We photographers spend a small fortune on the latest digital cameras to get the ultimate quality possible – yet I love a simple £10 toy camera called a Holga! It has quite a cult following. Its cheap plastic lens creates a very soft image, low in contrast and distorting the colours. Somehow this gives the images instant appeal. And it's just wonderful using film in this digital age.
This is Prague station and I love the maze of the criss-crossing rail tracks. Look closely and there is a splash of orange from a railway worker helping to draw the eye to the centre of the image.
The camera is prone to light leaks, hence the slight magenta discolouration at the edges of this shot of the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn in Prague. I love this unpredictability that can bring an extra dimension to a photo. You don’t know quite what you’ve caught until the film is developed. The treatment perfectly suits the muted colours of this scene.
Here’s another, of the Municipal House building, that I took on the same trip to Prague. Again the image is soft with muted colours and the light leaks onto the film have added some interesting border effects. I framed the shot with the curved part of a bus stop in the top corner, to give the image an additional element and mirror the building's wonderful arch. The Municipal House also has a superb art deco interior and is well worth a visit.
And another taken at Canary Wharf. The camera gives a square format on 120 roll film - I love square images, sadly something we see less and less of with digital capture.
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