The Holga camera. Plastic body, plastic shutter, plastic lens, plastic button. Plastic fantastic. A camera so basic that it comes with a roll of electrical tape, incase you need to seal off light-leaks. So basic, it is categorized as a toy. Yet it was designed to take professional format 120 roll film. The same medium-format film that the pros are loading into their Hasselblads and Rolleis.

The plastic lens is known for soft / fuzzy focus. The shutter is not connected to the film advance, so you can take multiple exposures – intentionally or by mistake. Focusing is achieved through luck and guesswork. The shutter has just one speed. The aperture alleges to have two settings (sunny and cloudy) but I’ve taken it apart and find that there’s really just one setting. I’ve covered up the viewfinder so I won’t accidentally use it – it doesn’t seem to have any purpose really.

This is not a camera to do serious shooting with. This is not a camera you fiddle and tinker with to get every shot just perfect. This is a camera you snap away with, whatever catches your eye, try and remember to wind it, or don’t, or don’t let it bother you. Try and remember to focus, or not. Really, just try and remember to have fun.

Here’s some frames from my first roll – as usual, just shot around the house & backyard. At least two of the double-exposures were accidental, at least one was intentional, and I can’t remember any details more than that.

The photos were taken using a roll of B&W Lomography film, ISO 100. The Lomographic Society won’t say where the film comes from, who makes it, etc. so nobody knows what the correct processing chemistry is. I processed it in Kodak T-Max because that is what I use for everything.

I think I gave it 7 minutes but next time I’ll try 6 minutes.

I remember back in high school, I think it was grade 10, when the science teacher banned me from doing experiments. Whomever I was partnered with, got to play with the chemicals and I had to take the notes. It seemed terribly unfair, although it probably saved the school some money and agravation.

Though I maintain to this day that it wasn’t my fault — the textbooks simply should not ask “What do you think will happen if you…?” unless it’s something they realize you might try. After all, it’s science! Empirical data beats speculation hands-down. Why wonder what might happen, when you have the vial in your hand and the beaker on the desk? Just find out!

But I digress.

Having recently got my hands on some chemicals for developing black and white film, and having some colour film laying around, I decided I wanted to find out just how ‘well’ the two would mix. I’ve read that you can process colour negs with b&w chemicals, but I’ve also read that it’s tricky and takes a lot of trial and error to make it go.

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Some of my friends and family have expressed surprise that I am getting so much enjoyment from my aquarium, and specifically from a couple snails and some fish. Without over-analyzing things, I figured I’d put a bit of thought into how to explain why I find them to be a compelling passtime.

Panoramic view of my 23 gallon aquarium.

For one thing, I’ve always found moving water to be relaxing. Just the sound of it, the sense of it in the air. I read somewhere that moving water ionizes the air, which is why it feels so fresh after it rains, and why it feels so good around a waterfall.

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Dropping everything to leave the office at 3:00pm on a Friday afternoon, while announcing to your co-workers:

I must leave you now. I’m needed on my home planet.

Recently, a friend of mine got herself a new car – a Rav4. I’ve been driving a Rav now for about 7 years. I love my Rav, but as with all things, the excitement wears off after a while and it’s not new any more.

When I first got my Rav in 2001, I was all over it, and scouring the internet for Rav4 related websites. Then, in 2005, the lease ran out and I did the lease buyout thing. It was a great deal, since I don’t drive much and had looked after the car – I basically got a ‘brand new’ Rav4 for a fraction of the price. Anyhow, so in 2005 I got the ‘new car’ excitement all over again, and went back to those websites and read up again on the new details and info and stuff that had come out.

So back to now – with my friend getting a Rav, it’s got me excited again for her, and that’s made me excited for my own Rav, and once again I’m doing the reading and surfing and whatnot. Maybe I’ll get around to some photos of my ride, but not till after its been washed

In the meantime, here’s a link to the best Rav4 forum / site that there is. Check it out!

It’s not all wine and fine dining – there’s still laser fun going on around here!

Here are three more movies, of baloons and the lasers that burst them.

Pulsar Blowing Green and Black Baloons

Pulsar Blowing White Baloon through Electrical Tape

Greenie Blowing White Baloon and Match