About six months ago, in October 2022, I discovered the existence of Holga Week. I was really impressed with the images that artists were getting with this cheap toy camera and really wanted to participate. The only snag was, I didn’t have a Holga.
I started searching on OLX, a popular classified ad site in Portugal, and came across a nice black Holga 120N for 25€. By the end of November I owned my first Holga.
Around the same time Lomography was shipping their new version of Lomochrome Turquoise and the results online were spectacular. I was keen to try some myself and ordered a couple of rolls.
The November weather was perfect, sunny with clear blue skies, so I decided I’d ‘baptise’ the Holga with a roll of Lomochrome Turquoise. It was a bit of a gamble, but I figured that with a latitude of 100—400 ISO it would be ideal for the Holga.
I wandered out to my normal places for testing a new film/camera, and headed to the nearby village of Águas Boas, and used up about half of the film. I decided that I would use up the rest of the film in Aveiro, as I really wanted to see how it would work in ‘the city’.
Unfortunately, it took me another four months to get out, but finally the skies cleared and I boarded the train to Aveiro. I used up the rest of the roll around Aveiro, photographing the city views and the boats on the canals filled with tourists.
When I received the files from the lab I was amazed, both with the quality of the Holga and the colours of the images. I can’t really express how awesome Lomochrome Turquoise is, and I think the images speak for themselves. Turquoise is definitely a film stock I’m going to try again.
/ˈsnæp.ʃɒt/ 