Journal of A Melancholic
As a child my delight was to sit on the roof top
As an adult my neighbors thought me weird, sitting on my roof
so I took a camera with me
And they thought me a pervert on my roof with a camera
so I went to the park with my camera
And they thought me to be a stalker
so I only went out to photograph in the rain
And they assumed me to be challenged
so I only went out when people paid me to use my camera
And they thought me too expensive and quit calling
so now I go out disguised as an old man
with a little plastic camera wrapped in duct tape
And I no longer care what they think - I am alone again
with my thoughts, and the memory of that 10 year old
sitting on the roof top
Images on this site were realized with black and white film using
Holga and pinhole cameras. They were printed in a traditional
"wet" darkroom.
The Holga camera
Sometimes referred to as a toy camera, the Holga is a plastic film camera first introduced in China in the 1980s as an inexpensive mass-market camera. The Holga does not have a light meter and has a fixed shutter speed with “bulb” setting to hold the shutter open. The Holga can be challenging to use but the results are worth the effort. The natural vignetting and the softer focus of the plastic lens is a pleasant departure from ultra sharp modern lenses.