Holga Week here in Canada is always a gamble; being the first week of October each year, the weather can often turn nasty. Last year we were treated to some fantastic weather, and I am happy with the results I got. But could magic strike twice? The long-range forecast for next week looked good! And having no actual weekend plans, I decided to choose three films out of my stash and shoot around Sheridan College. Unlike last year, I also filmed a video for my YouTube Channel that drops in November.
I have yet to get another Holga camera to throw into the mix, so again, like all my other entries into Holga week, I went with my trusty Holga 120N. Loading up three rolls of black & white film. I ran with AnalogHeld TPH 100, CineStill BwXX, and Kentmere 400 this year, developing all three rolls in 510-Pyro. This year, rather than bounce around, I stuck to a single geographic location, Sheridan College’s Trafalgar Road Campus. Shooting the exterior, interior, and the beautiful valley behind the campus. The idea was that I wanted to take only a little time out of my day driving to different locations; here, I could walk. I also made a YouTube video of my Holga Week. Still, I did it differently than my usual technique, opting for a POV-style video, mounting my iPhone to a holder mounted on the Holga’s hot shoe, and using a gimble for the talking parts.
This year should also be a bit of a lesson for me to check to ensure the shutter control switch is set to “N” instead of “B”. So, I accidentally shot both my first and second roll on bulb mode, which resulted in a lot of shaking and over-exposed frames. Rather than cut, sleeve and ignore those rolls. I went ahead and embraced and fixed what I could; I also don’t think it helped that I had my iPhone secured to the top of the camera. Thankfully, developing all three rolls in 510-Pyro helped recover many of the frames I thought were long gone. My favourites are those I shot on Kentmere 400, only because I was shooting on a tripod and using the bulb. Now, I did cheat a little with that roll and metered to use the bulb mode effectively.
Despite everything, I’m happy with what I got this year for Holga Week. And while I say it all the time that I want to pick up the camera more often, I never do. But that’s okay also because it makes Holga Week all the more special! And this year, I did submit three images to the official contest over at Holga Week’s website. And surprisingly, two from that second roll of Double-X as it matches the Holga Nature category. If you want to see the submissions or participate next year, visit holgaweek.com. And you can look at my past year’s efforts during Holga Week over on Flickr. As for next year, maybe I’ll finally dig in and get a different Holga Camera.