B&W Holga

Here are a couple of Holga shots I did sometime between November and Early January. I haven't shot very much B&W with my Holga over the last year, maybe 3-4 rolls. I think it has something to do with living in southern California and always having great warm light (most of the time). I need to load up my 120CFN with some B&W so I can do some longer exposures. I've been keeping the 120CFN loaded with color and using my 120S primarily as a B&W option. Maybe its time to swap and mix things up a bit. I've always had a love for B&W photography, in my college years its what I focused on. Also, when I lived in Vegas, didn't go outside during the day much, had to make due with existing available light. When I lived in Seattle, well, it rained a lot and was grey a lot, so B&W seemed to be a natural choice. Here in L.A., I find it a lot harder to want to shoot B&W film as much as I love it. I've got no problem shooting b&w digital (especially indoors) and plan to do more B&W Polaroids as well (really like the high speed Fuji). The colors, they distract me...in a good way. When I used to shoot film in college, since it was B&W, I did my own processing and printing and that may also be another reason why I don't do as much now. True silver B&W prints look so much better then what the scanner can bring out in my opinion. Trying to push and challenge myself into shooting more B&W again. Need to look at things more monochromatically. I've got 4 or 5 shots of B&W left in my 120S, what to do, what to shoot...

Does anyone else tend towards color or B&W based on where you live in the world or seasonally based on the quality of light?


branches, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Holga 120S, expired Ilford HP5 Plus B&W 120 film. Pushed +1/2. Scanned from negative.

A Sample of Ojai via an SX-70

Got to try out my "new" SX-70 Sonar while we were vacationing in Ojai, CA last weekend. Was quite happy with how it performed. My only complaint is that its a little bit more awkward to travel with compared to the classic manual. Or I just need to find a better bag. I do need to get a neck strap for it though. Nice thing about walking around Ojai is that most things of interest were 5 minutes from our Inn. Easy parking, plenty of food choices and nice variety of shops. For as small of a town as it is, there is quite a bit of interesting things to photograph and be inspired by. If we had stayed an additional day I would have easily gone thru my other pack of film. Up next, Holga shots. Dropped film off at the lab today, probably will have something to see by mid-week. Stay tuned.

          

          

          

Back in Ojai

Back in Ojai, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Went to the wonderful little town of Ojai, about 90 minutes north of L.A. for a long weekend with my wife. Got a chance to do some wandering, good eating and some picture taking, as well as finally trying out some chocolate type 100 peel apart film. I really like the quality of it. Warm and creamy tones and pretty sharp considering there is some texture to it. More posts coming soon from this trip, I did some SX-70 shots with my "new" SX-70 Sonar and a bunch of Holga shots (still need to get processed).

Polaroid 340 camera, Type 100 Chocolate film, expired.

Fresh Polaroid Film

Fresh Polaroid Film, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Happy day, got me some new fresh Polaroid in the mail from Impossible USA (formerly PolaPremium).

Palm Trees

  

 I'm not quite sure why I find palm trees so interesting to photograph, especially with my Holgas. Always standing and swaying, they are part of that iconic old glamorous Hollywood image. Or sandy beaches against blue waters begging you to come and relax for a while. Here in Southern California, they're everywhere, lining residential and business areas alike. All kinds of shapes and sizes. Tall ones, short ones. Shaggy and well groomed. There is something figurative about them. A personality if you will. I always find myself looking at them. These are but a few of my various interpretations of my obsession/fascination with these interesting trees.

  

Don't You Tell Me What To Do

Don't You Tell Me What To Do, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Holga 120CFN, expired Kodak Portra 400NC 120 film, processed normal C-41. Scanned from negative. Double exposure.

Back with a Splash

splash, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Holga 120CFN, Fuji Pro 400H color negative 120 film, processed C-41 normal. Scanned from negative.

As mentioned before, haven't posted any Holga shots for a couple of months or so. As I've acquired some new gear and a renewed appreciation for Polaroids I wound up having only a few shots taken in each camera, and then they just kinda sat in my bag, plus for awhile there, I wasn't feeling to terribly inspired either. End of the year busy-ness and some burn out for sure. Managed to finally get thru 3 rolls of color and a roll of black & white. I kept holding off on the processing, then all of sudden I realized that I was going to have a bunch of scanning to get thru. Off to the lab! Then I discovered my regular lab closed up. My wife said she would take the film to this other lab that I used to go to, but just got used going to the one closer to my work. She went to the lab and calls me, "uh, they're not here anymore". Luckily they just relocated, farther East, but manageable. No more days of same day processing for 120 film, oh well, waiting is part of the fun and anticipation right? I did try to do a bit more experimenting on these rolls, used the color flash a bit more (thanks for putting up with all the flashes sweety), long exposures and just nice imagery in general. I think I got about 20 keepers, give or take a little. Needless to say, I won't be posting all of them here, but there will be a bunch. Plus I gotta remember what was going on in some of them!


Holga 120CFN, Fuji Pro 400H color negative 120 film, processed C-41 normal. Scanned from negative.


Holga 120CFN, Fuji Pro 400H color negative 120 film, processed C-41 normal. Scanned from negative.


Holga 120CFN, Fuji Pro 400H color negative 120 film, processed C-41 normal. Scanned from negative.