A New Route Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

I got a new camera yesterday and here is the first shot I have taken and scanned. Getting even one photo ready is quite a task with this one. The camera is a Holga, which is a 6*6 medium format film camera, with a very plastic case, a plastic lens and almost no way to adjust for exposure or even for focus really. Nonetheless, Holga has quite a following. Hopefully this is not the best photo from the roll; it is simply the first I have scanned.

The reason this takes me so long to get a photo prepared is that first I have to process the film, then scan it. Nothing too strange in that. However, my problem is that I don't have a scanner that will do medium format film, just a 35mm film scanner. So, what I do is to take a scan, reposition the film in its holder, do another, reposition and do another and reposition and finally do one more scan. This leaves me with four scans to create a single image. After this, I merge them all in PhotoMerge.

The sprockets and logo you see are not Photoshoppery. I used 35mm film in the MF body, which exposes past the film advance sprockets. This is the reason for the four scans as opposed to two as well.

This is a street vendor very close to my house. He sells eggs boiled in soya sauce, a very common treat here.

scalerman, sebcz, touristdidi has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Furachan (0) 2007-01-14 4:30

Super upload, Darren, I love the resentgation with the film sprockets clearly visible. To be honest it's a little hard the actual shot alone because the "frame" here plays such a crucial role, but I am absolutely for the overall effect. Works for me!
Cheers,
Francis

Luko (13894) 2007-01-14 7:33

ouch, ouch ouch... I have many reasons not to like this one Darren :
- why the heck did you use 135 film instead of 120. I have enlarged Nono's 120 negs taken with a Holga which look beautiful, both crisp in the middle of the pic and wondefully going soft and vignetting in the edges.. that's what makes the beauty of the Holga shots.
- really the grey range is horrible, it looks like a faded XP2 minilab print.
- using the Holga is also trying to stretch photography, get new things, but it's for me stiffly composed, with the old guy's back leaning parallel to the side of the film... man, thsi is sooo stiff... even with a normal camera 35 format, I would have qualiied this as lacking dynamism.

Sorry Darren but this one is very disappointing.

[3]

scalerman (25729) 2007-01-14 12:44

Darren: A+++ today for originality and sweat-shop computer work. This is perhaps the most novel image, both in topic and preparation. best, c

kensimage (8539) 2007-01-14 12:48

I'm glad to hear you got a Holga, Darren, I'm sure we'll be seeing some very creative stuff from it. A good start in many ways here--I like how you used the 35 mm film and kept the film itself visible in the image. There is a price for that, though--without full 6x6 film you lose the Holga's characteristic vignetting which I think is part of its appeal. Mainly, though, what I am less pleased with here is the choice of subject matter for the Holga. It seems more suited to street scenes and landscapes, where the grainy, shadowy look of the shots adds mood. Here it more just washes out contrast. I'm sure it won't be long before you find your rhythm with the Holga, though. Regards, Ken.

kajspice (4534) 2007-01-16 2:48

Hiya Darren,

I'm so pleased to see that you are using a Holga. I was just about to buy one before I came to India, but the guy on ebay never got back to me with a price! Anyhow, I have recently decided that I will buy one after all and have it sent over. Any tips on which one to buy would be appreciated.

hmmm...Well, not knowing anything about Holga's, b/w developing/printing, etc, etc...unfortunately, I cannot add much of value here.

I thought teh sprockets were slightly endearing at first, but then it is also instereting to read others comments that you used the wrong film. I was under the impression that you can buy an adapter for 35mm film? Yeah, the sprockets could hurt quite a lot if the content was something you wanted to use.

touristdidi (8561) 2007-01-28 6:22 [Comment]