I’ve talked many times in this blog about what happens if you take photos using the normal square insert, which gives you 12 images per roll of film, but only wind to match the “tall rectangular” insert spacing, which squashes in 16 images per roll of film. What happens is this. You take a full square image which takes a square spot on the film. Then you only wind enough to account for a tall, slender rectangle. You don’t wind past the edge of the square. Then, when you take the next image, you overlap on that square you already took.
You can do this by accident, or you can do this on purpose. If you do it on purpose, you can create cool images where each “square” is overlapped with the previous and next image by a portion. It creates a rolling timeline of your journey.
However, these overlaps can also reveal something else. They can reveal when you turn your camera 90 degrees, like you would tend to do with your traditional SLR to get a vertically oriented image.
I do this sometimes when I am aiming for a vertical lineup for the image and my instincts take over. Most of my photography is done with a traditional SLR camera – a Canon EOS 7D Mark II. That means most of my photography is done with a horizontally-oriented rectangle. If I want to get something with a vertical orientation, I just naturally tilt the camera 90 degrees. I don’t even think about it. I just do it.
But with a Holga, of course, it doesn’t matter (if you have the square insert in). It’s a square. A square is the same at regular orientation and at 90 orientation. So that makes it pretty funny to me when I realize I’ve turned the camera 90 degrees in order to get a shot.
You can see that here.
Photo by Lisa Shea
This image was taken in Key West, Florida, of a Key West Trolley. I’ve visited Key West many times over the years and love it there. I’ve even set a number of my books there. There’s just something about the laid back atmosphere and, of course, the chickens. I love the chickens.
But I still have to smile when I see I took this photo at an angle. Because, of course, it didn’t matter one whit. It was still a square.
This was taken with Kodak Portra 400 Pro ISO 400 Color film.
This film was developed at https://oldschoolphotolab.com/
To learn more about how the insert matches up with the film counter setting: