Feeling trapped by technical based photography I have decided for the foreseeable future to let it all go. I have modified my Holga to avert the back falling off, using velcro. The film counter opening on the back is covered with duct tape with a rolled edge making it easier to remove to advance the film. I have painted the inside of the 6X6 mask with flat paint to avoid reflections from the earlier glossy finish. I have also flat blacked the film back for the same reasons, sanding the guides for the film to remove the paint and not scratch the film (hopefully). Last but not least, I added a filter adapter using a 55 – 52 step up ring and (why not?)….serendipitous red sugru putty.
I have a hard to find shutter release coming from a 3D printer in Germany (these are now hard to find!) that will allow me to do long exposures, which is what I look forward to trying. I also hope to experiment with double exposures and flash.
My film memo “holder” is a piece of masking tape with the film type written in.
Innately, this is my rebellion to how Artificial Intelligence is becoming so omniscient in our daily lives. I had to troubleshoot my office network yesterday, and my call to the provider was entirely via AI, including a remote reset started by the pseudo whatever it is on the other end of the line. How many jobs are being displaced from this technology? The lack of human contact, so prevalent in the Covid Pandemic, is now even worse.
I have put 4 or 5 rolls through the Holga, one an epic fail (I think!) from having the camera set in bulb mode. I am sure I will make mistakes in the learning process to get the most out of this simple camera, but that is and has always been part of the process.
I will also be experimenting again with pinhole photography. The Zero Image 2000 is a good kit with a remote shutter mechanism installed, but using filters is difficult and the optional mount used to do so is not being shipped any more from the Asian manufacturer to US buyers due to the trade fiasco.
I am feeling out of sorts lately. My mind is wandering around aimlessly leading to difficulty concentrating. I just developed a roll of black and white film and botched the sequence absentmindedly (fix before stop). I washed the fix off of the film and then resumed the normal process. The roll is rinsing now and hopefully it turned out ok.
On the theme of my mind, the roll came out ok, but it had only one image on it. I likely shot the rest of the roll with the lens cap on my rangefinder! Ugh. On a positive note, it looks like a nice image.