Here’s a shot from the start of the film roll.

Here’s one about 6 frames in, taken a day later.

A similar thing happened with a roll that sat for a couple of years (!) from the first shot taken, to eventual development a few weeks ago. One of the first frames:

A shot from the end of the roll (note that the blurriness here isn’t grain, it’s camera shake because I accidentally switched the Holga to bulb mode):

A (slightly less expired) roll of black and white had the opposite progression. Here’s a shot taken last November:

Followed by one shot in January:

My theory about the color film is that the outer layers of the roll, which are used first, had more exposure to heat and thus more color effects. I don’t know why the black and white roll seems to get grainier toward the end, though. It only sat in the camera for a couple of months, and wasn’t exposed to any extreme temperature changes in the meantime. Just a fluke, perhaps?

2. Squint at the included directions for attaching your new Polaroid back to the Holga camera. Squint even more at the directions for loading the film. Make a guess as to what the photos are indicating, and fiddle with it until everything appears to be in place.

3. Take a picture of your cat in what you hope is bright enough light for the film ISO. Pull the photo out of the camera in a complicated process involving a little paper leader strip, and a film door that’s hard to pry open even with fingernails.

4. Remember that using peel-apart film probably means that there’s an optimal length of time to let it develop before opening, and fumble for the film box to find out what that is. Glance at the time. Try to guess how long it’s been since you removed the film from the camera. Give up and open it a minute later.

5. Wonder why there is no cat in this photo.

6. Decide that low light levels are probably the culprit, and sprint outside as soon as the gloomy winter weather breaks into sunshine.

7. Fail to pull the film out smoothly, feeding it instead into the little slot the paper tabs (which tell you what number print you’re on) are supposed to come out of. Open the camera to clear the jam, crossing your fingers you haven’t exposed the entire film pack to light.

8. Hope that aggressive cropping will be enough to keep the picture from being a complete waste.

9. Spend some time reading Flickr forum threads for tips. Decide that you’ll just try to get over the minimum development time and not worry after that, since it’s the only way you’re going to be able to take pictures outside (needing to let the opened prints dry flat on a clean surface is kinda limiting).

10. Go outside and take more pictures.

11. Conclude that no amount of wishful thinking will convert “bright overcast” into “direct sunlight”.

12. Watch the weather forecast anxiously, hoping for actual sunshine to occur.

13. Run outside during the next available sunbreak. Finish off the pack of film.

14. Admire the imperfect, unexpected results.

Here’s Robin dodging the camera flash on the DSLR:

A dinosaur in Arizona:

The Oregon coast:

Also the Oregon coast:

I’m not entirely sure what went wrong with the focus on the Holga in those images. I usually keep it set at infinity, but you can’t exactly look through the lens to know what you’re getting.

Much better focus, but the distortion at the edges is more Holga fun:

I can’t imagine having only one camera. I could put a weird lens on the SLR, but using film is part of what makes the Holga interesting. I like that some of the result is completely out of my hands—I’ll get what the camera and film decide. But I want sharp, clear, images too. I’ve been learning to work with RAW files. It’s a fun process.

See the bird? I don’t even know if I was aware it was there. Sometimes everything just works.

The photo screws up my blog layout, so click the link and view the largest size on its own page. Very neat.

I took a bunch of pictures in the central eastside industrial district on Memorial Day, but then I left the roll of film from the Holga on the table all summer and forgot about it until I discovered the kitten had adopted it as a cat toy. The last couple of frames were ruined, but I still had some nice results. My favorites are below.

Tags: photography, holga

Pinhole:

Holga:

See my page on Flickr for more.

I have one more unused disposable camera to be used for pinhole photos sitting on the shelf. I think my original plan was to do a set of yarn still life pictures, but I must have been distracted by another project.

For the Holga, I have a five pack of 100 speed film still to use (if it ever quits raining) and another roll of tri-x black & white, plus a couple of shots left on the roll still in the camera, so you will definitely be seeing more from that one. I had the first two rolls developed and scanned at Quick Stop Photo downtown, and I’m actually pretty disappointed with the result. There’s a ton of scanner noise in the pictures, little red and yellow specks. So I went ahead and ordered a photo scanner to do the rest myself (I’d been thinking about getting a flat-bed scanner anyhow, and there seem to be some decent models with negative scanning options these days). If the scans suck, I’d rather pay less per roll and have it be my fault.

I’m also starting to think it’s about time I learned to process my own b&w film. I’ve done my own prints before, and I don’t think this is any more complicated. I’d kind of like to find someone who could walk me through it the first time, though, so I don’t make any obvious mistakes (if any Portland locals reading this qualify…)

Tags: photography, holga, pinhole, film