Professor Holga: South West Wilderness

Tripping the light fan-plastic...

But, soft! What light through yonder camera backing leaks? Ah, the Holga. A paragon of purity. A paradigm of perfection. A peach of primitiveness. Putting down your digital SLR and picking up one of these cameras is something akin to achieving spiritual enlightenment.

After years of using standard SLRs and digital compacts, I was fortunate to happen upon the wonderful world of lomography, a kaleidoscopic land of bright lights, lurid colours and plastic cameras. There within I discovered an underground global community, obsessing over such strange creations as the Fisheye, Diana, LC-A and, of course, the Holga. Here was a place where photographers were no longer infatuated with the technicalities of their picture taking. Here, the image was everything. If the final result was aesthetically pleasing, then experimentation, mistakes and even wanton destruction of the camera itself(!) were all welcomed. I was immediately hooked and the Holga, perhaps the most simple of all lomo cameras, was my drug of choice.

Having now used Holgas for a little over 3 years, I felt it was time to create some sort of structure for my hobby and hence, created this blog. The internet has been such great source or information and inspiration for me and I have included links to some of the websites and blogs that have been particularly useful below. I still feel I am very much just at the beginning of what will hopefully be a long journey with the Holga, but if you have any questions or comments on my photos then please do not hesitate to contact me and I will try to help!

I leave you with the one piece of advice I try to follow from day to day; Don't worry about the who's, what's, where's or why's, just get out there and shoot! CLICK!

Origin of the species...

Hong Kong 1982. The manufacturing and production hub of the world is burning at a full flame. As with their neighbours in Japan and China, photography is an intense national hobby and obsession. New camera designs and productions are churned out daily, feeding the huge domestic and import markets. From within this world of manic creation and innovation comes the Holga, a distinctly un-modern and somewhat prehistoric throwback to the early days of camera mechanics. The concept is simple - a minimal and inexpensive camera using medium format 120 film. It would contain only the bare necessities for photo mechanisms, and provide a cheap and accessible alternative for students and enthusiasts to dip their toes into the otherwise very expensive world of medium format photography. Reflecting the shining landscape around them, this new camera is named after the term "ho gwong," meaning "very bright." After throwing a European spin onto this phrase, the moniker "HOLGA" is minted. This dead simple camera is met with a warm welcome, establishing a strong yet small base of Holga aficionados. Birth, death, celebration, ritual, and everything in-between is caught on lo-fi medium-format emulsions - amplified and focused through the plastic lens of this bare bones, oversized camera.

(Taken from the Holga microsite on Lomography.com)

South West Wilderness

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