TexasGirl Photography

In January, on a rainy day, stir-crazy at home, I decided to load up my rarely-used Holga GFCN and tell a rainy day story with photographs. It was gloomy dark outside, and doubly dark inside as a result, but I counted on the flash to lighten things up and make using a Holga under those circumstances possible.

What I forgot was how close you need to be for the flash to function properly.

I suppose in this case the bottom line is that I occupied myself in a creative / productive / enjoyable way, and it wasn’t until I scanned the film that I realized how underexposed the images were. However, I don’t consider the endeavor a total loss. It’s a relevant little story, to me, since after all the day itself kinda comes through in the pictures.

A couple of weeks later, again itching to make some photographs and maybe tell a little story, I remembered my Holgon. IF ONLY I had thought of it on the rainy day, I probably would have had better results, since the Holgon has the lovely capability of slower shutter speeds.

It’s possible I have blogged about this camera before, but if you aren’t familiar with the Holgon, it’s a creation of the Hong Kong based camera wizard Helicord Camera. After I received it (having waited with baited breath for months on a waiting list) I watched this YouTube video and was even more excited about owning one.

I suppose the moral of the story is probably that I own too many Holgas and I wish I had remembered this grand tool when I rooted around in my toolbox. Better late than never! I took the Holgon with me on the first Sunday of Lent and made photographs around the beautiful church I attend, after mass.

My original intention was to make photographs inside the church, since I was armed with a camera that could handle it. When I fished the Holgon out of my bag, however, I discovered that the little shutter speed dial had come off and was somewhere inside my truck. So – I figured that was a sign I should start outside instead, assuming I could find the dial. (I did, and what you see above are the photos I made after walking back to the truck.)

Above are two photographs I made back inside the church once I got the dial back in position correctly on the camera. Slow shutter speed with the camera propped against the pew back worked!

To conclude my tale of two Holgas, I have resolved to remember AND use my Holgon more often! Thank you for taking a look at these photos.