So far, I’m having a riot with this stripped down photography and I intend to continue as long as my short attention span will allow. Until then, check out the photos:

It uses 120 film rolls, you can adjust the focusing distance and even the shutter aperture (f11, f16 and f22). Actually, it was this kind of manual control that made me decide to buy the camera. This and my girlfriend telling me non-stop that we really needed this camera and that she really wanted it. So I bought it for her and I hope she will let me use it!

We bought the camera at the FAV (Fira d’Antiguitats de Vic), which is antiques expo that takes place in Vic (Barcelona) every year at the end of august.

I can’t wait to shoot some film with this 100 year old camera that we just got.

I will also be posting some more test shots from my Retina as well as sending out 2 rolls of my 120mm film shot with my Yashica 635! Very excited to get those back!

I just ordered a battery for my Polaroid 320 but I wont have it until Late August early November… something to do with their manufacturer not sending it to them until mid August due to reasons i’m unaware of. I do have 2 Fuji instant black and white packs of film waiting to be tested though…I just need that battery!

There are sooo many other camera’s and film that need to be shot like my 2 Instamatic cameras, a brownie and a disk camera all with film and ready to go there is just so much to do around my house before the baby comes and I just haven’t had time…sigh…

In all honesty, it’s the best first lomo to get. It’s hardier than the action samplers (oh god, yes they are) and allows you to get familiar with using 120mm film like no other cam, except the Diana of course.

Lord knows it was painful every time for me to realise that no matter how delicately I handled these cameras, it was bound to get broken somewhere, so be ready to fork out dough for at least 2 Holgas in your lomo lifetime.

However, the results can be stunning as you can see here.

From sprocket mode to cross-processed or B&W grain, Holgas can give you a great start into the world of lomo. In fact, I might get another one myself soon as I haven’t been using it for 4 over years now.

Camera: Holga

Film: Kodak 120mm T-MAX B&W 100

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“…The Pinhole Hasselblad is a cardboard camera designed by Kelly Angood. What’s so intriguing about this cardboard creation isn’t just the fantastic retro detailing, it’s also the fact that it can take actual photographs on 120mm film.

If you want to create your very own Pinhole Hasselblad, a screen printed corrugated cardboard set comes complete with hand processed pinhole prints and a book to take you through the building process. Kelly Angood is releasing a downloadable print out version that will function with 35mm film.

The Pinhole Hasselblad is definitely one of the coolest functioning cardboard crafts to ever come about. It looks completely rad and the images that are produced have a wonderfully distinct characteristics that make for really creative photographs…” - Francis Tiangson

Holga 120N Kodak Portra VC 400

Now this is completely out of the box for me. You will see these photos and think, Evan didn’t take these…there’s no weathered wood and rusty metal.  Ever since I found Holga photography I saw the potential there was with this camera, it captures an image with such a special vintage quality. I set out from the begining wanting to use it artistically, I looked around Flickr and saw most people just using it for lomo snap shots and I wanted more from this chinese toy. I have not been disappointed with mine, it opened up a whole new world of photography for me. I have fallen in love with film and I now own a ton of vintage cameras that I shoot with. I have just gotten a very special one that I will unveil soon. But I digress…Once I understood the power of the Holga, I wanted to try a series of pin-up images. I have always like the visual appeal of the 1940′s pin-up, what can I say… I’m a photographer, but I’m a man too.

Holga 120N Kodak Portra VC 400

Luckily for me I have a beautiful fiance who is just a natural in front of the camera! I have to say these were a lot of fun to take and I was really happy with the results. The setup was simple, a black sheet backdrop set up with natural window light. I did a one second exposure for each shot. I guess a lot with the Holga on exposure time, I don’t ever meter for it. I have learned you get your best results with the Holga when you just shoot with your intuition, the camera seems to read your mind. Anyway, I know I’m not the first to employ the Holga for this type of photography, but I want to explore this genre some more…its just plain fun, lol. The Holga gave me exactly the look I had in my mind, the perfect blend of vintage film and burlesque atmosphere.

Here’s a few more shots from the hike along the north end of Monhegan Island.  I literally found this camera, but I love the photos that dirty little lo-fi spartus snaps.

What is the difference between toys and tools, play and work? Or is it all on a continuum? In our house, the kids have always had cameras in their hands. If I ever achieve my goal of scanning  years worth of family photos, the results will include plenty of pictures of each of my children looking back at me (or up in the sky, in Ben’s case) through a lens. Above is Evan, at about age four. He’s holding a rangefinder we used to own, and the image was printed and solarized in my school darkroom. Below: an image from last fall, roughly 10 years later, when Evan was a freshman in high school and a student in my photography class. We went out cameras to explore the ubiquitous kudzu; he used my meterless Rolleicord with 120mm Tri-X, and I photographed him with a Holga, using color negative film. The solarized black-and-white print harmonizes somehow with the unpredictable color of the Holga exposure. And in both cases, the moment fell into that pleasant middle ground that lies somewhere between work and play.

