Origins

The Holga is a very inexpensive, medium format box camera appreciated for its low-fidelity aesthetic. The Holga originated in Hong Kong in 1982, and used 120 film, the most widely available film in China at that time. The camera was originally intended to provide an inexpensive mass-market camera for working-class Chinese in order to record family portraits and events. The Holga’s cheap construction, combined with poor quality materials and simple meniscus lens often yields pictures that display vignetting, blur, light leaks, and other distortions. The often bizarre photographic results of these effects have ironically popularized the camera with an international audience.

Download & Read: Holga User’s Guide

120 Film

120 is the film students will use with their Holga cameras for this class. It is a film format introduced by Kodak for their Brownie No. 2 in 1901, and is still available, though lesser known to most consumers, as 35mm film is the near exclusive film format used today with film based cameras.

120 film is a medium format film and is used in many professional grade cameras (Hassleblad, Mamiya, Pentax). Its large size (2.466” length, 0.990” unrolled) yeilds a far bigger negative than 35mm film, thereby allowing far bigger enlargemtns with much greater and finer detail.

Depending on the use of the Holga’s interior mask, or any modifications, Holga cameras produce an image of either 6”x4.5” (with the mask) or a square approximately 6”x6”, and allows for 12 exposures per roll.

Photographer Focus: You!

Get to know your camera. Learn the visual character and nuances of your individual Holga, and learn the coordination of handling film. Experiment with your shooting techniques, and learn to translate what you see into what the camera sees. Learn to look, and remember: there is no such thing as a mistake when using a Holga.

OTHER LINKS
David Niles Holga Gallery
Mark Sink (Nudes, New York City, Bridges)
Holga Photography on Flickr

In-Class

Campus Walkabout: Unpackage film and load cameras, and explore campus with cameras.Students are given 1 hour shoot 1 roll of film, before returning as a class to unload film.

Denotative vs. Connotative Imagery

Every string photograph has two levels of communication; The denotative, or literal, and the connotative- or what the photo means.

Denotative

The denotative is the literal meaning of an image. This type of understanding of an image is the superficial or literal visual meaning. A portrait of a woman is a portrait of a woman. The denotative meaning does not take into account symbolic meaning, cultural messages, or any type of message beyond the physical objects in the photo.

Conotative

The conotative is the implied meaning of an image. This type of understanding of a photograph requires a deeper understanding and observation of what the image means. A portrait of a woman is a portrait of a woman. But if the portrait is The Migrant Mother, by Dorthea Lange then the message of the image is not just the denotative meaning, but also the connative: a statement of motherhood, of adversity, hardship, of character, and ultimatley a symbolic representation of an entire era of American History, The Great Depression.

Class Reading: Chapter #5

Assignment: Marietta College. Photo-assignment #2 [.pdf]