I began creating images with models in 2009. I used some other cameras for my first few shoots, mainly my Hasselblad, but one day it struck me that the Holga could work really well for the type of work I wanted to make. I did a test shoot with a model and ended up with several images I loved right away, so I dove into the project.

Since then I’ve shot with more than fifteen models in Portland, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Images from the series were featured in an online exhibition at platestopixels.com, and one was in a group show at Lightbox Photographic in Astoria, Oregon. One image also won second place in the Nudes category of Holgapalooza 2010 and appeared in Light Leaks Magazine.

Even though many of the images are nudes, I view my work as portraiture. I think a good portrait captures something honest about the subject, and I encourage my models to be open, creative and spontaneous. The simplicity of the Holga helps me connect with the models. I take a handheld light meter reading to choose what speed of film to use, and then I just shoot. There aren’t a lot of other technical details to get caught up in.

Holgablog: Before you started working on your recent nudes project, what was your favourite subject matter? What helped you realize your passion for portraiture?

Burroughs: I did a lot of landscapes and urban landscapes. I’m extremely camera shy and because of that I rarely took pictures of people. It felt like an intrusion to ask permission. I’ve always enjoyed viewing good portraiture though. At the end of 2008 I was reflecting on my work and came up with a few ideas I wanted to try to push myself in new directions. One was working with models. I thought that would be a great way to get into shooting people more, since they’re pretty willing participants. I did a few shoots that next year and loved it, and then dove in heavily in 2010. I’ve done over forty shoots with models now, and I’ve used a Holga for at least some of the shots in most of them. I think a lot of my work is about natural beauty. That’s a thread that ties together the landscape work, the nudes, and a lot of the other things I’ve done.

Holgablog: Do you use any Holga modifications for your work?

Burroughs: Not many. I generally shoot without the mask, and I’ll tape up the camera some.

Holgablog: Do you process your own film or do you prefer to use a lab? Why?

Burroughs: I use a great lab here in Portland called Blue Moon Camera. I’ve developed film before but I trust them more than I trust myself. They’re really solid people. I also get a lot of great advice and ideas from them. I have a day job and I’m pretty short on time, that’s another issue.

Holgablog: Do you ever find it to be a challenge proposing your photographic Holga ideas to prospective models?

Burroughs: That’s not been a problem. Many of the models I collaborate with are experienced with fine art modeling and have worked with people who shoot medium format film, large format, even wet plate. Some of them own and use Holgas themselves.

Holgablog:  For those of our readers who are interested in a similar field of photography, what are some bits of advice you can offer regarding approaching people and pitching ideas?

Burroughs: I think one thing that helped me early on is that I had other bodies of work to show prospective models. When I was starting out they could see that I was a serious photographer and was good at taking pictures, even if not a lot of the images had people in them yet. There are a lot of photographers out there who do pretty generic looking work with models. If you come to the table with an artistic eye you’re already ahead of the game. I’ve found a lot of the really good fine art models I’ve worked with are as passionate about making art as I am. To them the fact that I shoot at least some film is a bonus, not a negative.

Besides that, I think it’s critical to present yourself as well as you can for where you are. I’m constantly looking to improve my portfolio, and as I do I get much better responses from models. I tend to be very picky about what I show people. That’s really how you define yourself.

Holgablog: Tell us about one or two of your favourite places to take your Holga.

Burroughs: I actually don’t drag it around as much as I used to. I shoot about as much film as I can afford to right now with the models, so I don’t wander around taking random pictures often. I love shooting outdoors when I can though. It’s great to get someplace where there’s not a phone line cutting across the horizon.

Holgablog: Congratulations on your Holgapalooza entry – which image did you submit and how/why did you choose it?

Burroughs: The image is a Holga shot of a model friend named Stephanie that we took outdoors near Battle Ground, Washington. I actually submitted several images, but after seeing the work of the judge I had a feeling that image was my best shot at winning. He’s done a lot of outdoor nudes and I thought it would potentially appeal to him. I really like the image so I was very pleased to have it win second place and appear in Light Leaks. The folks at Light Leaks are actually doing a feature on my work in their next issue, #19. They contacted me after they saw my Holgapalooza submission and said they’d like to publish more of my work whatever happened with the contest. That was really flattering.

Holgablog: Do you currently have a favourite photographer and if so who and why?

