how not to holga
A few weeks ago I photographed Weston-super-Mare Grand Pier as it was destroyed by fire. At the time I fired off a roll of Fuji Provia 400 film through my Holga to see what I results I might get and how these would differ from my D200 shots.
This turns out to have been a perfect example of almost everything it is possible to get wrong with a Holga, so what better way to deal with my failure than by putting it on the internet for all to see?
Error 1.) Leaving the camera in “bulb” mode and over exposing the first two frames. oops.
Error 2.) Trying to do a panoramic with a Holga but not advancing the film enough or moving the camera enough. oops.
Error 3.) Not securing the back of the camera allowing it to open and expose the film and ruin it. oops
Error 4.) Assuming the whole film was ruined when in fact I only needed to advance it 2 frames and could easily have used the rest. oops.
The only thing I didn’t get wrong was I managed to remember to set the focus correctly. So, one full roll of film, and processing costs, and all I have to show for it is one frame of the pier burning, which isn’t even that good anway. Curses!
The next two rolls I shot with the Holga were processed at the same time and have all come out great. I blame my pier fire errors on the fact that it was early in the morning and I was still half asleep!
August 29th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
woah thats a really unlucky film mate, but damn…that last picture is fine!
September 11th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
the last photo is fantastic,seriously!
September 17th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
[...] how not to holga [...]
January 27th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
*taking notes!*
May 30th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
That’s an excellent pic of the fire!
June 12th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Thanks Adrian!
August 14th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
don’t be so hard on yourself!
ok, so you messed up most of the film… so what? that’s a pretty hot pic over there
b.t.w I did something even more stupid with my first Holga film… I forgot to put the battery, I placed the film into my Holga and then realized what I did… I opened the cam, took the film out, put the battery and threw the film away because I though it was ruined haha! Yep, I did that and all kinds of silly mistakes but I’m glad we are not in this alone hahaha
August 18th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
thanks vickie – I was really only being hard on myself because of how expensive film can get even when you don’t make mistakes!
April 20th, 2010 at 10:47 am
[...] my disasterous last effort with the holga, I decided to throw a couple more rolls through it to see what would happen. This [...]