I think it was a great weekend?!

Well I going to be totally honest and say that I did not get any work done over the weekend as I was knackered.

But I did go out and shoot a couple of films on Friday afternoon whilst I was a tad hungover :P.

These contacts are a bit late but I thought I best show everyone how I am not really succeeding as the Holga process. Although I like using it, my subject matter is the problem. When I was out shooting last time I found myself photographing quite a few landscapes as the sun was shining - getting a bit of lens flare (just for you Matt). I really wanted to follow the route of portraiture for this project but everyone who I would want to shoot is either at work or busy when I am available and when they are free I am at work at weekends - I will keep trying - but I found myself following people - "I followed him to Venice". I quite liked the idea of photographing people when they had no idea - although you can not see their face, I thought I could bring it into a project of where are they going, what are they doing etc? It was quite fun actually - everytime someone walked past me I would turn round, click and carry on walking or calmly run away! But by looking at the contact prints I do not think it really works. In some of the shots I am too far away and also I think that the shots are too 'normal' and a bit flat - I am not using the Holga to its full advantage. I might try this a few more times but with some more multiple exposures - not sure if it is going to work but no harm in giving it a try.

So they are not great but must keep plodding on. Getting a bit worried now at the lack of prints I have produced, but as long as I keep up on the written work I will be just fine. Going to be a long day in front of the computer.

I must get back out and shoot and this time, I am going to go for household objects within the landscape and shoot them on the floor or in different locations and try to get some funky shots - colour is definitely best for this - so I went to trusty Poundland the other day and got a lime green, bright blue and bright pink utensils that I may be able to use. Well apparently British Summer time has begun so I wont be having to worry about the dull days - yeah right, but luckily I do have a flash on my Holga that may come in useful. I am hoping to shoot another 2 films, possibly 3 and have something to show next lesson.

L8RZ MA HOMIES!

ooops

Sorry for the dealy of update, I very rarely get the chance to use the computer at the mo, although I like having my brother around I am looking forward to when he goes off travelling again on Thursday - so I can get on here whenever I want to.
Apologies for the lack of comments on others blogs but the work is looking good.
Im having real trouble with the Holga - although i heart it the subject matter is causing me trouble. Going out in a little bit while it is still quite sunny and then get them processed tonight. Last couple of rolls of film were not really successful but I will be uploading them later with a more detailed post of where I am heading - as I really need to start thinking about how i am going to present my final images - why am I always drawn towards a book?

Farewell

I HEART HOLGA :)

It has been perfect Holga weather. On Monday I went out and shot 4 rolls of colour film I probably could have shot more but to be honest I was having a bit of a lazy day! I have chosen to use colour because after some helpful comments I agree they look alot better than the black and white. Although I was looking through the book relating to the Diana+ camera I have and alot of photographers in the past have shot using black and white. I looked on amazon to see if there are any photography books on Holga and I came across "Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity" and I think it could be quite interesting to look at. I was shocked to see the list of photographers that use the plastie camera for their work.

Michelle Bates has been experimenting with Holga since 1991, and even uses it for commercial work.

This was a quick post to show that I have been trying to research into other Holga lovers and I am going to spend the evening looking at more photographers and the work they have produced and I definitely think I am moving to the plastic side of life - apart from taking three shots with the lens cap still on!! Oooops!

I will be collecting my negatives on Thursday, so I hope to have a more detailed post of what my subject matter is and how I am going to move forward!

Arrivederci

BIG PRINTING...........WHAT A BITCH!!

When I went out to shoot the other day I did not really have a definite subject matter in mind - and to be honest I still dont. But I went out with my Holga aimed with Black and white and also colour film as I was not sure what was going to work best. It was definitely an experiment. I took the colour film to 20/20 to process and I processed and made contacts of the 2 black and white films - its always fun processing and then realising one of the films is really old and rubbish and nothing to do with the project. When I noticed that the majority of them were exposed correctly I was really happy - as I was unsure of what to expect. I was shooting a range of stuff from close ups and landscapes and also experimenting with multiple exposures - but I found this bit quite difficult - as it is trying to work out what works together. I do love the effects of the Holga with the soft edges .

Here are the Contacts:

I am happy with some of them but others just dont seem to work.

