Holga Girls
By Lori Andrews
29 September 2007
Holga Girls
There is something inherently feminine in the camera that is Holga.
It is a simple little toy camera that costs less than a manicure. She is my favorite camera to use in portraiture. And especially when I am shooting females.
My subjects are sometimes familiar to me and sometimes not but somehow by the end of the session, we are all at ease. I think the unassuming plastic case and lack of sound effects help my subjects ignore the camera easily. In fact, it frequently takes me so long to press that shutter that they often seem to forget about me as well.
When I photograph my models, the first thing they will ask me is "What should I do?" . I always give very specific directions. Such as look straight ahead, tilt your chin this way, smile, don't smile. As we are all female, I can feel free to position arms and tuck clothing while I walk around the model deciding on my shot. And now I will tell the real secret to my models calm expressions. I will often take over five minutes just to compose one photograph. Five minutes after I gave my model instructions to "hold that" , I will finally shoot. I can see it in their eyes. Their wonderful minds have started to wander and they are no longer posing at all.
Shooting square format means that there are only 12 photographs available per roll. I have to get it right the first time. Holga is notoriously difficult to focus and it is the softness that I am able to achieve that makes me feel that this camera was made for girls.
Holga girls.
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