So I broke down and bought a Holga...

If you read this blog religiously, which I admit isn't all that likely, you might remember this post from a few months ago where I was playing with a toy digital camera, and swore, cross-my-heart-sorta, that I wasn't going to touch film cameras ever again, although I used the phrase "Holga envy" at one point to describe what I was up to. Well, it's a few months later and here I am with an ever-growing pile of old film cameras. And all that envying must've taken a toll, because I recently became the proud owner of a brand new Holga 120N. So here are a few photos from my very first ever roll with a Holga.

Incidentally it's not my first-ever roll of 120 film I've ever taken. I picked up an old box camera a while back and tried to trim a roll of 120 down so it'd fit in a 620 camera, because I read somewhere on the Interwebs that you could do it at home and not have to pay anyone to trim or respool your film for you. Well, um, that didn't go so well, as it turns out. But I did learn how to load 120 film properly, which is something.

Ok, so the top photo is from Mt. Tabor Park, looking towards downtown Portland. I think this one turned out rather well, even apart from the whole Holga thing. It's got the vignetting stuff, naturally, since you can't really get away from that so long as you've got the usual Holga lens on the camera. But other than that, it's really not all that crappy. Which is fine with me, actually. I hadn't originally planned on buying a Holga at all, and spent a while scavenging around town looking for cheap yet non-toy medium format cameras, but I just didn't find anything that was interesting and in good condition. After searching for a while, I was on Amazon one night after a couple of beers and though, hey, what the hell, I'll just buy a friggin' Holga and see what all the fuss is about. So I guess what I'm trying to say here is that it seemed like a good idea at the time, and there were extenuating circumstances.



And here's my old friend Leland One, a.k.a. "Rusting Chunks No. 5". C'mon, you didn't really think I'd get a new camera and not use it on the Rusting Chunks, did you? Oh, and the moon's in there too, if you look closely.

Before we go too much further, i.e. before I bore you to tears, let me point out that if you'd like to see some pics from people who really know their way around a Holga (and I mean that in a good way, honest!), there's no shortage on Flickr.



A bit of downtown Portland.




O'Bryant Square, downtown.




Tanner Springs, one of my other favorite subjects. What you see here aren't light leaks or other camera defects, actually. This was taken from a moving streetcar, and those are reflections on the window.




Yes, I'm afraid I recently wandered around First Thursday with a Holga. How artsy-fartsy is that, I ask you? Possibly I should've just gotten myself a t-shirt with "Dilettante" in big letters and wandered around wearing that instead. Although I'm not sure that would've been any cheaper.

This photo is seriously underexposed. I thought I had it in its so-called "bulb mode", but I forgot to check, and it turns out I didn't. You wouldn't think there'd be anything to get the hang of with a Holga, but the evidence suggests otherwise.




And here we are back at Mt. Tabor again. This one didn't come out so well. I was more or less facing the sun this time, and the Holga doesn't seem to be so keen on that. It took a bit of GIMP work to get it to where it is now, and I still can't say I'm entirely pleased with the results. But hey, it's a Holga, you were expecting what exactly?