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Putting the fun back into freelancing- Market Newsletter
I’ve always strived for the best quality possible in my photography. When working with film, I used to haul around the large and heavy Mamiya RZ67, alongside the even larger Fuji 617 panoramic, both coupled with their matching manufacturers pin-sharp lenses to guarantee the best results possible. Even though I have recently gone digital, I’ve still kept up this quest for quality, by opting for the full-frame format that the Canon’s offer, along with a whole new set of prestige Canon L series lenses. 
Out in the field, and the obsession for quality results continue. A tripod is used for every shot, together with the lowest ISO speed setting, lenses stopped down to optimum apertures, cable release deployed to avoid camera shake and pictures only taken during the ‘golden hours’ of early morning and late afternoon.
However, recently this entire obsession for quality has gone right out the window, as I’ve discovered the most wonderful, yet cheap and pathetic excuse for a camera ever. In total contrast to the above, quality doesn’t matter, and you know what, I love it. It’s called a Holga and if you have not discovered this camera yourself then you are missing a treat. Made in china, it is a cheap as chips ‘toy’ camera made for those Chinese people who want to get into photography, but are on low wages. Made of plastic, it does have the luxury of a glass lens (the original only had a plastic lens), but it has limited focusing control, even more limited aperture settings and just one shutter speed (or two if you count B setting as well). It does have a flash mind you, though it’s pretty feeble, but its there if need it.
It’s now imported to Britain and sells for the grand sum of £30. As you would expect for the price, the build quality is not up to much. It needs to be loaded with negative film to even get a chance of any results and the shots that you do get are blurry round the edges and vignette badly in the corners. If you got these kinds of results from a normal camera, you’d think it had been dropped from a great height and would demand your money back from the shop you purchased it from!
However, the results you do get are just beautiful. The characteristics of the camera create the most wonderful and evocative images I have ever seen. Best of all, is that you don’t need to worry about a tripod to take your shots. Just load with fast 400 ISO film and away you go. You shoot hand held, photographing anything that catches your eye, which you find, are often subjects that you wouldn’t even point your regular DSLR at. Most of the common rules of photography can be forgotten, especially, the rule about not placing your subject in the centre of frame, as that’s where the sharp, sweet spot of the lens is and therefore the main subject has to go in the centre. Oh, and light might leak into the camera mid-roll because of it shabby build quality and some people put tons of tape round the camera to try and stop this. I don’t bother however, as this all helps create these evocative, less than perfect images that make it such a joy.
I was quite apprehensive about getting this camera when I read about it, but I’m glad I did and for the price, I thought I’ve got nothing to lose anyway. Even from the first roll of film, I was getting results that reawakened my love of photography. It was like going back to the first time I picked up a camera many moons ago, when I went around shooting anything and everything, just to create images, which I hoped would look good.
For those experienced with Photoshop, then of course you can replicate the Holga results from a conventional digital image and I have seen several articles published describing the technique, but to me it just defeats the whole object. The results you can achieve are probably pretty similar, but half the fun is taking the pictures with the camera in the first place. It’s the carefree, creative fashion in which you take photographs that help produce the images that you inevitably get, and is certainly more fun than sitting in front of a computer trying to achieve a similar effect.
I had owned the camera for about six months and created a good selection of images that I was happy with and so I came to thinking of how I could make some money out of them, well, at least recoup the cost of the camera for a start!
My first idea was to write about my experience of this camera and tell other photographers about it. First port of call therefore, was the photography magazines still catering for film, quite a rare breed these days. So far, I have had an article published in Amateur Photographer and a selection of images published in the Gallery pages of Practical Photography, with the possibility of a full article later on. I’m currently putting together another article and submission for the other film based titles and I hope to follow up a recent article in Professional Photographer about my panoramic photography, with a piece on the back-to-basics style of the Holga.
In the November issue of the BFP Newsletter, there was a piece about a new online library called Picture Hooked, who were looking for creative, arty type shots that go beyond the usual stuff held by regular photo libraries. Perfect I thought, so I submitted some Holga images in the hoping that these were what they were looking for. About two weeks later and they were online on the site, success! So, this will now become the home for new images. There have been no sales so far, but it is early days yet, so fingers crossed.
I have been selling prints from my website for a while now, as well as at art fairs and also a couple of high street galleries. The traditional shots from my 6x7 and 6x17 transparencies have sold consistently from these outlets, if not in any great numbers. However, the Holga prints have been selling really well and created a lot of interest for people seeking a more creative and abstract photography for their walls.
In the near future, I hope to hold an exhibition solely featuring the Holga produced images and with my recent success, intend to submit to more online galleries and publishers, with a hope that they will also welcome this slightly different type of image.
As you can see, I plan mass world domination with this marvellous camera and join an ever expanding community of photographers who are also shooting with the Holga. I just hope that they are having a much success with it as I am.
© Craig Roberts
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