Critique / Discussions

I love this picture!!! I do.

It has an old time charm to it, yet it display a story of times gone by and those who lived in it. And the dark sky behind (or perhaps its smoke ?) seems like a threat of the new days that will come, when these guys no longer will be around... the overall dark tone, for me, adds to that atmosphere.

I got no ideas about holgas other than I love the results you people are getting from it. I'm not a fan of tech just or the sake of tech but when combined with thoughtful subjects, I easily fall in love :)

However I got some real old cams, one is an old Russian one.... I'm gonna try it out and post some here later.

btw, could you explain a little about the holga? pretty please? :)

Trains always seems to evoke nostalgic memories of days gone by. There is also some measure of sadness brought about by the train whistle but also some comfort. At night lying in bed I hear the train whistle and for some reason I am not annoyed at being woken up--of course it is not a continuous stream of trains passing :)
The photo here captures this sense of nostalgia and of the past due to the sepia tone. The softness and the grain also add to this sense of "old times". The engineer, his dress and his attitude all contribute to the general mood. It is a photograph which could have easily been taken a hundred years ago!! In this respect it is a very successful photograph. However, the tonal range is quite narrow and the viewer has to strain a bit to see details especially at the bottom. I personally would have liked a bit more contrast to isolate shapes. This may not have been your intent though and the mood--old times--is certainly present and strongly conveyed. On the other hand, the lack of detail may have obscured the relationship between the engineer and the machine as it is a little hard to see what he is gesturing or holding in his hand. This is a great mood picture though and that is probably what the intent was. If so it is certainly quite successful.
As for the holgas--or toy cameras in general--I am not quite sure what to say as I have not played with one before. My understanding is that there is a certain element of "luck" or unintended "features" in the photos taken by such cameras as the various mechanisms are not precise--especially leaks around the back cover--which could produce quite interesting effects. I personally prefer to have control--I suppose that's the engineer in me :)

Thanks guys and gals.
Aref, I realy wish I could let you see the original print of this! The tonal range is far superior to what I can get on the screen. I see what you mean on the screen, although with the holga you are very restricted to what you can do with the film as you have one shutter speed to play with and 2 apertures!
The scan has resulted in quite a muddy rendition of this, the original has a lovely richness in the dark tones. But I quite agree that this is a bit flat!
Ann, Aref, GET A HOLGA!
They are so much fun and leave the 'perfection' of digital behind! It makes you see so much more creativly, if you get what I mean, they are so imperfect they allow more of the feel of an image to come through! They leek light, have the worst lens that distorts badly, focus has 4 positions that really dont mean anything but the joy of seeing what comes out and how it does, lifts the spirits more than the best of digital does! Well it does for me! But you all know my feelings for digital! The results pose a fun challenge in the darkroom, playing with the lattitude of film and paper.
As always, thank you for taking time for the great critique!

hahah, your enthusiasm makes me wonder if you work for a holga company :p

Its interesting what you say though, that the digital makes everything so "perfect". Its kind of ironic, isn't it, that people use all this money on digi cameras, get "pefect" pictures & then uses hours in photoshop or gimp trying to get that picture to look old & torn... I think I could have saved me sometime just getting a Holga ;)

It's the ability to control the end result Ann. You can make photos with a shoe box and film. With some experimentation you can make pretty darn good pictures but it is being able to control the result that matters--at least for me--which ever camera or means is used to achieve the end result.

Well, yes. I actually had this very same discussion yesterday with a friend - we were talking about that one can reproduce the same Holga effects in photoshop & hence, like you say, being able to control the end result perhaps better. Of course, I wouldn't know neither having tried a Holga nor knowing PS ;)

But if its so ... that one can create nearly everything in PS (or Gimp in my case), then wouldn't it be more "important" trying to learn the post-processing since camera types in one way then become irrelevant? A least a little irrelevant, if you guys see what I mean?

Maybe and maybe not. I don't really think that you can reproduce light leaks which can fog certain areas of film--but I don't think that you were talking about that. Yes I think that one has to master the techniques and then forget about them and try to take the best picture that he or she can and then process to obtain the results that correspond to one's vision.
There is definitely an element of surpirise, chance and discovery, which cannot be reproduced by processing, associated with Holgas and other toy cameras. It is always a source of joy to some and disappointment to others depending on individual philosophy and approach. I can't say one is better than the other, they are just different and both have a certain merit. My personal approach would be to use the appropriate tool for the task. A Holag would have been great for the series "shooting from the hip" because it all premised on chance and randomness for other pictures I would want to use something else.

let me say: I love this pic. not just because of the motif, but because of the "look and feel" of it.
I can see why you love your holga; I myself found an ancient camera on the attic which I look forward using to. for me, film fotography has some "romantic" element - being based on chemicals which really react to light.. practically catch the light and preserve it - that you cannot get digitally.
I am not saying I curse digital cameras.. I guess it is like loving your old vinyl stock.. kinda

I think as I get to use the camera more, I get to know its limitations, then abuse them, so I guess I have got control. I know the faults, how to frame the image, and there is so much control I have in the darkroom. For me and film photography, is that the results are of my own making, mixing different dev strengths, temps and techniques result in my own style and my own creativity. For me, digital is rellys on the programer of photoshop or gimp or nikon to come up with a set of commands, and although I can recreate, I feel I am not in absolute control, and that there is a synthetic unrealness to digital, if you get what I mean. Yes it does everything, to an extent, yet there is that something missing. An individuality that is tempered by technology. I dont feel free as an artist, that I will always be held ransom to technology.
Now, for some serious blues on the turntable.......................................

Without reading other comments (no time): i like this photo, but regret the lack of detail on the man, so that his clothes make one dark spot with the train. (BUT: maybe it's my monitor's calibration, i'll check my other PC tomorrow on this.)
I don't see any disturbing light leak. Last, I would've tried not to put the man so close to the photo's center.
But, don't misunderstand: i like the photo!

Thanks lodchjo, I see what you mean, although the original does show some separation, (damn this scanner!). Also dont forget the resolving power of the lens, is equal to the resolving power of George Bush and any crisis in the world!

"the resolving power of the lens, is equal to the resolving power of George Bush" LOL this is good--make that excellent. Can I use it sometime--with credit of course?

Hahaha, a photo explained with world politics, superb! ;)
You make me want to see the unscanned, true-paper original. Oh, my, old-fashioned me ;)