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Here are some of the holga images I shot at the last wedding. I was so pleased when first discussing her wedding photography that Susan, the bride mentioned she was a huge fan of the Holga and had a Diana herself. We discussed shooting a holga session at her wedding and I was so excited to see what we could capture. Lomography, which is shooting with cheap snapshot camera like a holga or a diana is known for its dreamlike romance, with optical distortion, saturated colouholrs, exaggerated vignetting, streaks from light leaks, and unpredictable outcomes.

I shoot with the original 120mm medium format Holga Color Flash Camera and with 120mm film which prints in a square format. The red you see through the images is one of the infamous light leaks that the holga is famous for… as it is made of plastic, there is little control as the how much light ‘leaks’ through its casing at various points. But this is the great thing about it, what you see through the viewfinder is not necessarily what you are going to get and makes even the most normal things even more interesting.

The artist in me adores the holga, although it is not for everyone, but if you are interested in having a holga session at your wedding, please contact me – caspix[at]mac.com.  You can see more of my holga work if you click here or on the ‘film’ category in the links above.

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I have been using a lot of medium format film lately…. just capturing the chaos and calm of summer around me. The beauty of holga is that it shows me so much light that cannot be contained or controlled, like that red light leak below. It’s just crazy, and I love how it surprises me, that you never know what you are really going to get. I plan on exploring this art form throughout this Australian summer so check back for some square format fun over the next few months. Holga gives me such a freedom to let go, to not be able to control the mistakes, to look at the world through a square eye and not the usual landscape with it’s everywhere-ness.

These images make me so happy as it is exactly what I used to do as a kid, the hose on the trampoline an is a quintessential part of an Australian childhood. And the use of holga film makes me feeling like I am looking back in time, back into my own memory as a child, complete with crazy red light leaks and action filled blurred beauty.

I really love stop motion. Here is the latest one from the Carson Hall epic car park shoot Take a while to load but patience! It is worth the wait.

For those that don’t know, stop motion films are lots of image stills spliced together to look like a jumpy film …. I find them so much more interesting that normal video and they make me laugh every time! There are over 800 photographs put together to make this film below, enjoy!

Music by the Billy Idol

Carson Hall Carpark Stop Motion from caspix on Vimeo.

Bit of a polaroid freak at the moment… loving that toy camera look and the square format

The garden is blooming so the watering can is out … perfect pale pink flowers bought to you by the yummy softness that is polaroid

the holga looks like a toy, feels like a toy and needs gaffa tape to hold it together.
it has a dreamy and haunted quality that is such a breath of fresh air in a world inundated with pin sharp perfection.
the holga steals my joy and keeps it on that little roll inside, and the only way to get it back is to develop it on paper.
i believe it may just have magical powers.

This is my journey with medium format film, holgas and lomography. I have been thinking about film for a long time. I have really wanted to free myself of expensive gear and shoot with toy film cameras. I have always loved its unforgiveness and happy mistakes.

According to the urban dictionary, Lomography is: “a type of art photography in which color is emphasized. Traditionally, cameras such as the Holga, Lomo, Colorsplash, and Supersampler are used to create strange and unusual photographs. Lomographic photos are primarily characterized by vignettes, random subjects, and nonadherance to traditional photography rules. Lomography is a pleasant break from most photojournalism.”

Today I cross processed my fuji chrome 120mm slide film – exposed twelves times on 6×6cm format in bright direct sunlight. The deliciousness of thinking so deeply about each of the 12 shots had me giddy with excitement. The not-knowing what I have captured was almost unbearable! All this fun is just for me, as an artist and as a photographer.

I was so happy with the results. I love the vividness, the erratic colour, the dreaminess, the over exposed bits and haze. Its the photographic equivalent to the chaos theory (oh and I have decided to keep the film on this blog for now, I can’t see myself maintaining two separate blogs) anyway, enough talk! Time for erratic joy…

Photography is such an expressive art form for me and with so many tools to choose from, I felt I was getting very comfortable in my little digital world and want to branch out and learn other parts of it. I am one of those people that needs a constant new flow of visual stimulation and challenge. So I have ventured out on a rediscovery of film. Yes, film!

And I cannot get enough! Its starting to get a bit crazy so I have given my obsession it’s own little corner of the world. What I love most about film is that there is nothing else like it in the world. You have to trust yourself so much more, you have to know your exposure, the colours are completely different to anything in the digital world and get this… you have to wait to see how it turns out!

This is my journey with medium format 12o mm 6×6 film, holgas, lomography, instant polaroids, underwater fish eyes and homemade pinhole cameras … I even have a Asahi Pentax Spotmatic with a gorgeous Japanese Super-Takumar 50mm and a 35mm, all wrapped up in old style leather lens cases. For years, I have been attached to all things sharp, clear and vibrant – and for my commercial work this will continue – but now there is a new side pursuit. Now the square film format, the soft, fuzzy, whimsical, happy accidents from plastic toy cameras fill me with joy. If you want to find out more, read here. There is something so intriguing about square images… It makes you compose your world in a totally different way, forces you to think outside the rectangled world of digital. No doubt there will be iffy shots and blatant mistakes but I am looking forward to it.

And it is no secret that I love shooting in bright direct sunlight, which suits the holga to a tee. You only have 12 shots so the utter deliciousness of thinking so deeply about each one makes my head swim with excitement. The not-knowing what I have captured is almost unbearable! The whole process is so completely different to digital and the unpredictability is addictive and oh so much fun!

So the project is underway … all categorised under ‘film’. This is just for me as an artist. Just for fun. And anything that sets an artists creative juices flowing can only be a great thing right?