Sunday 6 June 2010

Forth Rail Bridge

Pam over at Pams English Cottage Garden asked if I would participate in a challenge where you post the 8th photo in your 8th folder…

Now for me this is difficult since I have many, many folders but also a good few years’ worth of photos. So do I literally opt for the 8th folder I have in total or my 8th of all time i.e. my first folder is 2004, so do I opt for August 2004? But then I have within August a folder for each date I uploaded on so effectively I have to choose the 8x8x8!

Anyway I’ll stop babbling now and go for the actual 8th folder – which incidentally will also change as I upload photos, but you don’t need to know that! :)

So, here we go. A real photo taken using an 80’s plastic toy camera known as a Holga. It shoots using medium format film, which produces square photos to all those with no clue on film cameras.


This was a lucky shot looking at the Forth Road Bridge from the Rail Bridge, anyone who has seen or been on this bridge will know there are lots of metal beams blocking the view, so to manage this shot is really quite amazing.

This plastic camera, as I am sure you can imagine is not good quality, it is known for its crazy distortions and vignetting (that’s the black around the edges). For us ‘arty’ types, we seek this kind of ‘real’ effect. No photoshop, just plain old film.

These are not shots I usually show on here - as if I needed to tell you all that!!!

6 comments:

Emma Bond said...

LOVE IT! Been given another Holga for my birthday... can't get enough of them. Beautiful shot Liz x

Cheryl said...

Liz....that is a beautiful shot. I love it.....these are the shots that I find capture my imagination.
Love the moody sky.....

Pam's English Garden said...

Well done, Liz! You rose to the challenge with a great shot. Thank you for participating! Pam x

Liz said...

Hi Emma,

Thanks very much! :)

How many Holga’s do you have? I have two, one of the classic ones and then one of the modern ones which allow you to alter the shutter speed slightly/focus… It isn’t medium format though…

Liz said...

Hi Cheryl,

Thank you very much, I don’t remember the sky being moody, but that’s the beauty of this camera! It does weird and wonderful things. If you look closely you can see blue sky on the right and sun shining on the coast under the road bridge… Such an amazing camera and yet only a few pounds! :)

It’s just a shame the films are so expensive to develop and print. I intended on buying myself a negative scanner, but other priorities got in the way and as a result I haven’t shot with the Holga for a couple of years.

Liz said...

Hi Pam,

No problem, it was nice to go through my old folders again – and delete lots of the unwanted photos! Hee hee.