A long time ago I bought a Holga 120 medium format camera and was really looking forward to the fruits of my labour. Making the cheap plastic case light-tight with the roll of supplied electrical tape was fun, and the basic settings and coloured flash each suggested this would be a fun photographic experiment.
The truth was somewhat different - medium format film was a bit more expensive than 35 mm and it seemed I couldn't just drop it into anywhere to be developed. Plus of course there was the expense and waiting that is associated with developing a roll of film. I don't mind that in itself but I'd rather spend that money on developing a film used in a quality medium format camera.
As a result I never gelled with the Holga and so was really pleased when I discovered the Hipstamatic app for my iPhone as a viable alternative. I still get tempted to pull out the Holga and I get a little bit giddy when I find one of those hipster style camera shops that sell all sorts of weird and wonderful but overpriced analogue equipment and a flash gun that Weegee would be proud of, but it doesn't take long to remind myself that Hipstamatic is more than capable to delivering the results I'm after in a much more flexible way.
Embracing social media, Hipstamatic also run a site called Oggl, to which Hipstamtic photos can be posted. There is also an Oggl app that can be used as the camera though my preference is to use Hipstamatic.
Links to both Hipstamatic and Oggl apps on iTunes are at the bottom of this page.
