Jonkersey and his Holga: When Black & White Turns Out To Be Colorful

7

Jon, aka jonkersey, is a community member bringing us to a new analogue adventure. We discovered his work and his hand-colored Holga shots and we couldn't help but ask him why he didn't simply choose some Color Negative films.

Hi Jon! What's your story with photography? How did it start?

Hi, I've always had an interest in photography. When I was young I was often the family photographer on vacations. Later, I photographed my travels with Kodachrome and Ektachrome slide film. When I got older I decided to get more involved in photography. I took an Adult Education photography class at night and learned how to develop and print black and white film. Since then I have worked consistently on my own-making pictures. I turned half of my garage into a darkroom where I develop film and make prints.

What was your very first camera?

My first "real" camera, with adjustable f-stops and shutter speeds, was a Minolta SLR.

Why are you still doing film photography?

I still do film photography for a bunch of reasons. The main reason is that I love the process and I love the look. First, making the pictures and not knowing for sure how they turned out. Then, developing the film, making contact sheets, work prints and final prints. It's very satisfying. Plus, there's nothing like holding and looking at a nice photographic print!

And why are you here on our beloved Lomography website?

I'm on Lomography's website because I love the idea of a community of film photographers. I enjoy seeing what others are doing with film. There are always wonderful surprises and I like sharing my work with the Lomography community.

What's your favorite analogue and Lomography cameras?

My favorite analogue camera...that's a difficult question. I feature my Holga photographs on my Lomography site. Holga certainly are some of my favorites. I love the dreamy quality, the "Holga look". Sometimes photos can look too real and don't reflect the feeling of the scene photographed. Holgas are "feeling cameras". They get the mood of a scene. That said, I have a number of analogue cameras I enjoy working with and any one of them could be a favorite at any time.

Let's talk about the album On the Road. Can you tell us more about it?

When I travel I always carry two Holgas. I like the idea of making slightly different looking travel photos. The idea is to make the photos look like memories or dreams. With On the Road and Iberia before that, I focused on making photos of scenes that caught my eye in those places, at that time. They are everyday scenes, personal photos. It's a way of sharing how I see with other people.

I started doing hand-coloring not long after I started doing darkroom work. I like the unique look. People frequently ask "why don't you use color film?" The hand-colored look is different that any color process I know of. Even Photoshop can't reproduce the look. I like sitting at my desk and doodling with colors on black and white. Like darkroom work, it's satisfying. And, when I'm done I have a "one of a kind" photograph.

I use Ilford fiber based matt surfaced paper for the prints. I color them with Marshall's oil paints and pencils and Caran D'Ache Neopastels. The photos can take an hour to three hours to color depending on the complexity of the scene.

If you're interested, get a small starting kit from Marshall's or buy a few Caran D'Ache Neopastels and experiment. A matte or semi-matte surface paper is important. I've found that a pre-coating solution is helpful to spread the color, but not all hand-colorists use one. Marshall's sells a pre-coat too.I encourage you to try it! It's fun and it's a part of photo history!

Could you share with us your favorite one and explain why you've chosen this one in particular?

It's hard to pick a favorite. But, from On the Road I like the sepia toned photo made in Lagos, Portugal, I call "Flash". It's a guy with a flash of light going through the middle of his body. Why? It was totally spontaneous. He was moving very quickly. I turned and clicked and he was gone. It's classic toy camera - a happy accident! I also really like the one I call "Speedy Scooter" made in Granada, Spain. I enjoy street art and having the moving scooter in the frame makes the photo a little more dynamic. It's a fun street scene.

Any last words?

Whatever your camera choice: film, digital, phone, plastic, lens, no lens, the important thing is what you do with the camera. As we see on Lomography's website, photographers are making incredible photographs with all sorts of cameras. How do YOU see things?


All photographs in this article were used with Jon's permission. If you want to find out more about his work, check his Lomohome, his Website or his Instagram.

written by mpflawer on 2017-02-28 #people #holga #hand-coloring #hand-colored-photography

7 Comments

  1. wil6ka
    wil6ka ·

    fantastic shots by Jon!

  2. akula
    akula ·

    Brilliant.

  3. olivebk
    olivebk ·

    beautiful shots !

  4. fisheyemary
    fisheyemary ·

    Unique and brilliant!

  5. mpflawer
    mpflawer ·

    yes! @jonkersey is really talented :)

  6. lomodesbro
    lomodesbro ·

    One of a kind

  7. parig
    parig ·

    It was just an amazing post!! Those who wants to learn website development course do visit our website at www.easydigiacademy.com/courses/website-development-courses…

More Interesting Articles