I just purchased a new camera after looking at a co-workers shots she had taken. the camera was a camera called the Holga. The Holga is a very inexpensive, medium format box camera appreciated for its low-fidelity aesthetic. The Holga originated in Hong Kong in 1982, and used 120 film, the most widely available film in China at that time. The camera was originally intended to provide an inexpensive mass-market camera for working-class Chinese in order to record family portraits and events. The Holga’s cheap construction, combined with poor quality materials and simple plastic lens often yields pictures that display vignetting, blur, light leaks, and other distortions. The often bizarre photographic results of these effects have ironically popularized the camera with an international audience, and Holga photos have won numerous awards and competitions in art and news photography.

You will typically shoot 12-14 shots on a roll of film, of which maybe 8 will turn out and 3-4 of those will be keepers. However, they will be cool enough to make you want to keep shooting. And the more you use the camera, the more you get to know its “personality” and can get even better shots. Here are my photos, and links to other groups of Holga users. If youre interested in purchasing one, here is where I got mine.

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