Wait Around!

As we all know, this time of year is very busy.

You may have noticed that the blog has dried up a little and that's the very reason. I'm just so busy at the moment I can't get around to making a post.

Please be patient and wait until the new year where I will be coming back with some interesting material.

I hope you all have a good New Year, and continue to enjoy the Holga camera throughout 2010!

Labels: News, Website

Merry Christmas From Go Holga

Hello everyone and a Big Merry Christmas from everyone here on the blog. Yes that's actually just me.

Labels: 2009, Merry Christmas

Shots From My Halina 150

My Helina 150 has quickly become one of my favourite point and shoot 35mm cameras. I picked it up at a charity shop for about £2 ($4), and I don't regret a single penny.

I will post full review of the camera soon, but basically its got three aperture settings a hotshoe and it vignettes. What more would you want? Mine is actually black but this is the only picture I could find online.

Here are some of the results that I got from a mountain walk a few months back. These are print scans and not negative scans.

Continue Reading »

Labels: Halina 150, Photography

8 Steps Towards a Better, More Popular Photoblog

Photoblogging is becoming immensely popular at the moment. Its easy, most of the time its free, and its a great way to show off your latest snap shots.

As a relatively experienced blogger, I feel have a useful knowledge of the way in which the blogging world works, and as you should know this blog is all about helping people. Therefore I decided to write this post, to give you some useful pointers. I hope that they will help to clean up your act, and get some serious traffic.

1. Update Regularly

What do you think the number one reason a returning visitor goes back to a blog for? Yep you got it. Its to check if there is any new posts or content. Keep your photoblog updated regularly. I would say that one post a week is a great target to aim for. Once or twice a week is perfect but don't break your back.

Don't get hung up on posting once a day or more. Its hard to maintain that kind of pace, and it can also annoy people that are following your blog via RSS or other networking sites. They don't want to be bombarded with updates.

Continue Reading »

Labels: Photoblogging, Tips, Traffic

Creepy University Building

Thoughts and Comments

Taken with a Holga 120N. Not as much vignetting as I normally get but still a nice picture all the same. I love the way it fades to black in the bottom right hand corner. It looks like something out of a retro horror movie!

Labels: Photography

What Number To Select When Shooting Without A Mask

This is just a quick post to answer a questions that I've received a few times over the past couple of days.

If you are shooting film without a mask inside your Holga then make sure you point the advance window button to 12!

This will ensure that your negatives don't overlap and that you get the square frames that you desire!

More tips soon, thanks for reading!

Labels: Advance Window, Newbies

The Holga: 5 Things I Wish I'd Known From The Start

Like almost everything in life, the Holga experience is something that you can sit back and reflect on, evaluate and see what mistakes you made in the past.

Some of us aren't fortunate enough to have this priceless experience, but said people are fortunate in the sense that I'm going to share with them, 5 things I wish I'd known when I started using my Holga camera.

I wish I'd known....

1. ...How Rewarding Experimentation Is

It can be a little daunting getting your first Holga. There is a lot of hype about experimenting but you don't really even understand how to load the film yet. You need to learn this quickly, because experimenting is definitely the one thing that I have not done enough of.

Only recently have I started to really see what I can do with the Holga and only recently have I learned how easy it is to experiment with and get promising results.

Experimenting with the Holga is extremely rewarding and its something that you should do as much as possible!

Continue Reading »

Labels: Developing, Holga, Newbies, Tips

Sharing Images From Flickr: The Easy Way

I don't know if anyone else is having problems with sharing images from Flickr recently but I have.

In the past you could 'right click >> copy image location' without a problem. Then I believe they introduced some privacy settings so that you could stop people doing this to your photos and using them on their own websites etc.

Now it seems as though you can't do it to any of the pictures on Flickr. I find this frustrating because I like to use Flickr to host images for this blog. It keeps everything running a lot faster by reducing the load on my server.

Through doing a few simple tests I found that there is an easy way to copy the URL of your image so that you can post it on a website or blog.

Simply go to the image you want, click 'All sizes.' and then right click. You should now be able to copy your image location and post it to your blog.

Hope this helps for a few people. It was certainly irritating me!

Labels: Flickr, Hosting, Images

Field Shot With Holga

I remember I asked everyone on the Facebook group what they would like to see more of on the blog. One of the answers that came up very frequently was 'More photography!' So here we are, a favorite of mine from my Flickr account.

Thoughts and Comments

Notice the black thing in the top left corner? Well this film was taken with a DIY mask installed, however the lab trimmed it all off because they didn't understand what it was. I still love this picture though. I love the atmosphere that the Holga has captured. The Maize looks almost smoke like, and the dirty looks sandy.

Film: 99% sure its Ilford HP5 400. Either that or FP4.

Any additional comments would be greatly appreciated.

Labels: Holga, Photography

Flickr Fun

Before Go Holga was last hacked the 'Flickr' post proved to be one of the most popular. Naturally it had to be brought back, so here it is!

All you need to do is post your Flickr address in the comments section and people will be able to add you easily.

Last time we did this is worked. I received a hefty amount of adds from other Flickr users and I'm sure others did too.

Well what are you waiting for? Leave a comment with your URL in below!

Remember to add other people on the list too!

Labels: Flickr, Photography

Poll Results Show Dead Heat!

You may have noticed that I have started running polls at the bottom of the page here on Go Holga.

Thanks to everyone that voted in the first poll, we racked up a total 30 votes.

The question was, Which Is The Best Holga? The 120N and the 120CFN both came out on top sharing 40% of the votes.

The 135BC scored 13% and 'other' scored 6% of the votes.

Labels: Poll, Results

Straw Hack For Holga Camera

A lot of us like to ditch the masks that come with the Holga but this comes at a price. The rails that your mask usually clips on to will scratch your negatives as they pass over.

Some of you might embrace this but others may not like it. If you don't like it there is a great little hack that will stop them completely!

First of all get hold of a standard drinking straw. If you don't want to buy one just go and steal one from Mcdonalds.



Next you need to measure and cut two lengths of straw that will fit along the 'runners' of the inside of the Holga. You can see me doing it here:



Make two of these. Both should be equal in length because you need one for each side.



Now cut ALONG both of the staws. This will enable it to 'clip' over the runner.



Finally pop them over the rails and huzzah! Your film is now protected from scratches.



Now most people say that you need to use aquarium tubing for this hack so that the film stays at the right distance from the lens, but personally I don't see why its any different to not using a mask at all.

I've tried this method before and it works fine.

If you need any more help try watching the video I published on youtube.

Labels: Film, Hacks, Masking, Mods, Straw