Plastic Fantastic

This £30 camera, plastic "toy camera" called the Holga takes 120 film 6cmx6cm negatives. It has a single plastic lens that gives lovely crisp images in the middle and out of focus images at the edges. I used this camera whilst in NYC in August for all my film work.
Here are some of the images printed in the darkroom over the last week.

The Hard Roack Cafe in Time Square

Crossing one of the intersections along broadway heading North from Flatiron to Timesquare

Waiting for the Tour bus to take us on the "Northern loop" tour of Manhatten

Waiting for the bus, this guy walked past and waved

Skegness #2

We knew that rain was on the way so it was a case of literally snapping away. It's always a little unpredictable using a toy camera with zone focusing but so , so liberating at the same time.
I was really trying to capture moments, little vignettes of this seaside town and the Holga is just perfect for this.

Keep it Analogue

A Day in Skegness with the Holga

Since I started shooting with the Holga my photography has been liberated......plastic camera, no shutter speeds.....a sunny or shady setting....guess the focus..........I am getting wonderfully exposed negatives, they print well in the darkroom.....and all for £25....makes you think doesnt it.
Ditch that expensive, boring, same as everyone else has, digital camera and

KEEP IT ANALOGUE

Pinhole Pier - Mumbles

Starting to use my Zero 2000 Pinhole camera again and rater liking the results.
You can make a pinhole camera out of almost anything - loads of articles on line.
I bought a rather nice looking wooden model some years ago (when I had spare cash)

Mine looks much like this.

Keep it Analogue

Stretham Old Engine

Stretham Old Engine, it's hardly ever open to the public but the outside is worthy of some picture making.
Armed with the Holga on the return from Anglesey Abbey the dramatic sky and the bold graphic shapes just begged to be photographed.
A bit of darkroom magic to increase the local contrast in the bricks and lighten the window reflection......photoshop....Humph....some dilute ferri bleach and a cotton bud is the analogue alternative.

Keep it Analogue

Another Anglesey Holga Image

Ive been really pleased with the images the Holga Toy Camera produces.
I gave this some local bleaching using "ferri" bleach to lift the whites in the statue. Combined with a fairly heavy contrast dialled into the Magnifax Colour Head.

Keep it Analogue

Anglesey Abbey #6 - Holga

Keep it Analogue

Anglesey Abbey #5 - Holga

We chatted at length about the work he did as a volunteer gardener at Anglesey Abbey.
I asked him if he would pose for me, set the holga to the portrait zone, flipped the exposure switch to overcast and made an exposure.
Back in the darkroom with the film loaded into a stainless steel spiral I developed the FP4 for 9 minutes in 10 year old Agfa Rodinal before printing onto Ilford Multigrade Fibre Paper

Keep it Analogue

Holga Girls

For those of you who were wondering (from my vast army of followers - please click on the FOLLOW ME Link even if I subject you to e-mails as it makes me feel better) this is a Holga Toy Camera. It's very basic with two apertures, f8 and f11 or in other words sunny and not so sunny! a fixed shutter speed of 1/100th of a second, a plastic uncoated lens that is soft around the edges and a built in flash.

Photo of Julie, Georgia and Blossom taken whilst on a family walk to Broughton a week or so ago.

Keep it Analogue

Holga 120FN "Toy Camera"

I am somewhat late jumping on the "Toy Camera" craze but I suppose it was only a matter of time before I gave in an d bought one to see what all the fuss was about.
The Holga 120FN as its name suggests takes 120 roll film or you can "shoot sprockets" by fudging a 35mm film into it.
The plastic lens adds a dreamy vignetted quality to the images. Focus is guess work, no meter just two apertures of f8 a d f11 (cloudy or sunny)
For this image I used Ilford FP4 a 125ASA film, probably better off using a slightly faster film like HP5 but nonethe less I like the result.
Darkroom print, Meopta Magnifax enlarger, Schneider Companon 105mm lens, Ilford MG paper

Keep it Analogue

More from Great Yarmouth with the YashicaMat

Took the YashicaMat 124G out for a spin, loaded with Ilford FP4.
Ivy's "Noted Teas Shop" has been there for years, goodness knows how they continue to make money. Likewise Pertwee and Back, the local Ford Garage.
The bonus was spotting BONO in disguise feeding the pigeons!

Keep it Analogue

Snowy Cross, Morzine, France

Another archive print from 5 or 6 years ago. This was one of the first rolls of film I put through the Voitlander Bessa R3a - see image below. The film was Ilford FP4 developed in staining developer Prescysol and printed onto Ilford Multigrade paper in my darkroom.



Keep it analogue

Caister On Sea - Blurry Sea Cliche

OK, so slow exposures, water looking like smoke engulfing water soaked rocks.....yeah it's all been done before...still like it though.
Bronica ETRSi, Ilford FP4, printed on Ilford MG paper

Keep it analogue

Couple more darkroom prints from last Summer's holiday in Skiathos.
We'd been on a boat trip round the island and now were wandering around the old town.
Still amazed at the way the 10 year old developer has handled these exposures.
Ilford Multigrade Paper
Meopta Magnifax Enlarger
Schneider Companon 105mm lens
My camera was a YashicaMat 124g loaded with Ilford FP4

10 Year Old Developer

Back in the darkroom after a lull of a few months where everything became "instant".
During our summer holiday to Skiathos I took just one camera, my Yashicamat 124G twin lens reflex TLR, loaded with Ilford FP4...keep it simple stupid is such a good mantra.
The daytime sun was very direct and contrasty but the FP4 handled it well enough (see picture of chair).
When I finally got round to developing this roll of film a week or so ago I realised I was out of my usual developer but found a 10 year old botttle of Agfa Rodinal. Now I have heard that this developer is long lasting, even when it looks like gravy brownings, which this did. Crossed my fingers, diluted 1:25 and 9 mins in the tank.
Printed under my Meopta Magnifax enlarger with a Companon 105mm lens onto Ilford MG rc paper.

The darkroom bug is back......