Greetings from Jim Zver,
Two of my early Holga camera* photographs, Hollywood Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard (backlit) are being used on the set of the ABC comedy/drama, This is Us, starring, among others, Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia.
Los Angeles is studded with Art Deco buildings but I particularly noticed the one on these photographs because it was on a section of Hollywood Boulevard that had seen better days and it stood out as a bit of 1930s Hollywood glamor in stark contrast to its shabby surroundings. It was on a route I often took so I had occasion to see it at every time of the day and in all kinds of lighting and weather. These photographs are two of many I took over several years.
Hand Colored Holga Camera Photographs
The Holga camera is a simple and inexpensive Chinese camera. It uses 2 ¼” x 2 ¼” film but has a low-quality lens and few adjustments for light conditions or focus. These low-tech qualities and limitations are what has drawn many photographers and artists to it. I have been using mine for over 20 years.
Several years ago I discovered a way to bypass the darkroom when working with Holga negatives and it has opened up and renewed my interest in the camera. This is how I arrive at my hand colored prints:
- When the film is developed, I scan the negatives I want to work with into my computer and make them into JPGs.
- These JPGs are then spotted for dust, adjusted for light and density and cropped to the desired size.
- I then make an 8” x 10” print of this corrected negative on mat paper.
- I color this print with Marshall’s photo pencils. This hand colored print is then scanned, opened in my computer and I make a JPG of the scanned hand-colored print.
- I spot this JPG for dust, adjust the color and make a final JPG from this scanned image. This JPG is then printed on larger paper, usually, 8” x 10” or 8” x 12”.
This is the final, printed version of the photograph.
