120 milimeters of fun.

When I decided to really take on this expensive, masochistic, and probably-not-very-rewarding hobby, I almost went out and bought a $300 brand new Nikon 35mm SLR, which is basically the last film SLR not made by Canon. (The Canon ones are ugly.) But then I thought to myself, "You know, I guess I should shop around a little before dropping 300 bucks." My art-school-photo-major boyfriend suggested I get a Holga.

Holgas are an interesting camera. They're a PRC invention from the late sixties, made out of plastic, with a crappy lens and notorious light leak problem. Framing your image is approximate - the tiny viewfinder is a couple inches over from the lens, so your actual composition is always a little bit of a surprise. What's great about them is that they're the only medium-format camera you can buy anywhere for under several thousand dollars. That's right - the Holga takes 120mm film, as opposed to the standard 35mm canister we're all familiar with. Well, those of us who ever owned a film camera, at least. 120mm negatives are about four times larger than 35mm, so the photos can be printed four times bigger, or with four times the detail. Very cool.

Another downside to the Holga - and this is the reason I almost didn't get one - is that they've become extremely trendy. Bummer. But I thought, "What the heck, its fifty bucks. If I actually keep up this absurd hobby, then I'll eventually get myself a real camera - and if I don't, I've only wasted fifty bucks."

Here are my favorites from my first roll. Some are double exposures, which I did on purpose because it was so easy with my cheap-ass Holga. (Simply refrain from winding and you can shoot another picture right over your last one!) This will inevitably happen to me by accident - but hopefully not too often. While some digital cameras will let you take a double exposure, the Holga method is a lot more fun, and it just has it's own... thing goin on.