, I can also shoot in all weathers with it. OK thats the fun stuff.... shooting....running, jumping, climbing trees ..... More importantly: the Holga allows you to come back home with a radically different image from your other cameras for sure!! The soft focus, plastic lens quality, vignetting, the almost constant camera shake / or movement - deformations on the edges....the amazing light leaks burning the film giving it that edgy raw feel. Also, using it for long or double exposures opens up the doors to another dimension. Another area Ive been recently experimenting with is using it with flash - Ive really enjoyed that too. The Holga was born in China, in 1981. In 1982, in Hong Kong, photographers began using the Holga for its surrealistic, impressionistic scenes for landscape, still life, portrait, and especially street photography. These owners prized the Holga for its lack of precision, light leaks, and inexpensive qualities, which forced the photographer to concentrate on innovation and creative vision in place of increasingly expensive camera technology. Im posting here some Holga photos taken in Mumbai in November. Also if youre interested you can check out other galleries with Holga work - all my square photos, are taken with the Holga. Tokyo 2014 ohanlon.photoshelter/gallery/Tokyo-2014/G0000xVmiZSeHBzI/C0000DErNe29ZO_c Rio 2014 ohanlon.photoshelter/gallery/Rio-2014/G00003FK.W1vHLas/C0000DErNe29ZO_c South Africa 2009 ohanlon.photoshelter/gallery/Rio-2014/G00003FK.W1vHLas/C0000DErNe29ZO_c London 2009 ohanlon.photoshelter/gallery/London-2007-2009-36-Hours/G00001oRRyoyCgX8/ New York 2007 ohanlon.photoshelter/gallery/New-York-Black-White-2007/G0000GIc6VBv74h8/
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 20:56:23 +0000
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