Holga Love

I bought my first Holga! As I open the package I am giddy. Unwrapping the plastic outer packaging I see the black and silver body, my husband is teasing me because I can’t sit still. Sometimes my muscles won’t cooperate:) with my brain commands, finally I get the packaging off and an ahha moment ensues -music and all- I am enchanted by the design. Only  flimsy silver latches are holding the plastic together. The shutter is a lever on the side, easily pressed quick or slow for your desired effect. There is a flash on this one. I fumble for the instructions and begin to read Page 1

Parts of camera

I am charmed by the focus ring- it shows 1 stick person, 3 stick people, and then several stick people, and the last setting is stick mountains.

The aperture is either f/11 for sunny days or f/8 for cloudy days.

Tripod mounting socket, who knew!

Film advance knob- click click just like when I was a kidJ I am so elated!

I immediately want to load my film Fuji 400, but first the batteries. I don’t use a flash very often, I  prefer natural light and shooting wide open, but when I was a kid I had a camera with a flash like this Holga and I was curious if the sound would bring back memories of a childhood gone by…I load the batteries and then the film (How great it is to load film?). To know each frame is an imprint in time, captured with purpose and definity. I try to shoot with my digital camera as if I were shooting with film- I am a true believer in Quality over quantity. As I load the film I notice there are very few guts in this camera. Simply perfect for what it is supposed to do. I close the back latch and turn on the flash. A high pitch squeal that gets louder the longer its on- as if alerting everyone, “I ‘m here look at me!”, I am instantly sent back to my trip to Europe with my Backpack and trusty 35mm camera.

 I bought 5 rolls of film and am ready to see what this beautifully simple camera can do. It’s nice sometimes to not have all the fancy gadgets and just be, just let the moments happen, and the Holga is my new best friend…No offense!

Happy Holga shooting everyone!