Burroughs: I’ve been influenced by a lot of people: Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Stephen Shore, Sally Mann. There’s a real simplicity to a lot of their work that I find very moving. I’m a minimalist, I always have been.  One current photographer I’m influenced by a lot is a guy named Corwin Prescott, he’s in Philadelphia. Corwin shoots primarily digital, but also does some Polaroids and has shot large format. He’s someone who does a lot of creative things with his digital work. His images really inspire me to get better.

Holgablog: What do you have in your camera bag right now?

Burroughs: Right now I’m shooting mainly in my apartment so my bag is pretty big, but there are a few cameras that are in pretty heavy rotation. Besides the Holga I shoot digital with my 5D Mark II. I have a Hasselblad 500C/M that I really love. I have a Polaroid 180 that shoots pack film, and a Polaroid Image 1200 that shoots the Spectra film. I’m doing a series of the Spectra images that I think will likely be my first book, so I use that at almost every shoot now.

Holgablog: A special thanks to Rich for taking the time to participate in our feature and the best of luck with your future photographic efforts. We look forward to seeing much more from you!

Burroughs’ work can be found via the following links:

http://photos.richburroughs.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/richburroughs

http://analogsexy.com

http://www.twitter.com/richburroughs

If you want to check out the lab mentioned:

http://bluemoomcamera.com

And Corwin’s work can be viewed here:

http://corwinprescott.com/

Below is a sampling of Burroughs’ work. Please be aware, some images may not be suitable for all viewers. Enjoy!

I got my first camera – a Canon Sure Shot – when I was about 13 (although I seem to remember using 110 cameras before that – they must have been the family cameras). I got my first all-manual Ricoh SLR in college and spent those years trying to figure out how to use it and what this photography thing was all about. I learned a little bit of darkroom work and photographed for my school paper my last semester, but there weren’t any classes to take. The summer after I graduated in 1991, I signed up for two workshops at the Maine Photographic Workshops, ended up staying the whole summer, and my life of photography took off!

When did your interest in shooting with a Holga develop? What did/do you like about working with a Holga?

At MPW (now Maine Media Workshops), Holgas were used as teaching tools, from their early days as replacements for the Diana cameras and clones. They still are, but they were nowhere near as popular outside of the photo scene back then. I was so new to photography that summer, I was soaking everything in and trying new ways of shooting, subjects, types of film, everything. We had to show 3 photos at the end of the summer, and I ended up with 3 Holga photos (which are up this month at Soho Photo Gallery as part of my retrospective show). After that summer, I just kept shooting with the Holga, really having a great time with it and loving the images, and getting lots of good feedback and opportunities, so I just kept shooting, and somehow, 20 years have gone by!

I’ve always loved the look of the images, and how my handmade negative carrier complements the Holga’s natural vignetting. The cameras are so light and simple to use that once I’m in the zone, shooting is a pure flow of seeing.

How many different Holgas do you shoot with? Can you describe your favorite modifications?

I have several Holgas, and they tend to die slowly over the years and get retired. I tend not to name them or otherwise be able to differentiate them, but I do have one that was modified by Randy Smith over at Holgamods, which has developed a cool light leak that I love. Since it’s yellow, I load it with color film and carry a black Holga with black and white film.

I like the bulb setting, which I still think of as new (the original Holga 120s didn’t have it). But otherwise I love the basic Holga in all its simplicity.

You recently released the second edition of your book, “Plastic Cameras: Toying With Creativity” – what are some of the additions you put into the new book and where can our readers pick up a copy?

I had such a great time updating the book! As soon as the first edition came out I started stumbling on new great photographers I wished I’d been able to include. So for this edition I added 21 new photographers, including Sylvia Plachy, Michael Kenna, Christopher James, Louviere + Vanessa and many other amazing artists!

I expanded the chapter about the cameras to include the Diana+, Superheadz’s creations, the new Holga versions and accessories and all the other fun stuff. And of course I added many new websites, books and resources, and updates to the how-to info.

Signed copies of the book are available from me through the book’s site: http://www.toyingwithcreativity.com. It’s also on Amazon (with lots of great reviews), at Freestylephoto.biz, Elliott Bay Book Co, Powells and at many photography stores.

Are there any other books that you have created, or plans for any more in the future that you can tell us about?

This is the only book I’ve done myself. I have another possible idea, but have managed to keep myself busy being the Holga Queen, so we’ll see if I get to it… I would like to create collections of plastic camera images that present more complete portfolios of images, and a collection of my own work at some point.

