Manneqins and Men's Toilets

I was recently given a Holga Micro, a tiny 110 camera that's about half the size of a Mars Bar. As the name suggests, it's a point-n-shoot plastic number with a single f-stop (f/8) and shutter speed (1/125 sec). It's so basic that the film cartridge doubles as the camera back and child-sized fingers are a distinct operational advantage.

Sceptical, I took it for a spin downtown to my favourite junk store, which has the most fantastic mannequins. I love that the girl-next-door one has pendulous boobs and is totally naked.

I’m also a fan of mind-boggling, yet telling juxtapositions. Aboriginal art decorating the wall of a public toilet? I walk past this beautiful mural most days and only just realised what its location suggests about the status of Aborigines in Australian society.

Shown together, these images tell another story, but I might leave a narrative about fake naked women and men’s toilets up to your imagination!

Despite the Holga Micro’s obvious limitations, I was impressed that most of my shots were well exposed and thrilled to get a handful I loved from a 24 exposure film (I’ll put the others up soon).

As you can see, this camera doesn't vignette like its big sister, but it does have other creative advantages. The yellow emulsion and frame numbers of the Ferrania Sakura film are super cool. The 110 format is only available in print film these days, but I created the cross-processed look by scanning the negative on the Fuji NPS 160 6x6 profile in SilverFast.