Last month, DC was hit by 52″ of snow over a period of just 3 days. I’ve never seen so much snow fall, having grown up in the Asia-Pacific region and DC winters not being typically snowy. The city shut down for a week and needless to say, I went stir crazy being cooped up inside my apartment. What better way to harness that energy than make some photographs? I decided to create portraits of my roommate using the gorgeous natural light streaming in through the windows. I wanted a contemplative, slightly melancholic, textured, and very monochromatic feel – sort of in the same vein as the (danse de) macabre series [see personal projects on my website]. Maybe I just miss the sunlight!

These are 35mm “polaroids” of the 120mm film I shot on a Hasselblad 501CM.

I ran out of 120mm Superia’s and I had no choice but to buy a few Slide Films from my sister and try the Cross – Processing thing… I’m not a fan though, but it’s worth a try…

From our recent Hongkong Trip, we went to Hongkong Disneyland.

I don’t know why I like shooting airplane wings. There’s nothing special with them, and its always the first shot whenever I bring my holga to a trip…

Another set from our recent Cebu Trip, Hilton Hotel Cebu.

Anyone up for a game of chess?

The Cebu version of Jeepney. I must say, It’s a little too small for me. It’s a knee-to-knee experience for me. Lol..

Hilton Hotel Cebu, Shuttle Bus.. Lol, it’s an airconditioned, pink colored jeepney. Lol..

That’s It.

What a beauty this is… Oh I so envy my sister, Venice Yuzon, for this! Check her photographs too.

This made me want a Rolleiflex!! If only there’s an affordable one out there!

It is currently on test roll. I can’t wait to see how it rocks!

i wonder too. colleague said next week possibly…. mm…

雪已經回家了嗎?? 我也想知道耶。但聽說下個星期可能會在來…. 嘿嘿…

To this:

This is my Aunt Donna as a young girl.

I’ve been playing around with papers and lights, and working with the editing to get these just right. I have a long way to go and tons of work ahead of me, but I’m having fun trying to perfect the system.
Here are a few more examples:

Dad thinks this one was taken by my Uncle John at Covenant Beach, a christian camp he went to in the 50′s, and where John met my mother. They dated before Mom dated my Dad.

My Uncle Dave. There are dozens of photos of him and Aunt Donna as very small children. Even some of Dave as a baby, and he just turned 60 this year, so that tells you how old these negatives are!

Turkey Bowl contenders 2009

Just for fun. The Turkey Bowl 2008

My brothers Josh and Zach and Brother in Law Josh actually played football in high school and know the game. The rest of us are total hacks, armchair quarterbacks and slow runners. I possess all three of those attributes. I was dubbed “the interception king” after 5 interceptions thrown. My brother Josh was quick to tell me that I have a negative passer rating. What do you expect from a photographer? 

There are three types of Turkey Bowl players 

1.Serious players. Keep score and passer ratings, run hard on each play. Spend the rest of Thanksgiving sore. Think about how to “win” next years bowl game. 

2.Partially serious but kind of silly. Kind of know the score and run slower, maybe skip a play or 2 here and there. Think to themselves “Maybe I’ll play next year, if I remember”. 

3. Completely silly no seriousness. Don’t care about the score, skip every other play. Laugh a lot and think about the hot chocolate that is coming. 

How do all three play together? The serious players play their own game and everyone else just runs around. 

I lead the 3′s. It irritates some people. They have to deal with it because without us there simply would not be enough people to justify playing the game. 

Our only spectator

Our only spectator was more interested in licking himself than watching a bunch of pathetic jokers chase a football around. 

Housemade hot chocolate

As the game concluded my lovely wife brought her special “housemade” hot chocolate. Milk, cinnamon, chocolate and other stuff. It was so good. And yes, those are single mugs, not two stacked up. What a woman! 

The football family

Suzy, to be fair, also watched us play football. That kid is the perfect blend of these two. What a cute little dude. 

Jane and Joe after the match

The sunglasses indicate just how sunny it was at the end of the game. Awesome. 

The home of Lawrence and Debra Smith. Thanksgiving Day 2009

We usually do two dinners on Thanksgiving. It is a major gut-buster. The Smiths at 1PM and the Balls at 4PM. Yowee 

Dinner at the Smith household

Just another perfect Thanksgiving meal. How did Bailey get the head of the table? Lily made it onto Sam’s lap. 

Sam and her Mother

Sam has heard for years that she inherited her Mothers beauty. Here is empirical evidence. Thank you Debra. 

A brief repose from the vigorous Barbie play

For a moment Lydia bit into a roll and Lily removed her pink jacket. 

Time for a photograph by your annoying Brother in Law

I’ve got the Smith girls in an uncomfortable spot. When I point the camera at them they are obliged to look their best. It could end up on my Blog, you know. 

The final diner at the kids table

When I was a kid I ate turkey on cheezy paper plates with breakable forks on a flimsy pea green card table at Thanksgiving. 

