Beholga Surry Hills

One way street to scaffoldings

I've gone from no job to two jobs in a short space of time - oops? Means I'm now suitably busy, which is good, and suitably financially viable, which is better, but I've lost my leisurely time for creativity. So I'm having to be creative in the gaps!

One of my new jobs is in Surry Hills, in the seedier part down near Central. I'm loving the area - houses from the 1890s and the 1970s rubbing shoulders, back alleys full of tailors and garbage, little fashion wholesalers rubbing shoulders with odd little private colleges (one of which I'm working at).

Matchbox taxi house, Foveaux St

I happened to have a 'new' Holga that I bought in a flea market in Tokyo, so to test it out, I took it on a wander through the neighbourhood one grey weekday lunchtime. And I really like the results.

This particular camera is even more dubious than most Holgas. It has a flash built in, but it came with batteries installed, and the gods only know how many years they'd been there. Certainly long enough to leak, and crystallise acids all over the inside (and parts of the outside) of the camera. Oops. So the flash doesn't work. And the exposures seem permanently set on 16 per roll, rather than my preferred 12, so no square Holga photos for me. Still, the shutter opens and closes, so I popped a roll of colour film in there, and these photos are what resulted.

Surry Hills and the dreamy lack-of-focus of the Holga are a good match, I think. I'm enjoying the distancing effect of the fuzzy focus, and the softness of the lens. It suits the transitional nature of the area. I'm finding myself looking forward to working more there, if only for my lunchtime finds.

Next step is to clear the last of the acid out of the camera, and see if I can get the flash working for the next lot of images.

Skyline & broken windows

There are a few more images in the gallery for the Surry Hills Beholga series - and I certainly plan on adding to it. I may even start Beholgas for other areas - what do you think?