The Wandering Holga (and other cameras)

St Petersburg

2012-01-29T11:53:00.000-08:00

Final batch for St Petersburg. More here.

Sewardstone Marsh

2012-01-26T11:33:00.000-08:00

More here

Lanzarote

2012-01-24T12:06:00.000-08:00

More here

A Seashell

2012-01-24T11:36:00.000-08:00

Holga with a macro lens loaded with Fuji Pro 400H. More here.

The Photon Camera

2012-01-24T11:17:00.000-08:00

Recently purchased on Ebay - a plastic 6x6 Diana type camera.

The body is plastic and made in Hong Kong, I'm not sure whether the lens is plastic or glass - though somehow I suspect it's the former! The "superior" lens has three aperture settings and a shutter speed of supposedly 1/50s. If you look closely below you will see that the rim of the lens is set at a jaunty angle against the lens body

Anyway, the film winding pin had no flanges which would normally fit into the film spools so it was at first impossible to wind the film on. This problem was solved by heating a paper clip and pushing it through the pin and then cutting it to size. Once this was done, the camera was loaded with Ilford Delta 3200 and off I went to the water meadow by the River Lea at Broxbourne. The results are promising, this is a toy camera to treasure! There is also a good amount of tension in the take up spool so that you don't get fat rolls as sometimes happens in the Diana. Another plus.

Anyway, the Photon I took the Photon to Toledo & Segovia over Christmas and I'll post these results soon.

London's Burning

2012-01-21T07:38:00.000-08:00

The smoke from the Sony depot near Enfield that was burnt down this summer during the rioting. The photos were shot whilst riding to work, the morning after the disturbances. Luckily there are no JD Sports or Currys along the river so I was not menaced by any looters. The smoke was pretty acrid though!

More from the Olympic Village.

2012-01-21T07:32:00.000-08:00

More here

Nazeing Meads

2012-01-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

More here

Lanzarote

2012-01-18T13:49:00.000-08:00

More here

A Walk from Hertford to broxbourne

2012-01-02T11:15:00.000-08:00

Along the banks of the River Lea last November. A distance of about 9 miles. Some examples of multiple exposures shot with a Holga 135BC loaded with Portra 800. The full set is here.

Multiple Exposures

2011-12-30T07:41:00.000-08:00

A coupe of mutliple exposures shot during a walk in Broxbourne Woods. You can see more images of these lovely woods here.

Whipsnade Tree Cathedral

2011-12-29T10:51:00.001-08:00

In Hertfordshire. An open air memorial to the fallen of the First World War. Shot with a Rand camera - a Diana clone.

Wheeler End

2011-12-28T12:12:00.000-08:00

A family walk in the Chilterns. More here

Theobalds Palace

2011-12-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

Near Cheshunt. More here.

Stansted Innings

2011-12-21T13:08:00.000-08:00

Near Broxbourne. More here.

St Petersburg

2011-12-20T12:31:00.000-08:00

In colour! More here

Benington Lordship

2011-12-18T14:59:00.000-08:00

In Hertfordshire. More here.

St John the Baptist, Amwell

2011-12-16T11:09:00.000-08:00

The cemetary of the parish church in Amwell, Hertfordshire. More here.

Seventy Acres Lake

2011-12-14T12:26:00.000-08:00

In the Lea Valley. More here.

Santiago de Compostela

2011-12-13T11:36:00.000-08:00

In Galicia. More here

Holga Pinhole- Still Lifes

2011-11-30T12:03:00.001-08:00

A still life shot with a Holga Pinhole. More here

The Olympic Village

2011-11-29T11:53:00.001-08:00

This is the start of a new series I have been working on. For the past six months I have been cycling a couple of times a week from Broxbourne along the River Lea to my work place in the City, a journey of some 20 miles. The route passes through rural riverside into industrial and then inner city areas of east London, passing near the Olympic stadium and along some of London's canals into Hackney. The Olympic stadium has become a sort of beacon, a landmark, for me when I see it's frame I know my journey is almost finished. I don't feel any real sense of connection with the Olympics - if anything a sense of indifferent neutrality but starting to cycle again after a break of several years has awakened a passion that had lain dormant for quite some time. I take a 35mm camera (either a Vivitar UWS, LCA or Holga 135BC) with me each morning and photograph the landscapes I see when the light permits. This is my Olympic Village - distinct from the official hype and razzmatazz of the real games and without the anticipation of glory or fame. This is my journey not just to work, the act of cycling represents something more than that. There is the physical action of course - training to improve fitness, but these journeys are an opportunity for reflection; a brief period in the day when all the bullshit of life is stripped away - no cares or responsibilities just me, the bike and the views. These photos are from the first batch taken, and were shot with a Vivitar UWS. You can see more here

Noia

2011-11-25T12:01:00.001-08:00

A fishing village in Galicia. More here

Modified Coronet Ambassador

2011-11-22T11:08:00.001-08:00

Some time ago I became fixated with the idea of making my own lens using a cheap plastic loup or magnifying glass. So I bought a packet of four plastic magnifying glasses for about £2 on ebay and set to work making my own lens. The first task was to work out the focal length of the lens and this can be done by holding the lens against a white piece of paper (or in my case wall) and measuring the distance at which the image projected onto the white surface is in focus. It helps to be in a darkish room with a large window (the light source should be at an infinitish distance). I used this method to calculate that the focal length of the lens was 6 inches (approx.). The next task was to decide which camera I was willing to sacrifice to this complex experiment. I have in my arsenal of cameras an old Kodak 44A and a Coronet Ambassador both of which I had already ruined trying to flip their lenses so I decided to try the Kodak first. The Kodak 44 is a 127 format camera and as I had about 5 rolls of Efke 127 film sitting idly in my study I chose the Kodak as my first attempt. Next I had to design a casing to hold my plastic lens at the correct distance. As a child I was a disciple of Blue Peter and spent many a happy hour watching Valery Singleton make Christmas decorations so the cardboard tube from a loo roll was the natural choice for material. I therefore cut one down to 5.5 inches, cut the roll lengthways so that it would fit around the diameter of the lens, glued it down and spray painted it black and taped it to the Kodak with gaffer tape. So there you have it, before you could say "get down shep!" I had a fully functioning Kodak 44 with a home made telephoto lens. Next to try it out - unfortunately in my enthusiasm to create my lens, I had overlooked one basic design flaw - the lens was 5.5 inches away from the aperture so that when I exposed a frame, the image produced on the negative was small and circular. In fact I only got one recognisable image from the one roll I shot - which was of three geese. OK it won't get into National Geographic, but if you stare long enough, you'll see they are geese.

Not to be deterred, I then fixed my eye upon the Coronet Ambassador - the film in the Coronet is held about 5 inches from the lens, so the lens would only be about an inch in front of the aperture and therefore should fill the frame. I cut the cardboard tube to size and fixed it to the camera body with a light-proof seal of electrical tape. Here are two photos of the final product:

You have to admire the craftsmanship - it just screams quality, but would it work? Well, I'm not called the Wandering Holga for nothing so I took it to Santiago de Compostela for a work out and here are the results:

First the cathedral and next two shots of a fishing village called Noia

Success - and finally a portrait of my father:

So there you go, you can make a lens using the same materials Val Singleton used to make a model space rocket all those years ago and it will work. Next job is to see what colour film looks like with this camera. Don't all clap at once!

Coyoacan

2011-11-21T01:32:00.001-08:00

The parish church in Coyoacan, the famous suburb in Mexico City. Famous for being the home of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Leon Trotsky in exile.