For over three and a half years now, I’ve been living just a few blocks from the world famous Space Needle (if you point the webcam to -45º you can see my apartment just left of center). Everyday I’m lucky enough to see something that symbolizes the great city of Seattle, and also one of the most iconic structures in the entire country.

So with that being said, I thought I’d dig up some Holgas I’ve taken over the recent past of this needle of space, as a reminder to myself to not take this beautiful thing for granted. Because I’m sure I have. My eyes have probably passed over some bit of its 605 feet and not a thought ran through my head about how incredible it is, or how lucky I am to view such a massive piece of art day in and day out. Here’s to being lucky.

View fullsize

While visiting Cannon Beach, OR over the summer, I took these three shots of Haystack Rock, then somehow forgot about them. And being that you only get twelve images out of a single roll of 120 film, you’d think that would be pretty hard to do. Well I did, so now I’m trying to right my wrong and give these photos some recognition. Enjoy!

View fullsize

In my book, anything that’s described as a monolith is pretty cool. And anything that appeared in the movie The Goonies, is also pretty cool. Therefore, Haystack Rock is pretty cool. Take that Arthur Fonzarelli.

View fullsize

You may notice the title to this photo is Haystack Rock Holga No.3. Yes, that is indeed the world famous Haystack Rock near the coastal town of Cannon Beach, OR. And it was indeed taken through the plastic lens of a Holga medium format camera on Kodak Professional 120 Portra 400VC film. But, “No.3” you say? “Where are the other two?” Well, tune in tomorrow you’ll find out.

As for this photo, if you look closely you’ll notice little purple-ish red specks in the sky. Those are actually kites, and there were a ton of people flying them up and down the beach. Never before did I feel such a strong urge to buy, rent or build a kite, or even attach a sting to a seagull. Anything to make use of the constant winds coming off the mighty Pacific.

To help my friend, Laura Haithcock (a.k.a. Birdie Royale), in her bid for the Mad Men Casting Call, I volunteered my photography services with her submission. We even broke out theHolga to help aid in the look and feel department. Luckily, Laura does a pretty good job herself of looking like she just stepped out of the 1960s. She definitely made my job that much easier.

If you haven’t seen the Mad Men Casting Call, it’s a pretty cool promotion for the show. Check it out and be sure to vote for Laura. She’d be a great fit for the cast. And not only does she look the part, she’s even a seasoned ad veteran. Plus, they wouldn’t even need to run her through wardrobe. And if you need more convincing, take a look through the extra shots from our shoot.

As promised, here are some more images captured through that magical plastic lens of the Holga. These exposures come to us from a few locations from around the Pacific Northwest. Namely the Oregon coast, beautiful downtown Portland, OR and finally the remote beaches of Olympic National Park, along the Washington coast.

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of shooting with my Holga.  Its pure simplicity can’t be beat, and the beauty of film can't be denied. The more popular digital photography gets, the more rewarding it is to shoot film. So with that in mind, hopefully it won’t be long until I can expose a few more rolls and post some more.

View fullsize

Keep your eyes open for some new Holga shots coming along soon. Here’s a little taste of something that was hiding out on the hard drive.

As we speak, exposures are being prepped to take a swim in the developer, a quick dip in the stop bath and then finally soak in the fixer. It’s always an exciting time because you never really know what the end result will be. It’s one the beautiful things about film and it gets amplified even more through that magical plastic lens.

Back in September I was lucky enough to receive a medium format Holga for my birthday. Now after a few months of toying around, I finally finished shooting a roll and got it developed. It was fun shooting with such a simple camera (and not just through a lame point-n-shoot) and it got me back into using film. You might as well make the most out of your trip to get it developed, right?

The real story here should be about how difficult it is to get film developed these days. In only a few short years of digital photography taking over, photofinishers have taken quite the hit. Many places have gone out of business and have also resorted to sending film out to a central processing center in a far away land. Thinking about it just makes me sad.

Luckily, there are a few good places left. I ended up taking mine to Moon Photo Lab in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood. The owner Bob Mullins, even stayed 15 minuted after they closed just so I could pick up my order after I got off work. He’s a hell of a guy and he’ll definitely get more of my business in the future.