Holden Alan. Lynnwood, WA (toy camera chronicles).

If you wanna see more photos from my shoot with the band you can check them out here and here. Also, you can check out my photos of drummer Norman Scott Rockwell’s wedding to Susanne which will be featured in the January 2011 issue of Seattle Bride Magazine.

Paths Of Glory. 2010

Sherin and Michael. 2010

Where do I begin? This was such an awesome event. Not just because I had the unique opportunity to shoot with 8 different cameras in one day (three Canon 5D’s, 2 Holgas, a lomography 360 spinner, a Fuji Film Instax 210 Instant Camera, and an iPhone 4 with Camera+ app), but more importantly I got to document the marriage of one of the cutest, most in love couples I’ve ever met.

Sherin and Michael had seen my blog through a mutual friend and sent me an email. About a week later they decided to come out from Port Orchard to meet me at the Caffe Ladro down the street from where I live. Their wedding was just around the corner. We talked briefly about what they had planned for the day and then they booked me immediately. It wasn’t that they were doing things last minute. I found out that there was actually a photographer they had booked before me that had suddenly backed out, and then they booked another photographer after that who had also backed out on them. Personally, I think it was fate leading them to me. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect couple to photograph.

One of the things that impressed me most about Sherin and Michael was how relaxed and happy they both were. They truly seemed to sit back and enjoy their day. They let nothing stand in their way of having a good time. I loved how after hair and makeup when it was time to take photos, Sherin marched right out with all her bridesmaids into what was actually a pretty heavy rainfall to take pictures in front of a beautiful little waterfall. They laughed about it. They embraced the moment, and they didn’t seem to care that hair and makeup would have to be revisited before the ceremony. When it was time for the ceremony to begin, the venue offered to move everything in doors. It was actually pretty nice out temperature wise, but there was still the summer rain coming down. Sherin and Michael both said nope. Seats were wiped down and umbrellas were handed out. Personally, I think it made the ceremony all the more beautiful.

Then there was the after party! Seriously! These guys know how to party. Mary laughed and said that when we get married we’ll have to invite all of these folks to fill our dance floor. These people were non-stop. They did this dance which is a filipino tradition where wedding guests pin money to the bride and groom. Then after, everybody mobbed the dance floor for the more modern traditional dance of the Electric Boogie. Soon the guys were smoking cigars and passing around a flask. The kids were downing strawberry-lime Jones sodas featuring a photo of the bride and groom on the label. After a full evening of dancing and partying, just as it seemed to be dying down, a circle formed around the dance floor and some of the guys started taking turns break dancing. Okay, for the record, this was not drunken wannabe wedding break dancing. These guys were actually break dancing.

vendors:

photographer: Jonas Seaman

venue and catering: Trophy Lake Golf and Casting

event coordinator: Trista Shinnick

officiant: Revered Paula Butler

hairstylist: Juliet @ Silverdale Regis

make up: Sylvia Gonzales

florist: Marisa Martinez

dress: designed by Pronovias (American Rose Bridal boutique in Poulsbo).

bridesmaid’s dresses: David’s Bridal.

groomsmen are wearing barongs, which is the Filipino traditional wedding attire for men (Sherin’s mom brought those over from the Philippines).

*Btw, Mary was the second shooter on this one. Some of her photos are included in the above set. She totally rocked it!

Modified Holga. Kodak Porta 400nc film. 2010

Multiple exposure, modified Holga, Kodak Porta 400nc film. 2010

I’m in no way a purist on either side. In my opinion it’s the final image that counts, not which tool you use to make it.

That being said, I love the look and feel of film. Most digital images to me are boring straight out of camera. I end up having to do more work in Photoshop to make my digital images evoke more emotion… or to actually look more film-like. To me the look of film is emotional. It reminds me of the images from the magazines and movies that filled my childhood. But sometimes it takes a certain amount of balls to make a cool image. There are risks that need to be taken. Experiments to be made. Plastic toy camera’s and pro DSLR’s both lend themselves to experimentation in completely different ways.

For myself, when it comes to experimenting with exposure, digital wins hands down. Nothing beats being able to have the immediacy of that digital image to double check getting the right creative exposure. This first image is a good example.

Paths Of Glory (taken w/the Canon 5D mark ii). 2010

I was asked recently to take some promo shots for the band Paths Of Glory (see previous post). While hanging out at the band’s practice space, a guy working there saw my camera and said he had a great location for me. He then lead me down a labyrinth of hallways to a pitch black staircase. The stairs lead up to a vacant room lit only by the moonlight coming through a skylight. It was a pretty awesome abandoned looking room… except no light. Luckily I had my 5D mark ii and an on camera flash in my bag. I knew if I posed the guys in front of the window and shot using the flash and a slower shutter speed, the flash would  freeze the band, while the slower shutter speed would let in a kind of glow of ambient moonlight behind them. It’s a photo that could have easily been done using film of course, but it’s so nice in a tricky situation to experiment with different exposures until you get the one that feels creatively right without having to guess or waste film.

