TexasGirl Photography

Meet Tim: the Holga Twin Image Maker. He’s the cutest little 35mm dude, making either one or two half frame photos at a time. I mean, come on: who can resist that face, that smile?

He’s also the fiddliest, most ripe for accident camera I’ve ever used. It’s a brilliant concept, being able to make a stereo half frame photo by opening both “eyes” at once, or making one half frame photo at a time – however, going the one-at-a-time route requires a number of steps rivaled only in my experience by large format photography.

1. open one eye

2. press the shutter

3. close that eye

4. click the multi-exposure switch

5. open the other eye

6. press the shutter

7. close the 2nd eye

8. advance the film

Considering I took Tim to the beach and wasn’t exactly in careful deep thinking mode, I’m amazed I ended up with any successful images. Remembering when you need to advance the film is a challenge (for me).

Since I knew that Ektachrome 100 was in the camera, and since it’s been a couple of years since I went to the beach, I ended up just rolling off the bulk of the film and sending it to the lab. I am notorious for taking ages to finish a 36 exposure roll in a half frame camera! I know that companies sell it to people as a way to make film more economical, but dang. If you’re photographing something specific, like a beach you’ve been to many times, with a specific film for the occasion, it’s not easy to guarantee you’ll want to make 72 photographs.

But I’m getting off topic! Let’s talk more about Tim.

I’m not sure if it’s possible to buy these cameras anymore. You might be able to find one on eBay. I snapped Tim up years ago when I heard Holga was closing. HOWEVER, unlike some of the other Holgas from that purchasing spree, I will not be putting Tim up for sale anytime soon. In spite of his innate fiddly-ness, and the fact that I don’t often want to go the half-frame route, I was pleasantly surprised with the results! In fact, what I made on the beach that day a couple of years ago with this little lo-fi friend is better than just about any roll of film I’ve ever put through my Pen F. (yes, really)

Above you can see an example of a photo made with both of Tim’s eyes open. I had the lab cross process the Ektachrome, and I’m really happy with how it came out. Like I said: I’m extremely pleased with the image quality overall!

Half the “fun” of a stack of half frame negatives is deciding how to scan them. I like to play with broken up panoramics when I use half frame. Above is an example combining the two: both eyes open, plus a wink. You can see how the dividing line between frames is wider than between eyes.

Above is an example of opening one eye at a time.

I couldn’t remember exactly which beach trip this was, but the photo of the people on horseback brought it back to me. It’s possible that the double exposure on the left side was unintentional.

Here ends my story with Tim so far. He’s only been on one adventure, and while I do feel like he is a limited camera (I’m thinking bright sun only) he’s also a really fun buddy and can perform well under the right set of circumstances! Thank you for taking a look.