bronica.

So my first round with the Holga was short and bitter. After two rolls of film that were nothing less than butchered I moved on to the Bronica, which loads the same 120 or 220 format films compatible with the Holga. The first roll I shot was highly underwhelming, I'm still in my adolescence when it comes to shooting film and need to establish trust in a new camera. The lens on the Bronica I used was 50mm (which translates into wide-angle on the Bronica) so my tendency on the next two rolls was to shoot landscape. 

The view finder shows a horizontally flipped image, making composition a confusing task at times, and it got to the point where I went with the flow when it came to framing, allowing some pictures to be dramatically off-kilter. This evolved into intentionally establishing lines in the frame that were straight but not horizontal or vertical as horizontal and vertical. A tilted frame can admittedly be obnoxious, especially when said frame is only slightly off, but sometimes the effect results in a perspective the eye would not have experienced were it not for said image. I was heeding advice to take risks, I wanted to do something interesting with each the sixteen frames on each roll shot for this project. The Bronica proved to be a fantastic camera, though I do wish it was square format. Square format has a distinct appeal and I was tempted to crop some of my images.

With regards to the Holga, I would like to get my hands on one that functions reliably and shoot a roll or two. I'm currently holding one roll of black and white 120 film that I have reserved for a functional Holga, I don't think the Holga has a place in my emulation project but after seeing some of the work that came out of the class's use of Holgas I will absolutely get some work in with that plastic camera.