8/2/08

On the Manila photowalk I recently joined, I only brought two cameras. My simple, black Canon EOS 33 SLR and a strikingly red-orange Holga 120CFN. The Holga is a recent acquisition sparked by one of my friends buying a Fisheye II.

I find the shooting process with the Holga refreshing if not marginally liberating. It has a viewfinder that’s not accurate, two aperture settings for daylight and cloudy, two shutter speed settings B (bulb) and N (1/100) and a ridiculous focusing ring that has symbols instead of a distance scale. I call them portrait, family (of 3), barkada and mountain. Haha. While I do not support the “Don’t think just shoot.” philosophy, it’s a little bit amusing to click the shutter with such ease, void of the complex adjustments required by an SLR.

What a wonderful way to take snapshots!

7/3/08

Today I passed by the Lomoembassy at 146B Jupiter Street, Makati City and got myself a long-awaited Holga 120 CFN.

I really love the square format. I love square photographs. I think it’s partly because we see rectangular photos all the time.

I’ve been wanting to shoot 120 film for the longest time and initially thought of going for a Yashica Mat. But I promised myself to only get a TLR after I acquire my own lightmeter. So the Holga is my compromise for the mean time.

It’s so light. And portable. I’ve already consumed a roll and I hope to finish 4 more before Saturday so I can have them processed by Digiprint.

Indeed it’s so refreshing to shoot with a fun toy camera after all the mechanical nitty-gritties of the SLR. But, well-thought, well-composed and exposed black and white frames seem promising.

Holga or Bust!