I’m also a photographer for the Moisture Festival in Seattle, a vaudeville/variete festival, and we but together a book of 5 years of images from that: http://issuu.com/moisturefestival/docs/mfbook2009_web

How did you wind up with the title ‘Holga Queen’?

I wish I could remember! I also had someone email me, addressing me as “The High Priestess of Holganess” and Shutterbug called me “The Fairy Godmother of the Holga.” I’ll take any of those, but Holga Queen is nice and short.

You have your big career-spanning retrospective show at Soho Gallery right now – can you tell us about that?

I’m thrilled to be having this show at Soho Photo Gallery in New York. I was trying to decide what to show, when I realized that this year is my 20th anniversary of discovering the Holga. So instead of showing set series of work, I’m pulling together my favorite images from over these two decades, including many that have never been exhibited and some brand new work, and will be peppering them with stories of this whole crazy journey. It will include about 30 images, and be in conjunction with the Krappy Kamera Competition. The opening is Tuesday, March 1st, and I’m giving a talk at the gallery on Sunday, March 6th at 6:00.

Also in March I’m showing my “Urban Oases” series at Rayko Photo in San Francisco in conjunction with their Plastic Camera Show, and I have work in the traveling “Holga Inspire” exhibition opening this week at The Icon in Los Angeles.

You have done many gallery shows of your Holga work – can you tell our readers a little about how they might go about approaching a gallery to show their work?

Most of the things that I’ve been able to do – gallery shows, workshops, talks, the book, etc, have come from hanging out in the photo scene and meeting people. I live in Seattle but most of my connections have come from going to conferences, trade shows and other photo events all over the country. I show my work at portfolio reviews, regularly attend Society for Photographic Education (SPE) conferences and PhotoPlus Expo in New York. Do good work, be professional in your presentation, sociable and responsive, and you’ll be ahead of the pack!

Tell us about the Krappy Kamera Competition.

Krappy Kamera was the first of the toy camera shows 18 years ago, as a member’s show of Soho Photo Gallery. The juried competition is in its 13^th year, and is now the biggest and longest-running of what is an increasingly crowded field of toy camera group exhibitions. It includes images from around the world, and the opening is always a mob scene! There is a Blurb book of the chosen images available online.

What does your camera bag have in it right now?

I have so many camera bags and so many cameras; each time I head out it’s a different combination! Mostly lately I’m pulling out my Nikon D300 to photograph live circus or vaudeville performances. For general running around and snapshooting, I have a Canon G11 (I love the flippy screen!). For maximum fun at photo events, I always wear my Rollei MiniDigi – The Cutest Camera in the World – like a necklace and shock people that it works. I’m also loving the FujiFilm Instax Mini – there’s nothing like instant gratification you can hold! Where does all this leave my poor Holgas? I tend to make Holga shooting a separate activity, which doesn’t get enough attention these days. I have some road trips planned though, and then we’ll spend some quality time together!

We would like to personally thank Michelle for giving her time and energy to us during this very busy time for our interview, and to wish her lots of luck in her current and upcoming shows. Below is a sampling of some of Michelle’s favourite images from the last 20 years. As always, images remain copyright the photographer. You can view more of Michelle’s work here.

Holgablog: What is your favorite photographic medium on which to create images (film, RC, liquid emulsion, Polaroid, etc)? Why?

Nancy & Eric: We have both done art photography for 40 years. For many years we have used film and photographic papers in various pinhole cameras. When we were invited to show our images in China in 2006, Nancy bought a digital camera in Beijing and we put a pinhole on it. The following year we had another exhibition in China and were asked to be part of a photo-trek in Qinghai Province, next to Tibet, and we both used digital cameras with Pinhole Resource zone plates attached. Zone plates are seven times faster than pinhole, and by using zone plates on digital cameras, we were able to photograph as quickly as the lens photographers who were also on the trek and not keep them waiting for us while we set up tripods, etc.

From 2001 until now, we used a film based 4”x5” Leonardo pinhole camera for one series of images titled “on deaf ears.” Because we were photographing assemblages, we used Polaroid to check the composition and exposure before making the 4”x5” negative.

Most recently, we are printing our images digitally.

Holgablog: Do you have a preference to color or black & white photography?

Nancy & Eric: We don’t have a preference.

Holgablog: You have created a very interesting series of images together entitled “on deaf ears” – what was your motivation behind the theme?

