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| Photograph by Hannah Schultz |
About three years ago, I bought a cheap 120 mm film camera for myself: the Holga. Made out of plastic, the Holga is known for producing light-leaks, vignette blurring, and inspiring creativity in its users. Basically, it's so low quality, you can never tell how your pictures will actually turn out. Growing up in a digital age, I used to think film cameras were as outdated as cassette players. I didn't have the slightest idea how they worked. I bought my Holga because I was curious. I wanted to see what I could create. But because I didn't even know how to load film, it mostly sat in my room as a decoration piece. Thankfully, one of the first friends I made at Western Washington University was a photography major, and an extremely patient teacher. I took my first film photograph in her dorm room of our friend Maddy. I double-exposed it so that she'd be in the picture twice, while a poster of John Lennon lingers in the background. That picture remains one of my favorites.
To this day, my Holga photography has been pretty experimental. Sometimes I ruin entire rolls of film by over-exposing them or continuing to load the film incorrectly. As much as I'd like to say that I've become photo-savvy, I know that I still have a lot to learn. The slideshow below contains my nine favorite photographs that I've taken the last three years. I display about twenty-five on a wall in my room, but in my opinion, these nine are the best quality. One of my favorite things about film photography is the risk and patience involved. It feels more like art. Every roll of film is, essentially, a mystery until it's developed. For that reason, I feel a lot more connected to my film photographs than my digital. I invest a lot in them, and when they're developed, I love that I can hold them in my hand. These photos on my wall remind of memories, but they also remind me that as technology progresses, old-fashioned techniques will disappear unless people, like me, hold on.
I love manual cameras and film and that you are bringing awareness of how much more of an art this is. I think in todays world, we are so obsessed with new, bigger, better, faster that we only focus on taking pictures and getting them uploaded to the internet as quickly as possible that we have lost the appreciation for a great photo, without digitalization and photoshop/enhancing the photo afterwards.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. As much as I enjoy digital photography, film is irreplaceable. I was so upset when the Polaroid went out of business.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos! I had never heard of the Holga camera. I guess it is kind of unpredictable how pictures will turn out, but when they do turn out the way you want them to, they look amazing! I am usually not a fan of photography, but I'd love to experiment with a camera like this. And yes, please bring back the Polaroid. That's my kind of photography.
ReplyDeleteNeat photos. I really really (double really) like the one with the tree. I think it would make a super album cover. It's cool you shoot with a Holga, my slideshow is similar (minus color), shot on 120 mm as well.
ReplyDeleteYour voice is very apparent in your writing, I specifically like how you avoid redundancy and keep an even, very-readable pace. I completely know what you mean by the apprehension that comes with waiting to see how the photos come out. I found that the ones you didn't think would be your best end up being at the top of the list.