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Concept
Holga
Summary
The Holga is a medium format 120 film camera, made in Hong Kong, known for its low-fidelity aesthetic.
The Holga's low-cost construction and simple meniscus lens often yields pictures that display vignetting, blur, light leaks and other distortions. The camera's limitations have brought it a cult following among some photographers, and Holga photos have won awards and competitions in art and news photography. As of July 2017, the camera is in production after being unavailable for two years.
The Holga camera was designed by Lee Ting-mo in 1982. It first appeared in 1982 in British Hong Kong. At the time, 120 roll film in black-and-white was the most widely available film in neighbouring China. The Holga was intended to provide an inexpensive mass-market camera for the Chinese working class in order to record family portraits and events. However, the rapid adoption of the 35mm film format, due to new foreign camera and film imports, virtually eliminated the consumer market for 120 roll film in China. Seeking new markets, the manufacturer sought to distribute the Holga outside mainland China.
Within a few years after the Holga's introduction to foreign markets, some photographers began using the Holga for its surrealistic, impressionistic renderings of landscape, still life, portrait and especially street photography. These owners prized the Holga for its lack of precision, light leaks and inexpensive qualities, which enabled the photographer to concentrate on innovation and creative vision in place of increasingly expensive camera technology. In this respect, the Holga became the successor to the Diana and other toy cameras previously used in such work. A Holga photograph by photojournalist David Burnett of former vice-president Al Gore during a 2000 campaign appearance earned a top prize in a 2001 White House News Photographers' Association Eyes of History award ceremony.
Recently, the Holga has experienced renewed consumer interest outside China due to the increasing popularity of toy cameras and a continuing counterculture response to the increasing complexity of modern cameras.
Official source
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