The Holga thing - Walter Baron & Jim Jirka
Thursday, January 25, 2007 at 08:22AM 
Marconi Beach - Walter Baron • click photo to embiggen it
The Door - Jim Jirka • click photo to embiggen it I suspect that there is no middle ground when it comes to the Holga. You either like the photographs it produces or you don't. I do, a lot. Although, truth be told, I don't have a Holga in my krappy kamera collection.
I think that I have come to like Holga photographs so much simply because they are a kind of anti-digital thing. Sort of like my love affair with the Polaroid genre. Both genres have that traditional old-timey film look to them that digital doesn't have. Unless, of course, like I do, you work digital in Photoshop to a state that is a bit less "perfect" or "cold" than it tends to be.
But, it's not just the visual characteristics of Holga photographs that is different. The camera's gaze and seems so much more like simple looking than the studiously constructed results that most often come from employing more technically adept machines. The photographs have more of the feel of a serendipitous glance than a prolonged stare - less of the cool post modern attitude (which I like) more of a subtle tip of the hat towards pictorialism.
I wonder what Group f64 might have said.
Thanks and much appreciation to Walter Baron and Jim Jirka for their photo submissions.
Featured Comment: Steve Durbin wrote (in part); "...another question for Holga users: is your choice of subjects in any way different when using this camera?"
Reader Comments (11)
I love both of these shots and would venture to guess that they wouldn't have gotten a second glance from the f64 gang. I don't think they would meet the "qualities of clearness and definition of the photographic image" that they articulated in their manifesto. I love the edge that these images take off of reality, leading me into a space where I can interpret, warp, twist, manipulate them into something personal, maybe even something personally significant to me. Clarity is way overrated.
Hey Mark, I see Frank Winter's name on the post title but Walter Baron's name under the photo. ???
"Clarity is way overrated"
Well said, Mary. Of course clarity is sometimes called for but endless clarity and the same compositions over and over again get boring fast. Mystery on the other hand is hard to over rate.
Hey Mary
I made this journal entry before I had finished my first cup of wake up. Frank Winters caught my mistake first - his name was on the title, the photo and the kudo.
I managed to fix 2 of the 3. Now I'm 2 cups into the day and things are getting clearer...more clarity, you might even say.
It should be easy as pie to write a Photoshop filter that turns any image into a Holga-like one, complete with random light leaks. In fact, I'd be surprised if there isn't one (I don't use Photoshop, so am not up-to-date). Just out of curiosity, would that change anyone's attitude? And another question for Holga users: is your choice of subjects in any way different when using this camera?
Steve,
I find I make images of more man-made subjects than I normally do with the large format color. My large format B&W have the same type of subjects that I photograph with the Holga.
I bought and use a Holga, not for the any one of the qualtities of the photos produced, but the combination of the qualities and the forced change in thought process required due to the camera's limitations. It seems to free me from complexity. Yes, my subject matter is entirely different when using a Holga.
"It should be easy as pie to write a Photoshop filter that turns any image into a Holga-like one, complete with random light leaks."
I have a flickr buddy who uses a Photoshop "Action", that completes numerous steps (...radial zoom blur, grain, contrasts, curves, crop, slight pinch, etc...) in a one-button command to each of his images. Really looks like the real thing...but...
I just don't think he can see the same shot through his D80 viewfinder that he could with a real holga?
Thanks for the responses so far to my question a few comments up (webmaster Mark, can comments be numbered for easy reference?). Perhaps not surprising that approaches differ.
Aaron, you're right, of course, that the viewfinder views will differ, though I assume the Holga finder doesn't tell too accurately how the print will look, especially as regards light leaks. My guess is that attitude matters most, but I've never had more than one camera to see how that works for myself.
I bought a Holga lens for my digital to experiment with, but haven't had much of a chance yet. The few I took with it have a nice soft quality, but are of course lacking in the random light leaks and vignetting. I hope to get out more and try this lens and see what I really can get with it and if it really can give me that Holga look and feel with a bit of PS work to add in the vigetting at least.
Mark - you are right on with your comment "simple looking". The Holga is a simple beast, a camera stripped down to bare essentials - lens, dark place for film,shutter, viewfinder.It posesses a certain (low) level of technical competence. There is not a lot to think about when using one, so technique doesn't get in the way of seeing. Going through a lot of Photoshop contortions to achieve the "look" of the Holga or other toy cameras kind of defeats the purpose of using one. The f64 group would not have liked Holga images, but the Pictorialists would feel right at home.