Is it digital? Is that made by Fisher Price? Wait, it shoots film?
Or my personal favorite…
What are you doing?
There is something special and fun about shooting toy cameras. First, nobody gets them. And the people who do, LOVE IT. I’ve been working on a toy camera exclusive project and I’ve heard so many “OMG, is that a Diana? Can I hold it. I have to get one of these!”
Or, there are the people who are around when I’m taking a pinhole photo that are generally confused (and a little nosy) and want to know what you’re doing – only to be confused further when you say, “I’m taking a picture. That’s a camera.” I know what they’re thinking… “that box/paint can/lifesavers tin/insert random object is a camera? Okay, I’m just going to walk away slow.”
But my best advice is to take it all in stride. Or educate people. I found a lot of people were fairly astonished to know that I spent $70 on a multi-colored Holga. “But, why, isn’t it just plastic?” Well, yeah, but it’s the most amazing plastic I can possibly get my hands on.
I love it. If you see me on the street with a toy camera, feel free to ask “Is that a camera?” I’ll tell you all about it!
Kelly
Update: I will be submitting 5 total prints, I added 2 more and could use some input, although I have a pretty good idea of what direction I’ll go…. the submission deadline is today (1/13), nothing like doing it at the last minute. Thanks!
Every year, the Rayko photographic center in San Francisco hosts a toy camera show. This is the first year I actually knew about the deadline in time to submit work. I am submitting at least 3 pieces (maybe more but additional entries cost $$$) and the deadline is tomorrow. Since, I’m sending digital files and prints don’t have to be ready for a couple weeks, I’m developing a couple more rolls of film tomorrow before I make a final decision, but here are my top contenders at the moment.
Feedback greatly appreciated. Ignore the dust, my film scanner is dirty.
Shot with Holga
Shot with a Diana Mini, and I have zero intention of correcting the contrast, I like it washed out.
35mm film in Holga.
Shot with Anscoflex.
Any favorites?
Thanks!
Shasta Betty
Finally, a Holga post. A fun Holga post, at that.
There are a number of cool flashes out there for Holga and Diana cameras. The most fun ones have gels, little clear cards you can put over the bulb to make the flash come out a certain color.
This means you can have pictures that flash with blue or pink. Or both.
Simple to do. Grab a camera that will allow you to expose the same frame twice without winding. Holgas, Dianas, etc. Put on your flash with the first color gel. Set your Holga to the “Sunny” setting instead of “Cloudy/Flash”, the goal is to have it be underexposed because you’re exposing twice. Handhold your shot, find something fun and take a picture. Put in the other color gel and sit in roughly the same area looking at roughly the same scene. Take another shot. Repeat as necessary. It’s very experimental, but the idea is not to use a tripod and not to be perfect.
Tips:
The darker the room, the less the chance of blowing out the shot with the flash. I did this in the pitch black.
If you have another Holga or Diana with a Polaroid back (or even maybe a camera set to Bulb if your space is dark enough and you can manually trigger the flash), play with this with Polaroids for a while before switching to film. You’ll get a slew of instant results and a better idea of what settings to use.
Try color gels that contrast each other more than they compliment each other. Also use gels that are about equal on the brightness scale. I tried a dark blue with yellow, and the yellow was drowned out.
Other Ideas:
Use a tripod and move the subject within the frame during each exposure.
If you must go digital, find a really dark space (no light at all), put your camera on Bulb, open the shutter and fire the flash with the manual trigger.
Good luck!
Shasta Betty
Diana mini is a tiny version of the Diana that uses 35mm film either in square or half frame photos. It has all the advantages of the Diana, multiple exposures, panoramic photos and Diana-esque images. It also has a cable release for long exposures, as well as hookups for attaching a Diana F+ Flash.
Some examples (by the way, these are the cutest little negatives ever, I love them. Plus the camera can just about fit in your pocket.)
And since I’ve been back in the darkroom, here’s another Holga update. If you aren’t shooting one yet, or at least thinking about it… well, I don’t know.
