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Michelle and I were given the fantastic gift of a Holga camera this winter by some of her close friends from New York. This little plastic wonder has been my favourite new toy. After working out a few issues, like which frame counter to use and exactly how much is encompassed in the very misleading viewfinder, I have come to enjoy this little treasure, even when I make mistakes.

The first mistake I made is apparently a very common blunder: I used the 16-frame counter when the setting was on 12 frames. Holgas can either take 12 square frames or, with a filter set inside, 16 vertically oriented frames. The setting for each is determined by a sliding switch on the back of the camera. I slid it to the wrong counter, with no filter inside to cut down the frame size, and thus was left with double-exposed edges on each of my photos. It wasn't perfect, but there is some beauty in it anyway.



Moving on from the mistakes, though, I'd like to show a few of the happy experiments that I have done with the camera. My favourite (and most convenient) subject, of course, is Michelle.



Michelle on the floor.
Spotlight, 4-second exposure.



Through the window of the House On Parliament pub.
Using a beer pint (in snow, no less) as a makeshit tripod, street and ambient light, 15 second exposure.



Michelle the boxer.
Double exposure, 1 second each.



Michelle the Rock Star.
Long (10 second) exposure, dark room, lit with moving flashlight.


Quebec's Carnivale d'Hiver also provided a wealth of subject matter.



Flags.
Normal settings for outdoors (sunny).



Le Bonhomme.
Normal settings for outdoors (sunny).



Un autre Bonhomme.
Normal settings for outdoors (sunny). Interestingly, he looks very wee, but he was taller than I am (6 feet). I guess it's a product of the medium format...and where I was standing at the time?



Beautiful Accident.
Normal settings for outdoors (sunny). Double exposure was an accident. I was trying to take some photos of the enormous icicles hanging from the eaves of the Vieux Quebec buildings and I seem to have forgotten to advance the film in between. Well I like the result better than I would have either of the individual shots, I suspect, so I am not complaining.

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