I have now started my own profile on youtube, for Go Holga. In my videos you will be able to find hacks and mods with video instructions. I will at first be covering mods that I have already written about here, but as I think of new mods I will be making video tutorials, as well as picture tutorials.
Check out the profile here: http://uk.youtube.com/Goholga (Please subscribe!)
After writing a post about how to unload your Holga, I thought it was only polite to write about how to load your Holga properly. This is the first in the series of video posts that I will be making this year. I hope you find them useful.
One of the main problems that new Holga users have is knowing how to load and unload the film. Its a tricky business, but don’t worry! Everyone went through the same experience.
Here are some tips to make unloading your film that little bit easier. (Video included!)
1. Take your time
Sounds like a stupid rule, but take your time when you are unloading your film. As long as you have the back on your Holga, nothing can actually go wrong. Keep winding until you see nothing through the advance window. You can check its completely wound in by holding the camera up to the light and taking a picture. If its wound up you will be able to see straight through the lens.
Here are some shots from a Bike ride I went on some months ago. For some reason I only got five exposures, which was annoying.
I also had my own mask inside but the lab decided to cut all that off. The only evidence is in the top left corner. Next time I shall make my mask deeper.
I am delighted to announce that today is the first time I have ever had more than 100 subscribed readers, look at my RSS feed. If you would like to add the Go Holga RSS to your reader you can do this by following this link:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/goholga
Thank you to everyone that has made contributions and left comments on the blog over the past few weeks. Things are really starting to pick up around here at the moment and its awesome to see a strong following of film camera lovers!
There will be many more exciting and useful posts coming in the new year. I’m currently writing a complete beginners guide for the Holga, basically outlining everything you need to know, from film choice to light leak control! I’m also working on the idea of a book with all the mods, and considering selling toy and plastic cameras from this site!
Stay tuned because 2009 is going to be the year of Go Holga.
I found a bunch of action samplers for sale in my local hobby store for a brilliant £11. And the reason they are so cheap? Well if you look at the detail on the right hand side of the camera, that’s actually some guys company that couldn’t shift the cameras from his own store, so sold them on to a store near me.
If anyone wants one I will be more than glad to arrange a payment through paypal! Please leave a comment.
Here are some shots of her
Just a quick message to say that I hope you have an awesome Christmas and enjoy the rest of the festive period.
I’m already excited about the new year and hope that many more mods and hacks will be posted. I am also planning on organising another Go Holga, where a Holga travels around the World and is used by different people.
If you have any other suggestions for projects, site improvements etc, please leave a comment!
Hello everyone, I would like to tell you about a photoblog that I have just started over on some spare web space. It contains pictures from all kinds of different cameras, all of which are very interesting of course!
If you have some spare time then please check it out, maybe leave a comment or two 
I was very excited to receive my developing tank from eBay today. Hopefully now I will actually start processing my own negatives. I honestly can’t wait to get cracking with the chemicals!
Recently I completed a film swap project with Rachel from http://rachelcreative.wordpress.com/.
I was quite an ordeal at my end of the line. I didn’t realise that 120 film is only secured at one end and not at all in the other, so for the last few frames my Holga got jammed and I managed to put a huge crease in the film. This happened because as I began to roll the film back onto the spool for the second time, the non-secured end was coming towards it rather than the secured end. What this does is make the film bubble and curl etc. Basically, it messes stuff up.
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Now, I don’t know how new this camera actually is, but I’m sure you can slightly sympathise with me, when I explain to you that I find trying to keep up with all the camera releases from Lomography, near impossible.
I recently discovered two places that if taped, really reduce light leaks. If you like reducing light leaks on your Holga, then you should consider taping up the two seams on the front of the Holga.
Many of you may know that the little strap you get with your Holga doesn’t really hold on the back very well. This can result in your photographs getting ruined if it accidentally pops off in broad daylight.
There are a number of simple solutions to keeping the back of your Holga on, and this is probably one of the most trust worthy. All you need is:
1. Your Holga
2. Some Velcro
3.(Maybe) Some tape
4. Holga camera
5. About 2 - 5mins
I stumbled across this rather humorous image at this ungodly hour of 3:47am and just had to post this comparison…
I’ve been getting a lot of news about pinhole photography at the moment for some reason. I think it kind of fits in with the whole toy camera, DIY theme.
This photograph was revealed recently and is simply beautiful. The exposure was a staggering 6 months long, and the photograph shows the changing pattern of the suns rise and fall over the 6 month period.