While you can build pinhole cameras using a variety of mediums (more on that in the future), you can also buy cameras that are already premade pinhole cameras or cameras that convert to pinholes. For example, there is a way to break a Holga to make it a pinhole. Also, if you buy a Diana F+, it has a pinhole setting and removable lens for genuine pinhole photos.
There are a lot of ways of recording pinhole photos, ranging from 35mm film to photographic paper. The Diana records images on 120 (medium format) film. Another fun thing about using the Diana to record pinhole photos, is that you can change the aperture setting, replace the lens and continue to take regular pictures.
As with any Diana shot, there is room for multiple exposures. Pinholes also allow for long exposures during daylight, which can be interesting as well. These are a couple prints I got off my first roll of film. Some advice from experience: pay attention to whether or not you advanced the film after each photo! I ended up with a lot of double exposures that weren’t intentional (although some I loved anyway, which is what makes Lomography so interesting at times).
Double exposure pinhole
A little motion blur…
Because of the longer exposure and my puppy’s movement, her head and tail are ghosted out of the photo.
Also, as promised, I have a couple new B&W photos from my Holga. Even if you’re not doing all the off the wall things I want to try with this blog, I hope these at least encourage or inspire you to spend $20 and take some interesting photos.
Remember all those cool attachments I said you could get for a Diana camera? Well, one of them is a Polaroid back. We bought one from Urban Outfitters, but they’re also available at freestyle. Since Polaroid film is out of business, these actually use Fuji Instax Mini film.
These are pretty fun little pictures. They can do all the weird things that the Diana can, including double exposures and long exposures. However, they’re teeny tiny little prints (about 2x3 inches). I think they’re cute as hell, but not good for anything other than just fun. I scan mine into film strips. All of these were taken either in Santa Barbara or Mt. Shasta and I had a ton of fun. I’ve just ordered more film from freestyle, so expect to see more in the future.
Hint: Click through to open the picture in a new page. It’ll be easier to see each little photo. The first pictures on the 2nd and 3rd strips are double exposure and the fourth on the 3rd strip is long exposure (and my favorite!) Enjoy :)
Lomography is a broad term that describes a lot but can be used to sum up the use of toy cameras. Toy cameras are kinda wild, fun and unpredictable – which is what makes them fun. In particular, I want to talk about the Holga and the Diana and why you should drop the $20 on a Holga, like, right now. (See freestyle photographic supplies in my links for most of the products I talk about on this blog. They don’t pay me to advertise, I just like ‘em.)
A Holga is a fully plastic camera (even the lens) which leaks light, is fully analogue and unlike an SLR, only has a rangefinder. That means you pretty much have to guess on the focus. It only has 2 aperture settings, “sunny” and “cloudy/flash” and 2 shutter settings, “normal” and “bulb”. 
I’m sure you’re wondering why anyone would buy this camera, but it’s the flaws that make for interesting photos. The lens provides a great vignetting effect, light leaks, distortion, lens flare, strange colors and artifacts to photos and the plastic design provides soft focus photos.
No two Holgas are alike in the pictures they produce, since each has it’s own unique flaws. Plus the camera comes in a variety of colors and is a perfect blank canvas for crafting. One gallery from a Holga customizer's collection.
The camera can take either rectangular or square photos, and can be taped with electric tape to reduce light leaks. Some Holgas also come with flashes that can be either red, yellow or blue. Other Holgas have hot shoe flash mounts, and most have tripod mounts as well. Holgas can also be modified to make pinholes, take 35mm and do fisheye photos (more later).
There is a lot to say/do with a Holga or Diana and I promise this is only the first of many discussions. For this post, I just want to share a few black and white photos I’ve gotten from my Holga over the past year. It’s not much money to spend, even film is relatively cheap, so pick one up and start playing with it!
Classic Vignetting
The film in these prints was accidentally exposed to light during unloading. Just another example of a “flaw” that is also appealing as it shows the numbering from the paper backing of Kodak 120 film.
Until next post…. If you try any of this stuff, please email me your photos or ideas. I’d love to see what others do and learn about new and strange photographic processes. Email me at klsphoto@hotmail.com.
