Sponsor Profile: Holga Jen

When I asked if anyone wanted to do a sponsorship on our.city.lights, Holga Jen was the first to jump on the opportunity. I’ve been following her blog and shop for awhile and was very flattered when she said she wanted in. I was instantly intrigued by her; after all, you have to be pretty good to have Holga in your name, is what I initially thought. I was so right, too. This is a great opportunity to profile her and I’m really grateful.
One of the most difficult skills with a Holga camera is lighting and self-portraits. She seems to exceed more and more with the combo of both skills in each post. I will also say that rarely do we see a photographer’s face, and even though she has enough merit on her own as a photographer, she is really beautiful. Sometimes our own selves can be the best at representing who we are with our skill, and she really is HolgaJen.

The Holga produces this dreamlike, nostalgic quality that I just love. The square format, vignetting and blur all work together and I am just completely in love with this look. The fact that I can get such unique photos from a very simple plastic manual camera blows my mind sometimes! It’s also liberating to just be able to shoot without worrying about a lot of technical details – I feel I’m able to express myself more through my work this way.

My “Once I Dreamed I Was” photo would be my choice. I took it last year while doing some self portraits and the way I was experimenting with my eyes, combined with how I had to hold and balance the camera at that angle produced this very odd photo. I was even amazed with the way it came out, and its definitely one of my favourite shots.

Since I shoot both nature/urban and self portraits, and sometimes other things, its hard to decide on just one photo. Aside from my “Once I Dreamed I Was” photo, I would probably choose this one, which is another of my favourites. I think it represents the holga look well, along with my experimental side.