To say that my life is in transition right now would be an understatement. It’s more like my life has been turned upside down. For the last five months I’ve been out of the work force as I’ve always known it. I keep reminding myself that this is a blessing. This time has allowed me to reevaluate my life and concentrate on being more creative and pursuing my photography. I’ve also started booking weddings which means I’m actually beginning to get paid to do what I love. I know I’m not alone in this wave of change. My friends, family, and almost everyone I know right now are going through incredible life changes. My hope is that I will look back on this time as a pivotal moment where my life took on an amazing new direction.

About 2 years ago I called up my friend Adam and told him I had just bought a camera, the Canon 5D mark i. It was purchased on the spur of the moment. I thought it would be nice to learn about photography. I had spent a lot of money on a whim. He told me he had just lost his job. He seemed kind of dazed. He had no real idea what he was going to do. I said that I had this idea for a stop motion movie that involved covering his face with stage makeup to make him look like a skeleton boy. He said to come on over.

(You can watch the movie we made, Big Milk, here on Vimeo)

Now, it’s 2 years later. I’ve fallen in love with photography. I’m no longer working at a ‘real job’, and I’m suddenly trying to get used to how I’m actually taking photographs as a living. Adam’s life is in major transition again as well. In many personal ways his life is being thrown into another flux. I called him up. I told him that I got a new camera. This time it’s a toy film camera. It was time for us to take some pictures.

I’ve shot four rolls of 120 film so far with the Holga. During this last roll with Adam I definitely got pretty cocky. I did much more experimentation. I started experimenting with colored flashes and played around with creating more in camera double exposures. I’ve learned a lot from this last roll even though I feel only two of the photos are actually good (I’ll be posting the second one tomorrow). This is definitely a time for learning, making mistakes, experimenting and having fun.

Adam Briehl. Modified Holga 120 TLR with Kodak Porta 400nc film

Holga Modification Tutorial Here