Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Giving the Holga some light

My Holga has sat unused (but not unloved) for quite some time. I almost always like the lo-fi results that it produces, so I really should shoot it more often, but I guess having a bunch of different cameras means that some of them have to wait awhile to get their time in the sun (or overcast).

Fellow blogger Dave Whenham posts Holga pictures on a fairly regular basis, and it’s from reading his posts that the urge to Holga took hold.

Here are the results from a roll of Fomapan 400 I shot back in March. Apart from one picture that I wasn’t happy with, it’s the full roll. I don’t think this represents my most successful outing with the Holga, and there’s some element of shooting stuff because it was there rather than being more careful in my choice of compositions, but there are a few that I really like, such as the Thai Boxing gym, the underpass, and the church.

I’m also very pleased with the results of the semi-stand development. I sometimes find that Fomapan 400 needs more light (something you can’t particularly control with the Holga), but the Rodinal has pulled out a full range of tones from every image. I’ll certainly semi-stand Foma 400 again in the future.

Bunting and marquees
Milk flat
Milk float
ERF
ERF and canal
Thai Boxing
The Hope Centre
Under and out
St. John's Park church
Near the bottom of the Parkway
What remains of the Durham Ox

Holga 120N & Fomapan 400. Rodinal 1+100. 1 hour semi-stand development.

Taken on 28 March 2025

2 thoughts on “Giving the Holga some light

  1. Love these! For what it’s worth I now semi-stand every roll I put through a Holga. I use Pyrocat HD rather than Rodinal though. Oh, and thanks for the name-check, very much appreciated 😊

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