I’ve had the luck of stumbling upon two different DIY pinhole camera making guides this week, and thought it was only fair to share them with my fellow film enthusiasts.
The first pinhole is available to print out from an online PDF, the second is a step-by-step tutorial of how to make a pinhole camera out of a match box. I managed to make a matchbox pinhole camera this week but I have not attempted the other yet.
CameraBag have released and application for iPhones where filters can be added to your pictures to make them look like they were taken with the Holga toy camera.
The application is available online and comes with a range of different filters including Holga, Cinema Infrared and more… I think you may have to pay for the download, I can’t access the site because you need to have iTunes installed.
The Holga filter, (called Helga - I assume for copyright reasons!) is described as adding “A square-format toy camera feel with washed-out highlights and old-school vignetting.”
I find it mad that so many seem interested in getting the Holga feel on their pictures.
Lomography have released a newer upgraded version of the well sort after medium format camera, the Lubitel 166+.
“It’s something about that plastic body. Something about peering down through that waist-level finder. Sizing up your subject with the top lens and capturing it through crispy glass lens with the bottom. It’s simply irresistible to people who love and adore life,” says the official website.
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Flickr is without a doubt, the number one place to promote your photography and art work on the web. You can meet photographers doing similar things to you and also find inspiration through other different photographers.
Its also a great way of getting yourself recognised. I’ve been a member for quite a while now and have only just recently realised its potential. I thought I would offer up some tips for getting yourself recognised on Flickr.
1. Be productive, go look!
Probably one of the most important things to realise is that waiting around and doing nothing ALWAYS results in nothing happening. Some of us have learned this the hard way right? Well the same rule applies on Flickr. Go out and look for other photographers that have similar interests and speak to them!
I have had my Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim for a few months now and have been out shooting with it as much as possible. I almost instantly fell in love with the camera and for the price, i recommend everyone give it a go.
The Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim is a unique and new plastic camera that has a very wide 22mm lens. This means that a lot of width is projected onto a standard 35mm frame, offering up some tasty results.
All of you who read this blog regularly should be keen on saving money and making camera parts at home.
How cast has an excellent video of how to make a fisheye lens using a peephole. Apparently it only takes 5 minuets too!
I was a little dissapointed with the camera to be honest, but its only because I think it has a problem. For Some reason, when I take a shot, the camera doesn’t always recognise the fact that I have and therefore will not let me advance the film.
I’ve started another film now and I’m having the same problem. If anyone could help out that would be great. Here are the best shots that I got from the film:
I love the retro feel I must say!
Here are the better photographs from my last film. I believe it was Delta 400 HP5.
Film cameras and Film really do seem to cop quite a lot of bad press these days. They are expensive to buy and film is increasingly expensive to develop, oh and guess what, you’re going to have to wait three days for those prints.
So switch to digital? Well…not exactly no, in fact! Not at all. I don’t own one single digital camera, and if i did, I wouldn’t use it for artistic purposes.
When I found out about the Holga camera, I was amazed at its simplicity, and this was pretty much the main reason for me choosing to buy it…No rules, no boundaries. Just a big chunk of plastic and a soft unpredictable lens. Its just so raw.
Me and a few other members of the Go Holga Forum are about to start a project about birds. The project is open to anyone and basically, the intention is to get photographs of birds.
The project was inspired by a few pictures that have been posted on the forum recently.
If you would like to get involved or add an already exisiting photograph to the project then visit the forum thread:
Some of us tend to own more sophisticated cameras as well as our toy ones. I personally own a few film SLR cameras and a couple of rangefinders too.
I also have a few cameras that I would still classify as a ‘toy,’ but have a little more in the way of settings compared to the extremely simple Holga camera.
Go Holga now has its very own forum, and the amount of registered users is growing fast!
Here are some top reasons as to why you shoud register
well what are you waiting for? Join today!
Learning to develop black and white film cannot only be rewarding in terms of control over your image, but it will also be easy on the pocket.
I have to confess, that despite me being so anti-post-editing, I no longer have a choice. My scanner is one of the cheapest on the face of the earth, and every time I scan, the colors and contrast get increasingly more hazy.
I used photoshop to adjust only the LEVELS on the following images, to at least give them a chance of looking like what they do in real life. I really would like to buy a negative scanner, but at the moment I just don’t have the money.
So yes, I have ranted and discussed with a few people recently about doing things like this, and maybe I’m a hypocrite.
I think its just being fair.
Here are some more shots that I got at a beach a few months a go. I only just got around to getting the film developed. It looks like I almost got some Vignetting too. I’m sure the damn lab is cutting it off!
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