From A Ride - Holga...

[mtbbrian]

I was in Vegas over Thanksgiving and I had the opportunity to go for a ride and of course I took my Holga along.
I have been trying to do some bike stuff with it.
What do you think?
Brian

[Photo-John]

Sorry, Brian. This one isn't working for me. I don't get any sense of the place or action. The bike is too centered, I can't see the rider's face, and most of all - I don't think the Holga is contributing anything to the subject. When it works, the Holga's flaws becomes its strengths. In this case, I think they just make the picture soft and kinda boring.

I don't want to discourage you. I think you've picked a tough row to hoe. I've tried to take Holga photos of mountain biking and it just didn't work for me. You're a lot better with the Holga than I am - a lot better. But I think you're going to have to work really hard and experiment a lot more to find out how the Holga can compliment the subject of mountain biking. The first thing I'd do is be more careful with the compostition. I'm thinking you need to use the corners. I can't see a centered bike working in the square format. But a rider coming at me from one of the corners might work really well.

I also think that color can be a big problem with Holga photos. Sometimes it works. But in this case it just looks like bad color. I'd simplify your mtb Holga photos by just making them black and white. You need to figure out how to capture the subject and feeling before complicating it with color.

Uggghhh. That was a lot of criticism. I hope I had something encouraging in there. I was looking forward to seeing your Bootleg Canyon Holga photos. But this one just isn't doing a thing for me.

[mtbbrian]

I do believe that is the most you have ever said here in a long time John.
Thanks!
I am kind of torn with this one.

Here's another...

[Photo-John]

Brian-
I like this one better. It doesn't require a sense of motion and I think that the Holga contributes to a nostalgic pre-ride feel. I think this one also has a composition that's too center. I would have liked to see more foreground and less sky, moving the riders up into the top thrid of the image. I think that would have been a more interesting composition and maybe told us more about the trail conditions.

Keep working on these. Like I said before, I think shooting sports with a Holga is a really tough job. But I'd like to see you figure it out. I think it's got potential. Oh yeah - stick to black and white with the bike stuff for a while. Like I said - simplify.