Notes on staying inspired: try something new (or in this case old)

You may be feeling a little less than inspired to go out and shoot. It happens to all to all of us. Maybe you have been doing a lot of shooting and you're not happy with the way you're seeing, and it shows in your results. Maybe the stress of day-to-day life is getting in the way, and you're realizing that you're not having as much fun as you used to when you go out and shoot. There are a multitude of reasons for a lack of motivation and inspiration.

For a first post on what I expect to be many on the subject of inspiration my first recommendation is to try something new, which can also be something old: a film camera, and in this case a really cheap one.

Recently I purchased a Holga 120 Panoramic "toy" camera. If you're not familiar with Holgas, they are plastic film cameras and they are cheap and simple as cameras get. The camera is made of plastic and so is the lens. You can't choose a shutter speed (the camera only offers 1/100th of a second) and you have a choice of either f/8 or f/11 for your aperture. In addition, you have no focusing screen...you choose a focus range by guesstimating the distance to your subject and knowing what the focus range is for each of the focus range icons on the lens. You've probably seen these types of icons before, like a mountain range icon for a subject out at infinity. Here's what the Holga 120 Pan looks like:

(trust me when I say I get a lot of looks when shooting with this camera)

So why make this choice for inspiration? Here are my top reasons:

1. Film always makes you slow down a bit and spend more time looking. You're not rattling off images and looking at an LCD screen. In the case of the Holga Pan, with a 120 roll of film I have only six shots before the roll is gone. This would normally be 12 but Pano uses two times the normal frame. 
2. They don't call it a toy camera for nothing: Shooting with a Holga feels like play time and because of that you remember to have fun while you're out shooting. I always feel like I'm more creative when I'm relaxed, how about you?
3. Keeping it simple: just go out and shoot with this camera and nothing else. While it is bulkier than other Holgas, it's super light and you aren't taking multiple lenses with you. No other lenses and no zoom means you're moving yourself around to find the right composition, or quickly ruling out situations where you can't get the right composition. This is always a good exercise as you interact on a different level with the world you're shooting. 
4. That sense of anticipation: there is no immediate feedback...you just don't know if you really got the shot you hoped for. Why is this good? It's fun to wait for that moment when you get your film back. Fun is good. Fun is inspiring.

So give it a shot...add a Holga to your gear, or if you have an old film camera sitting around, order up some film and shoot with any old film camera. You'll be surprised to find what it does for your inspiration level and what it does to improve your photography regardless of the gear you're using. Think of it as a creative reset.

I send my film of to an outfit called Photoworks SF in San Francisco. They charge $7.00 to process a roll of 120 and they will even do a medium res scan of each image on the roll for an additional $7.00 (more for a set of high res scans). They will even email you a URL of your scans so you can download the scans before you get the roll of film back in the mail. Naturally, they do prints too.

Below are a few images I shot with the Holga 120 Pan in San Francisco, an outing which included a trip out to Alcatraz. There really is something about that film look!