Canals and Holgas

I am drawn to canals. I think that is nothing better than a walk along a canal, especially in the Autumn. While the Autumn is a while off yet, I am yearning for cooler days and changing colours.  Canal walking, although all walking,  keeps you fit (ish) and your mental health good. The best bit is that there is usually a tea shop, where you can sit and enjoy a hot drink and a slice of cake. always something to look forward to.

I take a Holga, with a roll of film installed, with me. This photograph is a lucky frame from a roll that I deliberately exposed using the bulb mode of the Holga, but hand held.  Yes it's less than pin sharp but the ethereal feel of the photo works for me.  It is another toll in the tool box of the creative photographer, in using the camera in a way probably not intended by the manufacturer.

Colour - Reality or Construction

If the point of colour film is to more accurately represent reality (and who is saying that it is?), then putting colour film into a Holga is the last thing that you should do. Which is why from time to time that is exactly what I will do. This photo was taken in spring and the canal was coming to life. The lens is not sharp across the frame but has areas of out of focus image as your eye moves from the centre of the frame. The result feels less like a record of the day and more like a dream you once had. Dreams are what remain when memory start to be unreliable. Looking back on my life from 2026, it's hard to know what was real and what was a dream. I do know that some of my dreams became real and some of my realities were relegated to dreams.

When two lenses are better than one.

I have a Mamiya C330f Professional twin-lens reflex camera. It is a precision piece of kit. The shutter and aperture system are beautifully engineered and the viewfinder is accurate. When you take an image with the Mamiya you know what you are going to get. 

This photo I really like because it has a magical balance between shadow detail and highlight detail.  The light was just lovely, low in the late February sky as this was taken before the clocks sprang forward.

A pleasing photograph that makes the best of the square format, I think.

Ashton Windmill

Chapel Allerton Windmill

I do like Panoramic Photographs - Part 5

This blog post comprises 3 6x17 pinhole photos taken using the RSS 6x17 camera. I took these photos in Swansea of an old bridge that used to be over the road but was moved to the cycle path. 

Slip Bridge

I do like the RSS camera. It's a bit of a faff to load but does give great results.

Creative Photography Pt 2

Yesterday I discussed creativity in photography and showed some photos that I'd taken the day before using a Holga 120 S camera and a magnifying glass.  Obviously just using a Holga means that I'm not after perfection. The Holga has a plastic lens and these are not made using the best quality control in the world, so allowances have to be made for this by me. The viewer of the photograph isn't necessarily going to care what camera was used. They will look at the photographs and decide if they like them or not.

So the Holga is a plastic camera with a plastic lens and of variable, at best, quality.  My magnifying glass is also not the finest magnifying glass available, either. I bought a pack of 5 magnifying glasses of varying sizes from a discount shop called The Works. I think the entire set was £1.99. So we aren't dealing with the planets finest optics at all.

Holga 120 GN and Magnifying Glass 

But that's kind of the point of creativity.  You can use what is to hand and make what you can from it.  In my case the items to hand are a toy camera and a toy magnifying glass.

Before anyone wonders if this could be done with better optics, the answer is absolutely you can! I have done this myself. I have a 6x9 medium format camera that sports a Schneider Kreuznach Super Angulon 65mm lens. I also have a set of diopters, that were made for photographic use. And I have taken photographs of close up detail with that configuration. In fact I have lots of examples of work done with that configuration.

Taken using a medium format camera, a SK SA 65mm f8 lens and a diopter

This photograph was taken using a 4x5 sheet film camera. The lens mounted on the camera is a Schneider Kreuznach Super Angulon 90mm f8 lens. To this I added a stack of diopters to get the  subject in focus but nothing else. An f8 lens isn't going to give a shallow depth of field on its own.

Yes I know the background is distracting...

So I'm by no means saying that the only valid creative work can come from using Holgas and cheap magnifying glasses. What I am saying is that, no matter what camera you have, you can use what you have to hand to create a  photograph that you feel has exercised your "creative" abilities.

improvise->adapt->overcome

Back to the Holga 120S and magnifying glass. This is a fun way to make photos that are different and interesting. The Holga won't cost a fortune and as I've indicated you can pick up a cheap magnifying glass at a discount store.

If you are wondering how you use the magnifying glass, well hold it in front of a subject and determine the distance to the subject where you get things in focus.  Then hold the magnifying glass still and put the Holga lens against the magnifying glass, glass. Then click the shutter.

You may find you need a little practice and some experimentation to get things "dialed" in.  

Don't expect every finished frame to be

1. Correctly focused
1. There is an element of jeopardy and things can move no matter what you do
2. You could put the Holga onto a tripod so that it can't move.
2. Correctly exposed 
1. being close to the subject may cause you to block any source of light
2. Try using a flash if you notice this.
3. Centrally positioned within the frame.
1. Framing can be difficult as the Holga has a viewfinder that may not work correctly at close range.

Above all, have fun, enjoy the process and enjoy any photo that works!

I do like Panoramic Photographs - Part 4

 In this final in the series of panoramic photograph blog posts, I have some panoramic photographs made on the Reality So Subtle (RSS) 6x17 pinhole camera.

Reality So Subtle

The RSS 6x17 make 4 photographs on a single roll of 120 film. The negatives are big. The camera is a bit of a bugger to load though as it has a curved plane for the film.

Still while the struggle may be real, the results are great!

How can I be a creative photographer?

I'm sure that at some point most photographers have wondered how to be more creative in their photography. I suppose that it depends on your definition of creative and to a larger extent your photographic vision. If you are looking to take a photograph that is different from the blob of work that is out there, something that isn't the same record shot made by countless people on their 'phones, then creativity can help. But creativity comes from within the individual and is quite personal I think. It does come back to your personal vision of the finished photograph.  What is your intent?

A good way to be inspired in your creativity is to look at what others have done. Here are a few things that I have done lately, although I am by no means the most creative person around.

• Redscale film
• Magnifying Glass macro lens
• Pushing film

The photographs shown here were taken using black and white film, using the second technique, shown above.  I used a magnifying glass as a pseudo macro lens for a Holga. Now it's not Macro on the scale of taking a photo of a flys eye but it does allow you to get closer than any normal Holga lens will allow (normally 1 meter). Then you can find light, texture and delight in the most unexpected places. 

Here I have taken a photo of the carving on the top of a gravestone. The photo really brings out the texture of the carved stone without needing to be pin sharp.

Carving on gravestone

This photo I have taken a close up shot of a carved fairy that someone had left on a grave. This one uses the light on an interesting ( to me) way.

Fairy sat on a grave

If you are devoid of inspiration the everyday can sometimes be worth exploring. Here we have the bark of a tree in natural directional light. 

Tree bark

Finally a picture of a leaf. This was not intended to be an accurate record of the leaf but have enough detail to feel leafy. The back lighting allows the internal structure of the leaf to be visible.

A leaf

I may enlarge on this topic of "creativity" in future blogs.