I’m pretty late to the Holga party, but that’s okay, at least I made it. And you know what? The Holga could care less when you show up, what you’re wearing, what you bring, how loud you are, what you break, what you take, if you leave the lights on, leave the place a mess, lock the door, how long you stay or when you leave.
I ordered my camera through Amazon. I opted to get the Lomographic Holga Starter Kit for $59.95, which was in retrospect a mistake, because the starter kit doesn’t really come with two essential items — batteries and film. It does come with a role of black electrical tape, so that is helpful, but come on, a starter kit should include everything you need to immediately start taking pictures. What I should have just done is ordered the camera (with flash) for about $45, and then picked up the tape, 120 film, and two double AA batteries.
Whatever, you roll with it.
That’s the attitude you learn pretty quickly as you try to figure out the camera. Every tutorial, as well as all the advice found on forums, sets a very relaxed tone, one that embraces the quirkiness of the camera and encourages you to play fast and loose with the normal photography conventions and concerns.
Tape it up, or don’t tape it. Tear this component out. Or don’t. Overexpose your film on accident? Might actually make your photos even more interesting. Forgot that you were on the “B” setting and not the “N” setting? Don’t worry about it! Forgot to advance your film? Cool, now you’ve got a double exposure. Lose the lens cap? Not a big deal, because remember, this is a toy. The message becomes very clear — experiment, explore, relax your usual uptight instincts, and most likely you will be pleasantly surprised by how your photos turn out.
There’s an inherent experimental flair which is so freeing that I really feel like I should be extending the Holga picture-taking technique to all areas of my life.
Here are a couple of video tutorials that I found very helpful:
How To Load a Holga Camera
Unloading the Holga 120 Camera
TIP:
One thing that happened to me is the two batteries in the camera came lose, just by the simple jostling caused by the camera being stored in my backpack. I had to open up the back of the camera to put them back in place, and of course that means I ruined the roll of film. The batteries are not in a separate compartment — they’re right there with the film. Tip: tape the batteries down with the black electrical tape!
ANOTHER TIP:
Pay attention to the little switch underneath the lens — you have the option of flipping to either “B” or “N”. This has to do with control of the shutter. The “N” position is for normal shutter speed — when you click to take a photo, the shutter opens and closes automatically at the camera’s set shutter speed. The “B” position allows you to keep the shutter open for as long as you hold down the clicker. So the “B” position is great for nighttime shots where you really need to expose the film, but it can also result in blurry photos, even if you are just clicking normally. Note that the switch seems to have a mind of its own, susceptible to moving without your knowledge. Tip: Use the black electrical tape to hold the switch at the setting you want. Overall, though, it’s just one more thing on this camera to experiment with. A blurred effect, even if you weren’t going for that, might just make your Holga shot even more amazing.
FILM
120 film is not easily found at the drug store or at places like Target, but it’s readily available at any camera store or online. Costs about $5 a roll.
GETTING FILM DEVELOPED
Getting 120 film developed. Again, most one-hour film centers at the drug stores or places like Target don’t do 120 film. I suggest a simple Google search for your local area — “120 film developing” + “city you live in”. Flickr forums and Yelp reviews were helpful in finding a few good places in NYC. It costs anywhere from $12 to $20 bucks per roll for developing and prints.
More to come on the Holga. Like I said, I just got to this party.
In the meantime, here are some cool Holga Flickr groups to check out:
Holga
Only Holga
Holga Chic
Holgagraphy