Nancy & Eric: In 1988-89, which seems like years ago, we began constructing assemblages, many of which dealt with social issues of human rights, religion, sexuality, and stereotypes. On a lighter note, we also made assemblages dealing with Mickey Mouse, Elvis, Marilyn, and our own relationship. Some of our assemblages have been greatly influenced by passages from The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets by Barbara G. Walker. We hung the assemblages on the walls of our house and lived with them daily. We became very attached to them, and in fact when we showed them in galleries, we would put exorbitant prices on them, hoping they wouldn’t sell. In retrospect, we both feel we knew we weren’t finished with them. In the summer of 2001, we began photographing segments of our assemblages with a pinhole camera, thus creating a second body of work separate from the assemblages. We did not originally construct the assemblages with the intent of photographing them. In making the photographs and concentrating on small details, we realized there was the possibility of an altered context in making two dimensional images of our three dimensional assemblages. The pinhole images make use of color shifts due to long exposures (6-8 minutes), vignetting, and altered perspectives enhanced by our choice of placement of the wide-angle pinhole camera. This body of work is on-going. We continue to build assemblages; some of them we photograph.

Since we have collected many unusual objects for the assemblages which hang on the walls in our house, we realized there were many  faces with eyes looking at us and we should photograph these faces with a zone plate camera. That’s where our series titled “Houseguests” started. We have been working on “Houseguests” recently and are very excited about the images! The faces come from a variety of objects— a cement flower pot that looks like Ghandi, a Louie Armstrong plaster carnival prize, a wooden monkey that was an architectural support from a building in Thailand, a carved wooden face on an African chair, a revolutionary’s mask from Nicaragua made from a window screen with painted lips and eyes, and so on.

Holgablog: How long have you been working together on photographic projects?

Nancy & Eric: We have been together for 22 years and have been collaborating for that long.

Holgablog: When did you first develop your love of pinhole and what was your first image of?

Nancy & Eric: Eric made his first pinhole cameras in design school in 1960 when he was a sophomore. He started really working with pinhole in 1968 using a six pinhole panoramic camera of his own design. Nancy began doing pinhole in the early 1980s when she was teaching photography at Sweet Briar College in Virginia.

We have both found pinhole photography to be a closer approximation to how we want to view the world photographically. For us, pinhole and zone plate images seem to have a soul that we often find lacking in other types of imagery.

Holgablog: Besides pinhole, what other methods of image capture do you favor?

Nancy & Eric: Zone plates.

Holgablog: What is the most extreme/extraordinary location you ever brought your pinhole camera?

Nancy & Eric: When we taught a workshop on the Greek island of Samos in the late 1990s, Eric wanted to float a suitcase camera in the Aegean and image with it. On a clear day you could see Turkey from the beach where we were working. Eric took the loaded suitcase camera out into the Aegean to photograph — and of course the people on the beach thought he was a crazy American trying to illegally swim with all his belongings in a suitcase to Turkey. It was very funny!

On Samos, we were developing our negatives in a steelyard with a garden hose and hanging the negatives up to dry in an outhouse which was, thankfully, no longer in use.

Holgablog: Describe the very first homemade pinhole camera you made.

Nancy & Eric: Eric’s first pinhole camera, one that he used for many years had 6 pinholes. Each pinhole overlapped the image next to it and each image was flipped so that the camera did not make a consecutive panorama.

Nancy’s first pinhole camera was an oatmeal box. She did a series of images using photographic paper, developing the paper negatives with a flashlight with a red filter in a darkened cabin by the river near where she lived.

Holgablog: Where can your work be viewed?

www.nancyspencerphoto.com

www.ericrennerphoto.com

www.pinholeresource.com

Nancy & Eric: Also, available from the Pinhole Resource are many books we have published on our work. Many pinhole images and pinhole cameras from our work are in Eric’s definitive book, now in its fourth edition, “Pinhole Photography: From Historic Technique to Digital Application” published by Focal Press, 2008. Over the years some of our images appeared in the periodical we edited titled “Pinhole Journal.”

Holgablog: Tell us about the Pinhole Resource.

Nancy & Eric: Pinhole Resource is a nonprofit public educational institution and archive devoted to pinhole photography that has approximately 3000 pinhole images in its collection, all donated by pinhole photographers throughout the world. Pinhole Resource also sells pinhole cameras, many monographs on pinhole photographers work, a huge variety of pinhole and zone plate body caps as well as pinhole sets and various sized zone plates. Also included on the Pinhole Resource web site is “The International Pinhole Photography Gallery” which showcases many pinhole photographers images that are for sale.

