foto8 - All Hail the Holga?

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All Hail the Holga?

21 Apr 2008

Some of us in the Foto8 office are infatuated with our Holgas - cheap, medium format, toy cameras, or 'plastic fantastic wonders' according to the lomography website. As many a sneering, photographic purist will tell you, the Holga is a technical disaster - the exposure and focus are somewhat uncontrollable, light often creeps in through cracks in the shoddy plastic casing, and it's a miracle if every shot in a roll of film comes out. However, the images that do make it through the Holga's random mechanics have an accidental, dreamlike magic that we just can't get enough of. We want to know what you think. Read on to see our personal favourite Holga shots and find out how to show us yours…

Over the last few weeks we’ve been showing off our Holga photos in the office and it seems that the joy we take from these images comes from our personal affection for the subject and the unruly, dreamlike light the Holga throws on them. Due to the imprecision of the wind on function, frames often overlap causing stray, ghostlike figures to wander into neighbouring landscapes and parties - creating an eeriness that is perhaps a large part of the camera’s appeal. It doesn’t try to capture high definition reality, it’s only £40, it can’t.

Some critics aren’t quite so accepting of the Holga’s flaws and distortions. Various online photography forums contain debates between “Holga lovers” and “Holga haters”. Here’s a few examples of some less glowing reviews:

‘why should you buy a Holga when you can just smear jelly on the lens?’

‘I'll be damned if I have to like a crappy picture just because it was taken with a camera that barely works. There are reasons folks started using cameras with real shutters and lenses’.

What do you think? Are you a lover or a hater? Comments below please.

Competition:
We’ve chosen some of our favourite shots here and we want you to do the same!

Join the Foto8 group on flickr: www.flickr.com/groups/foto_8/

Then add your Holga photos to the group pool, making sure they are tagged with the word 'holga'.

The best image will win a year's subscription to 8 magazine. Judging will take place on 31 May. Good Luck!

"Sun Llama" by Rosie

"Desert Lagoon" by Rosie

"Party" by Grace
"Red Car" by Grace

"House" by Lauren

"Snow" by Lauren

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written by JenSavage, May 10, 2008

I just joined the site because I wanted to comment. I only very recently got a Holga. I have shot 2 rolls of film and I am in love. I never want to put it down. There is something about not knowing exactly what I'll get that is so appealing. I'm thinking of getting a second one so I can keep one loaded with black and white and one with colour all the time. I think most Holga photos have more character and appeal than crisp, clear shots I've seen a million times. Then, I've always found the gritty appeals to my senses so the Holga was a perfect match for me. I could go on for hours.

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written by Rosie, May 01, 2008

Thanks for your comments guys. In response, Nick don't you think that if all art were solely the product of process and the accuracy of that process - then the art that surrounds us would lack something? Perhaps the Holga isn't an instrument for creating masterpieces but every artist needs a muse...

Josh, I think the fact that the Holga lends itself to being physically adapted allows the photographer to take joy in controlling the mechanical process, thus producing the desired artistic effect. Just like a painter controls the colours he uses to make an image, whether abstract or realist. I'm far from qualified to say what art is. I think Holgography is 'an' art - one of many ways we choose to represent our lives and our surroundings.

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written by Josh, May 01, 2008

i love my holga... each camera is unique, and that's one of the things i like about it. after time you get to know it better, and take better pictures with it. sometimes the results are accidental, but often they're not... mine has a light leek at the bottom, sometimes i tape it up and sometimes i don't... i even adapted it to shoot 35mm... it was a bit rubbish, but there you go... art it can be!

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written by Nick, April 29, 2008

Sorry Rosie, but you've found a hater now - well, not a hater exactly, but I find it hard to admire such a pile of junk as that camera. As for the pictures, there are some stunners among them, but how you can see them as more than (occasionally) happy accidents defeats me. It's a bit like the infinite number of monkeys typing infinitely on an infinite number of typewriters... and there's not much to admire in that as a process. Fun it may be (for a moment or two, anyway); art it ain't!

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written by Rosie, April 28, 2008

Thanks for all the comments everyone, there don't seem to be many haters out there... Hope everyone had a Holga moment in the sunshine this weekend. Our flickr page is awash with competition entries, keep them coming:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/foto_8/

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written by Haroo, April 26, 2008

they are lovely i especially like the traffic light i think i have seen it somewhere before!!!

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written by jonlevy, April 25, 2008

Check out this from the very beginning of Foto8. Issue 1 on the web in 1998, we were very simple back then but the pictures are still beautiful and all Holga... Nader Ebramhimi

http://www.foto8.com/issue01/dnader/dnader.html

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written by Rebecca, April 25, 2008

I am a lover for sure.
Bought a holga 5 years ago now and it has been the fastest five years of my life - filled with colour, overlpas, light splashes, distortions and quality that I would argue, can never be emulated with the clear precision and contrived nature of perhaps more 'serious' cameras.
Using a holga loosens up your preconceptions about creativity and can inject a new zest of passion for photography.

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written by Haroo, April 24, 2008

I was in Hong Kong studying last year at that point i carried my LC-A every where with me and thought that it was the b all and end all of Lomographic cameras until one of my friends from hong kong told me to buy one and for the price of 8 pound i couldn't really say no! and have never looked back since i love it!!!!

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written by Rosie French, April 23, 2008

Thanks for the information Steve, we know where to go now if our Holga breaks in Dubai! What's your opinion on the camera? Do you have one?

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written by steve mac, April 23, 2008

I was in Dubai last week meeting gallery G-1 and they sell Holgas - there is a huge fanbase of users in the Middle East and they have decided to set a seperate area aside for these cameras!

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