Where with a digital camera you can fiddle with exposure and details, shooting as many pictures as you want to your hearts content, with a toy film camera you tend to shoot more deliberately while embracing all the accidents. You shoot deliberately because you only have a small number of exposures to work with. You embrace the accidents because… well, you haven’t any choice. You’re shooting with a cheap hunk of plastic. Your image becomes a relationship between what you’ve planned for it and the unpredictable element of your little toy image maker.

If you follow my blog you probably already know that I’ve fallen madly in love with my Holga 120 TLR.

Holga

Recently, along with another Holga which I have yet to break in, I’ve acquired the new Lomography Spinner 360.

The Spinner 360

The $135 price tag on the spinner almost begs to argue that it’s not a toy, but pulling a string to take a picture convinces me otherwise. It’s a pretty simple camera to operate. You load the camera with 35mm film. You pull the string. You let go, and the camera spins in a circle on it’s handle capturing a full 360 degree panoramic image. When it was time to shoot the band, it was the first camera I pulled out of the bag.

As for embracing the accidents, I found the spinner to work perfectly. Image wise the photos came out exactly how I imagined they would look. The ‘accidents’ with this camera really happened in post when I found out that there wasn’t a single lab in town that would scan my panoramic images for me. You see the spinner takes one long photograph which is the equivalent of 4 standard size 35mm prints. This apparently makes it very difficult for a lab to scan as one continuous image. The best the lab could do was scan each 1/4 image of my panorama individually, but unfortunately ended up cropping each 1/4 down a bit. This made it impossible to seamlessly stitch the photos together in Photoshop. As it turns out, I think the images look better this way.

Paths Of Glory (taken w/the Spinner 360). 2010

For instance, the shot above is from a 360 panorama cropped way down and stitched together from two different tries with the spinner. As it turned out there were light flares from the edges of the scan that seemed to isolate perfectly the lead singer between his two band mates.

Another aspect when shooting with the spinner is because it is taking a 360 degree photo, the photographer will almost invariably end up in the shot. Although I knew I could crop myself out of the images, I thought it would be fun to allow the band members to take photos of themselves. This adds a whole new level of experimentation where the photographer becomes less of an image maker and more of a facilitator of others to take part in the process. The image becomes more of a collaboration.

In this shot the band members photographed themselves against a wall in an alley behind the Mecca Cafe in Seattle. When the scans came back they were of course cropped down but also each scan had a different color quality to them. I think the differences in the scans and the fact that they can’t be evenly stitched together once again actually makes for a more interesting photo of the band.

Paths Of Glory (taken w/the Spinner 360). 2010

View It Larger Here.

Now the Spinner in my opinion is expensive enough to border on not being labelled a toy. A Holga on the other hand can be purchased from B&H for under $30. You can be a bit more cavalier with the camera itself. Some people even drill tiny holes into their Holgas in order for every exposure to have a light leak. I’ve modified my Holga to increase those kinds of ‘accidents’ as well (see my Holga Modification Tutorial Here).

For the Paths Of Glory shoot I wanted to do something different so I did one more modification to the Holga. I taped a square cut from a plastic sandwich baggy to the Holga’s frame size mask. Then I burned a whole through the cellophane square with a cigarette lighter.

Holga modfication

This is the kind of experimentation that I would obviously never attempt to do with my DSLR. Plus the more I shoot with my Holga, the more I’m beginning to believe it is magical.

Paths Of Glory (modified Holga). 2010

Scot McCullum of POG (modified Holga). 2010

I think this final image is my favorite from the shoot.

Paths Of Glory (3 consecutive exposures, modified Holga). 2010

View It Larger Here

I think the polarization some photographers have over their tools is ridiculous. The argument over Canon vs. Nikon, digital vs. film, pro cameras vs. toy cameras all boil down usually to some limiting preconception that the tool is more important than the final product. It’s why we have scores of Hollywood movies out now made with the most state of the art equipment which end up only dazzling us with their imagery and yet are completely forgettable. They lack soul. They’ve traded story for tools and content for equipment. In the end, as with any work of art or entertainment, it’s the story that should end up trumping everything else.

* Paths Of Glory is lead singer James Francis (RiverRed), drummer Scott McCullum (Gruntruck, Skin Yard, Slippage), and bassist Carlos Salazar (Hell Monkeys, Suction). Check ‘em out Here. They completely rock!

Soundtrack: Jesus And Mary Chain

Two exposures shot with modified Holga. Kodak Porta 400 vivid color film. Capitol Hill, Seattle WA. 2010

Jason Drummond ~ DJ Spun (Canon 5D Mark ii vs. the Holga 120 TLR)

STARTING OFF A REVIEW for the Holga 120 TLR by talking about the Canon 5D mark ii may seem totally out of left field but it helps to define my mental state. This story begins almost 2 years ago. The 5D mark ii had been announced and I knew it was time to start saving my pennies in order to upgrade my then brand new 5D mark i. The problem was, with a $2,500 price tag attached to the upgrade, that’s quite a lot of pennies to be saved.

