Here are three Holga shots from Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park near Cochrane, Alberta. IF you want to learn more about the park and all of its winter possibilities for photographers be sure to sign up for our Twoonie Talk (2 dollars to get in) on Jan 21, 2012 in Cochrane – for more information please see here.
©Darwin Wiggett - Kodak Portra 160
©Darwin Wiggett - Kodak Portra 160
©Darwin Wiggett - Kodak Portra 160
Below is another image from the archives using a camera that I regret ever selling the Hasselblad Xpan. Why did I sell that cool little camera? Probably because at the time I was hungry or hurting for cash; a common cycle in the feast or famine industry of photography. Hell, food is over-rated isn’t it?
I sure hope my little Xpan went to a good home, if it’s just collecting dust (or anyone has one that’s collecting dust), I would be happy to take it and dust it off for you and post more pictures on the Fabulous Film Friday post!
©Darwin Wiggett - Xpan with Fujicolor Superia 100 print film
Last week I took Linny, the Linhof 6×12 medium format film camera out for a morning shoot. I put a roll of 120 Fuji NPS 160 ISO film in the camera and was determined to shoot the entire roll of film that morning. But one roll of 120 in a 6×12 camera gives you only six shots! So I needed to be really selective about what I shot if I wanted each shot to be useable. Below are the six photos I came up with that morning. Click on any photo to see a larger version.
And for those of you that missed last week’s Film Friday, check out what Samantha did with the Fuji 645 Pro camera on a stroll in around Mitford Ponds in Cochrane.
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
Well, the votes are in for the winner of the Holga Hustle film photo contest. Although there were votes cast across the roster, we do have a clear winner. And the winner is…Georgette! Her two photos garnered equal acclaim from you all. Georgette receives the Holga newbie kit containing her Holga (named Casablanco), a DVD and 5 rolls of film — congratulations! And thank you to all photogs who came out and played with film for the day and then shared ideas and snacks afterward at Baker Creek Bistro. Our prints are still up in the Bistro for the next little while if you want to see how great film looks printed on vinyl.
Before you head out this weekend, make sure you stop over at Samantha’s blog as it is her turn to host the Fabulous Film Fridays project. Being a lawyer, she’s a very analytical type and is busy pondering the differences between film and digital. I think her film images evoke more mood than the digital comparisons in this case!
Head on over to Sam’s blog for the final results of the Battle of Beep and Bop. Sam is still all smug about my small mistake with my Holga camera. I do not call it a mistake, I call it a ‘decision’ for art’s sake. We’ve decided to let you vote for the winner — and the best vote explanation receives one of our Visual Wilderness eBooks! So make sure you drop by and explain why either Beep (Sam) or Bop (me) should win the battle. And be kind to me, I am sensitive!
Samantha demonstrating proper Holga shooting technique
Samantha and I decided to have a little competition for this week’s Fabulous Film Friday. We grabbed our Holga cameras and a couple of rolls of 120 film and headed for Inglewood in Calgary. The rules were simple. Walk the streets for two hours and make images. We would then get the film developed and scan the negatives to display them here. There was no post-processing except for removing dust spots and a minor curve or colour correction to get the scan to be a good representation of the film image.
I thought I had this contest won before we even started. Hell, I have 25 years of experience with film – I doubt that Sam has shot 25 rolls of film in her life! And who showed Sam how to use a Holga? And who kept reminding her to take the lens cap off, to set the aperture to sunny or shade, and to always remember to focus the lens? This contest wouldn’t even be fair! Loser vacuums for a month!!
Samantha: I have to admit, I was pretty intimidated when you were so…helpful.
Darwin: Except that I was so busy being charitable, that I forgot to check Bop for one critical setting.
Samantha: Right! Tell our friends what that setting was, Darwin (grin grin).
Darwin: Well there is a shutter setting for normal (about 1/60th of a second) and then one for Bulb (where the shutter stays open as long as you hold down the shutter button).
Samantha: And what setting was Bop at for this bright sunny afternoon in downtown Calgary?
Darwin: Ummm… well… Bulb. I forgot to change the setting from last time I took pictures with Bop.
Samantha: Let’s go back to that part you were just saying about ‘professional photographer of 25 years’….
Darwin: Oh, you mean the part about the professional shooter of 25 years with a handful of washed out negs. Actually I am surprised I even captured anything on those washed out negs, but I did manage to get a couple of shots with something there.
Samantha: Guess I didn’t need all that help after all, but thanks anyway. So, do we call the contest yet or post a couple more results next week?
Darwin: I doubt a couple more results will save me, but sure, let’s do that. I don’t want to vacuum for a month!