I also shot 3 Rolls of colour film, i chose to shoot both because I love the colours when using a Holga and need to decide on which one I am going to use for the whoel project. The first film I shot was already in the camera so it was a waste and there are some really stupid and random shots. I tried to practice with the flash a in a few, and the majority of them were shot using the normal flash but I tried the different colours as well - and I was shocked to see how vibrant the colours were.

I definitley prefer the second colour contact sheet as I think some of these shots are a little bit stronger apart from the ones with the blue flash! When I was looking at the black and white contact prints it reminded me of pinhole portraiture photography - so that is another area for me to explore using my Diana+ camera - I have it so I may as well try and use it properly. I really want to explore the multiple exposures more and realting it to the little bit of research with the ghostly figures - but I am finding it difficult for people to shoot as when I am available they are at work, I need to decide ASAP where I am going with this project. Oh, there is so much for me to do, by next week I hope to have 3 more films to show, with a definite process in mind and can start to produce more work and hopefully start selecting some final prints!

Adios Amigos!!

Beautiful Day

"It's a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

It's a beautiful day."

Just a quick note to say I have shot some film (crowd goes wild) ;). As it was such a lovely day, I made the most of it and went out for a few hours with the Holga. I was going to take my Mamiya but as it was rather cold outside I thought my hands were going to freeze. This is the first shoot of the project and I think it went quite well. It was mainly a chance to practice with the Holga and once I have them processed and contacts I will upload to show you all - I am not sure what they are going to be like as I have never used the Holga in black and white or for a project so I am keeping my fingers crossed that they are correctly exposed - I am also using out of date film - everything is a bit of an experiment at this stage.

I will hopefully have all the films processed by Wednesday and will update then!

Auf Wiedersehen

Mmmmhhh?

Well I have decided to join everyone by editing my header, its not great as it is just a quick edit that I put together in Photoshop. I think that I may need to rethink it and upload some more recent photographs that I have shot as I dont have them all stored on the computer. I think that the blog looks better now that I have edited bits of it. After looking at and discussing everyones yesterday I realised that mine definitely needed a bit of TLC. I think what I have done has made it a bit more professional and I have finally got some pictures on here as well. I have a put a few up because I was not sure which ones to choose and I just wanted to make the blog a bit more exciting. But I do not really like where the photos are, so may still need to have a play with the layout of the blog as time goes on.

Now more important things than the blog - I need to start creating some photographs. I have still not shot any film as I am waiting for my film to arrive - now this is the time when I wish I had a digital SLR. Ideas still no further along than they were 2 days ago :P, but I am tempted to work with portraiture for this project as I want to try and do something different. As we all know I always do the close ups and documentary stuff and I feel I need to show people that I can do more than just extreme shallow depth of field. Although I had a bit of a disaster in the past when shooting portraiture on location I think it was because I was approaching it in the wrong way and lacked in confidence and just wanted to get in, shoot and leave as quickly as possible.

As I mentioned in my previous entry about multiple exposures I have had a quick look at some images on google for some inspiration and to see if its what i really want to do. Some of them were multiple exposure landscapes and I was able to find some older portaits. I then went onto Getty Images to see what they had and 90% of the multiple exposure photographs were digitally manipulated. Some of them were really good and interesting to look at but it is not what i want to do, because I think that it will be to time consuming for the amount of editing that would have to be done and I want the chance to work with Black and White film again.

Here are some of the photos that I found on google:



Must get on with researching so will be back in a couple of days with a productive update!!

Over and out!

Im Back!

Well, what an eventful few weeks I have had, this is only going to be a short one but will be updating tomorrow with more info. I have been a bit down recently with other things going on but I am now back and raring to go and want to get organised with what I am doing.

Ideas still not set in stone but looking to shoot portraiture on location but using the multiple eposure on my Medium Format Camera - going for some ghostly shoots. The film is on its way and i will be out shooting this week. I think i am going to try and stay away from extreme shallow depth of field this time as I feel it is time I do something different - but may include one or two shots! :P

On the side I have quickly looked at different exhibition posters to try and inspire me on how to design one. There are so many different styles and I really want it to be able to show a bit of everyones work - but trying to think of a name for the exhibition is so hard!

As I said only a short one but will be back very soon with pictures and research!