Holga Workshop

My Holga photography workshop is your chance to try out the funky plastic camera that helped inspire Instagram. I provide the cameras, film, and instruction. No photography experience is necessary.

I will share the idiosyncrasies of using these fun 120 film cameras. The Holga has been one of my favorite cameras over the past decade I’ve been shooting film, and I’ve put hundreds of rolls through them. I will teach you what the camera can do and what the camera can’t do.

Simplicity is beautiful

The Holga may be simple, but this is a great creative tool and is my favorite camera. The Holga has only one shutter speed and two light settings, “sunny” and “not sunny”. The beauty of the Holga is its imperfections. Even the lens is made of plastic. Yet, despite a plastic lens, the images are surprisingly dreamy and beautiful. Even professional photographers are inspired to use the Holga to produce unique artistic photographs.

The more you use a Holga, the more you learn to embrace the beauty of its imperfections and sometimes unpredictable surprises. The Holga’s simplicity and aesthetics were in part the inspiration for Instagram’s square format and filters.

The annual celebration of “Holga Week” is held the first week of October.

Holga workshop details

I’ll provide instructions on using the camera, Its quirks, and its history. I’ll give you tips on exposure and film selection, plus tips on creating double and triple exposures. Then we will load some film and get out to take photos with a Holga. The workshop is limited to only 6 people to provide individual one-on-one learning.

Each student is provided the use of one of my Holga cameras as well as three rolls of film.