©Samantha Chrysanthou
©Samantha Chrysanthou
©Darwin Wiggett
©Darwin Wiggett
© Hunter Freeman
40mm lens on a Hasselblad 503CW, f32 at a 1/60th, using Kodak Tri-X B&W film
I wanted to capture scenes within scenes, to emphasize an object or portion of a vista. I liked the idea of physically intruding into the shot to crop a photo within a photo, and I just kind of liked having a bit of forced perspective to the frames as well – which I made myself, and are four-sided, but not rectangular. I seem to enjoy putting odd things together in photographs. Go figure. ~Hunter Freeman
© Glen Wexler
Nikon camera, Kodachrome 25 film, the exposures typically ranged from 1/4 to 1 second
This image was created in 1977 while studying at Art Center College of Design. The project was an experimental fine art series that incorporated cutting edge (at the time) computer controlled laser light. The idea was to use emerging technology to express the most basic principal of photography, which is the recording of light over a measured period of time.
If I were making these images today I would probably look at the image quality with a Hasselblad H4 and Imacon digital back. The immediate feedback would be beneficial. I’m not sure if the laser light would react the same with a digital sensor, but at the very least it would eliminate a degree of trail and error with dialing in the exposure and light pattern. I think that I would probably test the exposures digitally and shoot 4×5 film as well.
At the time, these experiments were important to my visual development in that they helped to define the use of technology as vehicle for illustration. This controlled recording of light was specifically important to understand as a photographic illustrator, which is the direction I took with my work. ~Glen Wexler
© Daniel Milnor
Hasselblad 503CW 80mm lens Plus-X film
This image was made near Menlo Park California. I was in the area visiting family, including my nephew-in-law, who at the time was probably around three years of age. His parents mentioned there was a kite flying contest happening at a local park overlooking the bay and we all thought it would be a great thing for the little guy to see. I had never photographed kite flyers before, or even thought about how I would do it given the opportunity. At the time I was working on another project using Hasselblad and black and white film, Plus-X, coupled with a nine stop neutral density filter so that I could shoot longer time exposures during peak light hours. Seeing as I was in the routine of working this way I decided to use this technique with the kites.
The difficult part was finding at least one person who WASN’T moving, combined with several who were, with kites above. This method of working is very slow, very methodical. I probably made a total of about thirty exposures over a two hour period. In addition I made exposures, without the filter and tripod, and shot a more fluid style image, still with the black and white square. I was fortunate to find someone wearing an interesting hat who was situated right below the top of a ridgeline. Several of the folks flying kites had them tied off to heavy ammunition cases, so the kites were in essence flying themselves. I worked my way up and down the hillside. Many of the images I like the most are from a distance, allowing for a sense of place.
I remember the specific moment I made several of these images, but what I remember the most about this day was having to lie down in the brush to make several of these photographs. I didn’t know it at the time, but the brush was filled with tiny, biting bugs of some kind and by the following morning my entire body was covered in red welts. It was lovely. ~daniel milnor
© Mark Olwick
This photo was taken during a month-long trip through Southern Africa. I knew before I left that my photo equipment would not be the usual “Big camera with huge telephoto” that most people take to Africa since most of my gallery work has been done with a Holga 120N.
Prior to the trip, I made a shot list of photographs that I had visualized in my mind. This photo was one of the results of that effort (with a minor difference). I knew that Etosha National Park in Namibia was a vast, flat plain of desert scrub, along with the more famous salt pan. I wanted to capture that vastness. The way I visualized it was with one lone tree, a huge sky and the vast emptiness of the pan.
When I came across these two trees though, they really struck me. I still had the vastness I was looking for, but the way that the two trees leaned towards each other also suggested a loneliness or longing for companionship. I imagined that solitary animals, such as the lions or elephants that inhabit the park, also welcome that companionship once and a while. The trees symbolized that in my mind. The cloud pattern also added a very nice geometric element to the frame, drawing your eye across it.
My Holga, which uses 120 medium format film, was loaded with Efke IR 820 black and white infrared film and a Hoya R72 IR filter. I’ve used this film extensively and love the dreamy quality it gives when combined with the plastic Holga lens. I knew that it would turn the skies dramatically black and the clouds puffy white, but with a soft aura around them.
Since that film is incredibly slow (I shoot it at around ISO 6) the exposure was around 1 second. Everything about the Holga is approximate, so if you want exact times, that isn’t the camera for you. I set up my tripod in the safari vehicle since it wasn’t safe to wander around outside, composed and held my breath while holding the shutter on bulb for about a second. Even though you never know what you’ll get with a Holga until you process the film, this photo actually turned out how I had visualized it. No post-processing at all except for a slight crop of the bottom. ~Mark Olwick
Photographer's Guide to the Canadian Rockies now available
Darwin Wiggett 