So in honor of Holga Week, once again we go deep into the archives to bring the past into the present…
I’ve probably mentioned it more than just a few times that I have a sizable collection of cameras most of which I’ve owned for a very long time. With the exception of my digital gear, I don’t think that there is a film camera in my arsenal that I’ve owned for less than a decade.
And I still use them.
All the time.
Because of this, whenever I travel, I feel the need to bring it all with me. Not a big deal if I’m going by car, but, lacking a Sherpa, any other mode of transportation presents many logistical challenges., not the least of which is the sheer weight. The old stuff was mostly made of metal, built to last forever and it’s heavy …
Fortunately, one of my favorite cameras, is small, made almost entirely of plastic, fits easily in my bag, and weighs practically nothing.
Yes, it’s the Holga.
I absolutely love this camera and never venture out without one. I have at least 6 and of varying models. I have versions with a plastic lens, glass lens, panorama, stereo, pinhole, you name it, I probably have it.
Alaska Triptych
So naturally, on a trip to Alaska a few years ago, my 120 GN got an extensive workout.
Alaska is like no other place I’ve ever seen. It rained just about every day we were there. This is fine by me as I prefer the light on cloudy days as it’s much more diffuse. This tends to soften the shadows and reduce the specularity of the highlights. It’s “God’s softbox” as I like to say. So the feel of the light and way it presented the landscape made me think the soft and dreamy look of the Holga would work well together. I think I was right.
The sequence above is a strip from one of the contact sheets. It wasn’t planned but the three images really work well together, so I had them printed as a single panorama print. That’s one of the great things about analogue photography. Had I just been looking at files on a screen, I don’t know that this sequence would have made itself known. As much as we like to think we’re so clever, we really aren’t. Sometimes the discoveries come to us…