These kids eat on a sumptuous slab of exotic granite. Michael was compelled to eat his plate before he could scamper off with his cousins. 

Grace and Grandma

This is what Grandmas do. They read to the Grandkids. Grace is holding the blankie that Grandma made for her when she was born. The book is a scrapbook that Sally made for her parents full of photographs of their married life together. 

Mom and Dad finishing the table

My Dad was assigned pouring the water. My mom was assigned everything else. 

Faking not noticing

Jake, my Bro. does not do a very good job at pretending not to notice me. Josh is trying his hardest to help Jacob but unfortunately they are both poor actors. 

Kevin being jocular (ˈjä-kyə-lər: given to jesting: habitually jolly)

How did that kid lose her shirt? This was one wild Thanksgiving dinner.

I love the soft, dreamy results you can get from the combination of 120mm film and an old camera.  This Cresta II was only £2 from a car boot sale and is still marvellously sturdy despite being about 50 years old.

Sure, a digital camera is much more convenient in almost every way but you can’t beat the feel of analogue things – the ritual of loading real film, getting it processed and looking at the surprises printed on a 6″ square.  And you definitely can’t beat the analogue squelch of a Casiotone keyboard!

I promise we’ll shut up about Indietracks now.

The first one on the list is my favorite. The Holga 120N.

This plastic toy camera was given to me as a gift on Valentine’s Day. It is my favorite because of its simplicity, it is easy to use and of course it has sentimental value to me. It never leaves my camera bag. I love taking pictures with this camera outdoors when the sun is high up and bright, loaded with Fujifilm Superia 100ISO, and take colorful landscape pictures, like mountain top views, beaches, etc.  I don’t bother using this indoors, since it has a fixed shutterspeed of 125th of second, blurred, underexposed pictures is all I’m going to get.

I would love to try E-6 slide films with this camera, and have it properly processed to see the plastic lens’ performance and how capable it is. Cross processing is not my cup of tea. I’ve seen some cross processed shots, some are great, the colors are saturated, and gives pictures some kind of a fun, warm feeling to it, but yeah, I’m not much of a fan of it. I only use Fujifilm Superia 100ISO 120mm film, i like the saturation of colors and the overall tonality of it when used with this camera.

When used properly, i mean, properly focusing, using the right kind of film, and proper knowledge of exposure, with a little bit of creativity, it give amazing crappy pictures. LOL.

I love it. ‘Nuff said.

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The Nikon FM2n

This is my first Single Lens Reflex (SLR) Camera. I bought this a couple of months ago. It came with a Nikon 50mm F/1.8 Series E Lens.

I’ve taken so many pictures with this camera, and it has been my workhorse. I’m planning to get a new lens for it, a Nikkor 50mm F/1.4 AI-S maybe or a longer Nikkor 105mm F/2.5 AI-S to replace the Series E lens that is like glued to the body because I have no other lens to replace it. LOL. But looking at the bright side, I get to master one lens, and  I was able to produce great pictures with it.

It’s fairly easy to use once you get to know the camera. There are no White Balance settings here (of course, its a film camera), or exposure compensation knob (EV + or -) but just shutterspeed, aperture and ISO, i guess what i meant to say was, if you really want to learn photography, then you have to know the basics, and this camera is a great tool to master it.

This camera is built like a tank, and it looks great.

This camera gave me the best pictures of my life, and I think I have more pictures to take, more adventures to be shared, and more films to waste with this camera. I plan to keep using this camera until it dies, and when it dies, i plan to revive it, and use it again and again.

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Minolta Hi-Matic 7s Rangefinder

This is the latest addition to my gears. It is my first rangefinder, and I got it for free. I got this baby a few months ago, it was given to me by my uncle all the way from Canada. He said, he found it at some flee market 20 years ago, and rarely used it. It was sitting inside the closet until he learned that I’m into photography.

The fixed lens is wobbly. I plan to have it fixed and get it in tip top shape. I saw pictures taken from the Rokkor Lens, and it is amazingly sharp. I tested this camera, and found out that is still functioning, and no light leaks, thank goodness. I just have to get the lens fixed since the focusing is so bad, I only have a handful of properly focused shots in my test roll. LOL.

Cosmetically, its great, like it came out from the box, thats why i plan to get it running.

 I always refer to it as the Minolta Hi- [Proble] Matic 7s… LOL.

These are my cameras. And i love them all. I plan to add more in the future. Who knows, maybe I will get my hands on a Leica! LOL.

Today, I didn’t work out. I did errands! And worked at a local coffee shop. Kristy and I texted about missing NYC and the NYC scene we left behind. We’re having a reunion at the end of the month so I’m stoked. I’m not even going to bring my digital camera on this trip.

It is just me or did this month creep up on you? I can’t believe next month I’ll be on tour. There’s listening parties I’m planning, merch that has to be printed, and street teams that need to be organized! Anyways, here’s some old photos I promised. Hopefully, the next rolls I’ll be developing will be good ones. I accidentally exposed my black and white film to light, thinking it was the end of the roll. ugh!