SO now we come to the Holga 120 TLR, a little piece of plastic that only costs $60 and floated into my life by way of a gift from my brother this last Christmas. Knowing my love for digital photography he thought I might like to go analogue for a change. Although I’d been eyeing Holga photographs online for months, when I finally had one I really didn’t know what to make of the thing. It weighed next to nothing in my hand and captured images by way of light being exposed to a film negative. Very strange. I set the Holga on a shelf.

3 months later, I’d finally saved enough money and clicked the add to cart button next to the 5D mark ii on the B&H website. Earlier that week my brother had given me a follow up gift to his Christmas present; more film and another book for inspiration, Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity by Michelle Bates. As I waited for my new expensive DSLR to arrive I started reading through the truly great Michelle Bates book. Finally out of curiosity I took the Holga off the shelf.

SHOOTING WITH THE HOLGA 120 TLR:

The first thing I did was modify the camera using suggestions from the Bates’ book. If you’re curious, you can see a step by step Holga modification tutorial HERE on the blog. These changes were made to the camera in order to extend the image on the negative, increase the vignette and fuzziness around the edges, as well as increase the possibility of light leaks. I wanted the light leaks. I figure if you shoot with a toy camera you should squeeze all the happy accidents that you can out of it.

The Holga 120 TLR sports a twin lens pop up view finder. This means that you look down into the camera from about 6 inches above. You frame your shot this way using a secondary lens located just above the one you’ll actually be making your exposure with. This is the first thing I loved about shooting with the 120 TLR. You literally shoot from the gut! After spending two years holding a DLSR up to my eye level, shooting at such a low angle with a toy camera was a revelation. It automatically makes for an interesting photograph when you shoot from the point of view of a child.

The other more obvious difference between capturing digitally vs. using film is the amount of exposures you are limited to. The Holga 120 TLR limits you to either 12 square or 16 rectangular exposures on medium format film. This is what I imagined I would hate about shooting with the Holga. I’m so used to machine gunning images onto a CF card. I couldn’t imagine it any other way. What I found was that being limited to just 12 or 16 exposures is actually liberating. It forces you to think before you shoot. You take more time to choose your shots, compose your image, and wait for that definitive moment to trip the shutter.

If you’re used to shooting digital, the first time you take a picture with a Holga may seem a bit odd. After my first shot I almost instinctively looked at the back of my Holga to check the histogram and to see how my picture turned out. At first it was frustrating not knowing what my images looked like immediately. I’ve since shot many rolls of 120 film with the Holga and this is still the hardest part for me to get used to.

One thing I love in particular about shooting with the Holga is being able to shoot multiple exposures with overlapping frames. This is done by taking a picture and then not advancing the film all the way to the next frame so that your next exposure will overlap with your previous one creating a longer, more rectangular montage of images.

Given that it’s considered a toy camera, the Holga handles quite nicely. It’s light. It fit’s perfectly in your hands. I haven’t had any difficulty with it not functioning properly. Granted, it is a piece of plastic and should be considered as such. It will break if dropped. It will melt if you take a cigarette lighter to it.

Overall, I’ve found my experience with the Holga to be amazing. The day my new 5D finally arrived I ended up not rushing to take it out of it’s box because I had my first roll of Holga pictures to develop. I was off to the lab. When I got home to see the scans of my images I was so excited about what I saw that I reloaded the Holga and went out for another photo adventure. March turned to April. April turned to May. As of writing this review, I have yet to take a single image with my new very expensive DSLR. Granted, I’ve been very busy lately, but somehow not too busy to shoot up rolls of Holga shots.

I’ve promised myself now to put down the Holga for awhile and get to know the camera I’ve been saving for two years to buy but have left sitting on the shelf untouched. I don’t think I’m all that crazy for ignoring my fancy new camera. I feel in the long run, spending these months with this $60 toy camera has made me a better digital photographer. The Holga has helped me to see and shoot in a different way. I’ve become a more thoughtful photographer. Shooting with the Holga 120 TLR has taught me the value of a single exposure. It’s definitely brought the child out in me, and I absolutely love the images that have been coming out of it. Most of all it’s taught me that the price of your camera does not necessarily correlate with your enjoyment of it, or the images it makes.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very excited about shooting with my new DSLR, but I know now with certainty that I will never be monogamous with it. Every camera has it’s own personality, and in the case of the Holga, it’s personality is ever present. As I start to shoot now with my 5D  and my Holga 120 TLR, I’ll be keeping my eye out for new personalities, new cheap cameras to play with, and new ways to see the world through them.

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