2006.10.15 – stony creek – barny holga, photo by ercy

ercy relates that this is a cross-processed holga; scanned print with no post processing. She also says that she just loves holgas for their dreaminess and vivid color. I think you will just love her holga*land set (slideshow).

We’ve seen a number of Holga images on Michigan in Pictures, but I realize that everyone may not know just what a Holga is. Wikipedia’s entry on the Holga camera says:

The Holga is an inexpensive, medium format 120 film toy camera, originating in China, that later came to be appreciated for its low-fidelity aesthetic. The Holga’s cheap construction and simple meniscus lens often yields pictures that display vignetting, blur, light leaks, and other distortions.

If that’s making you yawn, try the Holga pages at lomography.com, where they present the history and ethic of the camera in much more exciting, detailed and illustrated fashion and explain:

The lack of options with the Holga makes it an unpredictable and very exciting camera to use. You will find yourself asking whether a shot is in focus, or correctly exposed, or whether you remembered to wind the film forward or even take the lens cap off. More importantly, you will question whether you even care! After you use the Holga for a while – if you don’t give up on it – you will become used to how it works and even adapt to how it sees, but you will never fully understand it.

You may also be interested in the Holga FAQ, Squarefrog Holga and the Holga gallery at holga.net (all three of these have Holga purchasing info).

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