Jay Cooke with a Holga

Three weeks ago, I went camping with my 2 boys up by Duluth. (I posted a lot of photos of our adventures on my other blog if you want to take a look.)

Last month, one of my classes at Hamline University did a Holga-based project. (A Holga is a cheap, plastic medium format film camera that needs to be taped shut to prevent light leaks. Every image is vignetted, and may not be that sharp.) Here's an Instagram of mine from that day in class:

Caption: "'Holga day' in my Photo II class today. #film #filmphotography #filmisnotdead
#wellitskindadead #photography #kodak #fujifilm"

That project inspired me to get out my Holga for the first time in a few years. I brought it with to Duluth.

[click any image to enlarge]

Our camper cabin for 2 nights.


View of the St. Louis River from the Swinging Bridge.


After a hike down from Oldenburg’s Point.


My 5-year-old on a little cliff.


Lake Superior.


Pines and birches behind our cabin.


Pine forest.


On the Swinging Bridge.


A large rock (that my sons got wet) and the Swinging Bridge.


Near Thomson Dam.

Holga Project

My small Advanced Photo class at Hamline University (seen in this post) recently finished up a medium format Holga film project. Overall, they really didn't care for it. I don't think they liked all the steps involved in shooting film. They'd rather snap the shutter and check the LCD screen to at least have some sense of if the image turned out or not. Film made them too nervous. (And the whole process made me feel like a dinosaur.)

We did a simple diptych project with the Holgas. Here are a few pairings of their final photos, along with 2 other individual Holga images that just turned out well:

T. Schnell


L. Thao


E. Augsburger


C. Felton


J. Dammare