Holga Blog

This month we present Dave Salinas AKA Flickr’s the lowest fidelity. Dave is reknowned for his amazing skills with the Holgaroid!

It all started when good friend and fellow band member Nicholas Noeding Jr. took a flight from ALB, NM into Houston in the summer of 2008 to rehearse and perform a show as Day Of The Woman. This is when he began shooting photographs and talking about how awesome his Holga camera was. It wasn’t until a weeks later that Dave fell in love with those same images that would be the catalyst in a developing love affair with lo-fi photography. Having a decade of producing lo-fi music made for an easy transition into utilizing those same principles into images created by the Holga CFN. Having limited time (and patience) he added a Polaroid instant back to his Holga CFN. “The smell of instant chemicals puts such a smile on my face, its a total addiction. Its like Christmas time when you are a 9 year old boy with a room full of neatly wrapped toys just begging to be ripped open!” Having gone through packs and packs of film “wasting” shots as if they were digital, Dave developed the process of selectivity in his photographs. Often using a Canon G10 for a test shot before using a Polaroid frame on his subjects. Minimizing his ratio of filmwasting. “I would buy big lots of ID-UV film from EBAY every chance i could. I just knew there was only so much to go around being that this film was long out of production” Manipulating ID-UV became a sort of specialty, or signature. Having done some painting on canvas in his early adulthood, manipulating ID-UV was in a sense fusing painting and photography in his subjects. “Moving the chemicals around the print with your fingers gives you a total hands on approach to making instant film prints. It’s like painting blindly, with toxic chemicals.”

Aside from using instant film cameras, Dave has also shifted his focus on digital photography. Even though he has adapted the moniker “the lowest fidelity!” on his Flickr account, he has diversified his work flow with digital images as well. “I’m just starting to scratch the surface of digital photography. Its such a great contrast to the messy expired Polaroid films i’m used to dealing with. There is also a big challenge for me in digital photography to convey that same raw energy i get from instant film photography. I feel that shifting from lo-fi plastic lenses to lofty megapixels is an important process in the growth of my photography.” Covering a wide array of subjects in his photography, Dave has been interested in shooting abandoned buildings. “I like to imagine what life is like after humans are long gone from Earth. Every time i pass an abandoned building i cant help but think of all the great photographs that are just waiting to be captured inside. I turn into a photography rat, finding ways inside to document decay!”

Working at Camera Co Op in Houston, TX. Dave continues to learn and grow as a photographer. With the building of a personal darkroom on the horizon and possible exhibits later on this year, its going to be a busy year for Dave Salinas. “I’m so young in the game! Its very exciting and rewarding when you can look back only a year earlier and see how much you have grown as a photographer. There is so much ground to cover in what i want to accomplish in photography, i am constantly on the look for that next photo. Even when i don’t have access to my camera, i am taking mental photographs. I keep a notebook with addresses and places i see to come back to photograph at a later date. Sometimes the sky is not blue enough, or the lighting at the time of day is not right, so i put it on my hit list.” Another part of the process involves his bicycle. Often riding his bike with his tripod on the rear rack looking for photographs. “Yeah, this is going to be a good year for me. I feel like i am gaining momentum.”