Week #40 The Pinholga film swap adventure

Film swap between Moni and me

I didn’t take any pictures in week 39, so no post from that week. Week 40 was a fun photo week, but with a bad ending. Monica set up a Pinholga film swap project, and I was the first one to receive the Holga 120PC pinhole camera. She had shot a roll in the USA, re-rolled it and put it back in the camera. I had to shoot the second layer and have the roll developed. Then I shot a new roll, re-rolled and loaded it and sent the camera on to the next person.

When I got the camera from Moni, I had no idea what she had shot. I did know it was a colour film, and Moni thought she had sent me Kodak Portra 160. I thought it would be fun to go out in the dark, open the shutter and just walk around catching the street lights. My husband and I went out for dinner one night, and I put the camera in my bag. On the way back I shot the entire roll that way, moving the camera around and guesstimating exposure times. When I had it developed (it turned out to be Kodak Ektar), I noticed two things: I didn’t expose long enough, and something was wrong with some of Moni’s pics. Only half of her shots were actually exposed. My light experiments didn’t show as well as I had hoped.

From the same film swap. Only my part is showing.

I took the camera with me on a walk to shoot the second roll (Kodak Ektar), and did that in the Kralingen woods near my house. After re-rolling it I sent the camera to Diane, who was the next shooter. She shot her part in the USA and had the roll developed there. My exposures were ok, but hers didn’t show. We knew there was definitely something wrong with the camera. Diane sent the camera back to Moni, and it has been made redundant. Luckily, our friend Todd was willing to donate a 3D-printed camera to continue the project. That is now in the mail to me, and I can’t wait to take it out for a spin!

All from my film swap with Diane.

Btw, if you’re interested in taking part in the pinhole film swap project, you can get in touch through the website or the Facebook page.