Holga . . . my new muse and mistress; a newly acquired hobby for me that I am so excited to share with you all on this, my official first, “Favorites for Friday Blog!”

What is a Holga? Well, Holga is an inexpensive, medium format 120 film plastic toy camera. First designed by T. M. Lee in 1982, it was originally designed in Hong Kong in order to “sell to the masses” in China. It was intended to provide an inexpensive camera for working-class Chinese in order to record family portraits and events. Due to it’s budget construction, Holga became known for it’s vignetting, blur, light leaks, and other distortions which is exactly what people have come to love about them.? After the Holga began to be distributed in the West, some photographers took to utilizing it for its surrealistic and impressionistic scenes. It became a fantastic tool in showcasing emotion within the photo-journalistic world. Eventually, Holga photography began demanding a new awareness by winning awards in art and news photography. Specifically a Holga photograph taken by David Burnett of former vice-president Al Gore, during a campaign appearance, earned a top prize in a 2001′s White House News Photographers’ Association, “Eyes of History,” award ceremony.

I love this shot.

So how did I meet my new sexy mistress? A good friend of mine hooked us up.? She knows me well and knew we’d be perfect together. So we went out on a double date and I’ve been hooked ever since. Good looking and a charming personality, how could I go wrong? I mean it, the Holga is extremely bright . . . If you don’t believe me, just ask the Cantonese- they gave Holga it’s name. “Ho Gwong” meaning “very bright” in Cantonese.

As you can see they come in a variety of colors and have a wide range of specialties. Because Holga is coming back in a fierce way, they seem to be coming out with more and more decorations to perfectly match and flare any given personality. Here are a few of my favorites-

The Holga 120WPC Wide Angle pinhole camera- is exactly that, a wide angle pinhole camera! The negative this camera produces is an astounding 6×12 (the normal holga 120N size is 6×6). This camera has a cable-release thread for attaching a shutter release cable and the cable release screw also acts as a shutter release button when pressed, allowing you to take shorter exposures. Also contains a useful exposure guide on the back as well as a spirit level to make sure it’s level.

The Twin Lens Reflex Holga- captures images with a multiple exposure effect using 2 lenses, Pop-up waist-level viewfinder that can also be used as a standard viewfinder, built-in flash, lead shutter speed of 1/100 seconds, ISO 21 or 27, and adjustable focus. Overall, it allows more range when playing with light and it contains a fabulous viewfinder. This will undoubtedly be my next Holga purchase. It’s purty aint it?

The new Holga 120-3D Stereo camera- A relatively new kid on the block, this camera takes Holga photography to an all new level of 3D! Simply load up your stereo camera with slide film, take some snaps, develop, mount onto the slide mounts and view within a 3d viewer. This camera also has color flashes built in, and a cable release thread instead of a shutter switch. With this camera, one also needs to purchase the 3d viewer separately. The viewer is similar to the old fashion “viewfinder” we once used as kids. Remember those . . . yup, I just totally dated myself.

All in all, I’d have to agree with Mr. Liad Cohan, when he stated in an interview, “my mind works like a plastic lens,” which is why this relationship is so symbiotic for me. I love photography but at times, I get a little tired of staring at my computer; trying to keep up with the digital age. This Holga was the pinch of spice that I needed, to keep myself motivated and to consistently think outside of the box. And it’s film! I haven’t shot film in years.? It feels so good to go back and explore. I’ve also made an appointment at The Translight Photography Center so that I can process my own images, pretty soon I’ll be in the darkroom again. For the future, I not only plan to embrace the Holga more, finding my own style within it’s vignetted lens, but I also plan on incorporating it into my wedding packages.

“I’ve been using my Holga 120 GCFN for over 3 years now. It has rubber bands around it and scraps of cardboard stuffed inside, and I love it. Why? Because it came along and made me think differently. Its limits were my challenges. Its flaws were my surprises.”
-holga blog

Some References-

Great tutorial of begginer’s tips by “Simple Photo Minute”-

#1, get rid of the lens cap!

Some great blogs on the subject-

Holga Blog- http://www.holgablog.com/
Holga Jen-  http://holgajen.blogspot.com/ (my absolute fave, she’s awesome)
Go Holga-   http://www.goholga.com/

Locations in which to buy a new holga-

http://www.fsdistribution.biz/fsd_holga_dealers.php?gclid=CMiNuNeJuZ8CFQ4HagodSnHdEw

The Holga Manual-

http://www.holgablog.com/holga-manual/

A few favorite places in which to process-

Translight Photography Center- www.translightcolors.com This lab is the bomb. You can drop off or pay by the hour to do it yourself.

Freestyle Photographic Supplies- http://www.freestylephoto.biz/ Excellent customer service. Comprised primarily of photographers, they will answer any questions you have, even the one’s you didn’t realize you had.

A future project perhaps- (it will be for me anyway)

The Art of Waiting- http://theartofwaiting.com/ . . . .