Pinhole Resource was started in 1984 as a way to disseminate information about pinhole photography. By December of 1984, the first issue of “Pinhole Journal”  was published after many pinhole photographers donated work to the archive. After that, three issues were published each year and “Pinhole Journal” had a run of 22 years, ending in 2006. Back issues of “Pinhole Journal” are still available.

10) Do you shoot with a Holga, and if so, which type? (This is Holgablog after all, so we had to ask)

Nancy & Eric: When we taught a workshop last summer at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz we had students who used  pinhole  and zone plate Holgas. We liked the images, so we purchased a pinhole Holga camera. We haven’t had a chance to use it, but we will. Many years ago before the Holga existed, Nancy made a lengthy series of images with Diana’s.

Here is a sampling of Eric and Nancy’s work, including images from the two bodies of work discussed above. The first set is from the body entitled “on deaf ears” 2001-2010 (pinhole images from 4″x5″ negatives, archival pigment prints) and the second is from the body of work called “Houseguests” 2010-11 (zone plate digital images, archival pigment prints). Images remain copyright of the photographers, as always.

Here is our quick Q & A with Michael:

Holgablog: What do you love about your Holga?

Michael Kenna :It is lightweight and completely unpredictable. I have no idea what’s going to come out when I photograph with a Holga – and I LOVE that!

Holgablog:Where is the coolest place, in your opinion, that you have taken your Holga?

Michael Kenna: I pretty much take it everywhere, up mountains, around cities, on the plane, to weddings and funerals. The coolest place,  mmmmmmmmm, perhaps the Giza Pyramids in Egypt. Or Huangshan in China. Tbilisi in Georgia? Maybe my hometown of Widnes in England? Oh, I don’t know.

Holgablog: What is your favourite type of film to use in your Holga, and why?

Michael Kenna: Tri x. Haven’t used anything else…

Holgablog:How often do you carry your Holga with you, and what motivates you to pull it out of your camera bag (scene, subject matter, etc)?

Michael Kenna: I carry it around whenever I go out walking – which is a lot. I’m always looking and pull the camera out if I see something I think is worth photographing.

Holgablog: Has anyone ever recognized you while you are out shooting and approached you to talk about your choice of camera (Holga, of course)?

Michael Kenna: Many times. My Holga has blue tape all over it to keep out any light leaks so it is particularly visible and obvious.

We would like to take a moment to extend our thanks to Michael for taking the time to respond to our inquiry and for participating in our Photographer of the Month feature here on Holgablog. Also to Mark Silva for gathering up the images displayed below, all of which remain © Michael Kenna.

Enjoy Michael’s holga work and check out his website www.michaelkenna.com

Location: Central Kentucky, USA

Gear: 3 Holgas, old and modified, a half dozen various Diana clones, a batch of old 35mm rangefinders, a Pentax 67 and any number of cheap, silly cameras.

Favorite film: Ilford Delta 400.

Schizophrenic shooter of varying success–that is how I would describe what I do as a photographer. My primary subjects for projects and single clicks include my two sons, useless items I see on the street, banal, everyday nothings and ephemera deemed cliché’ or nonphotogenic. Pretty exciting, eh? I think I like the thought of photography being a self-improvement mechanism, it’s all subjective, right? Toy cameras allow me to not think so much about the gadgetry, instead to explore the meaning of image making, the meaning of moments and where I fit in them, with or without a camera around my neck. I fail much of the time in telling the stories in my head in a visually coherent fashion–but it’s a moving target so today’s failures might be seen as tomorrow’s triumphs. The only conclusion I seem to ever reach with myself is the idea I have to shoot more…so do you. But you probably already knew that. More Tread photography at www.gotreadgo.com and the daily blog of words and images at http://gotreadgo.blogtog.com

Website:  Tastes Like Yellow

Twitter: Twitter: 6x6pix

I also blog for the non-profit Boston Photography Center

]]> http://www.holgablog.com/2010/09/15/featured-photographer-of-the-month-bonnie-borthwick/feed/ 2 http://www.holgablog.com/2010/05/06/featured-polaroid-photographer-of-the-month-dave-salinas/ http://www.holgablog.com/2010/05/06/featured-polaroid-photographer-of-the-month-dave-salinas/#comments Thu, 06 May 2010 21:08:14 +0000 Andrew http://www.holgablog.com/?p=3436

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.”