It was supposed to be 5 epic fails but I got lazy (la da dah la da dah)

4 -  Holga (Bulb Error) / 2 rolls

So the location of the shoot was at an expat’s mansion in Forbes Park, who by the way owns a Canon 7 rangefinder with the f/0.95 dream lens attached to it. Our model was a FHM vixen named Leslie. By the time I started shooting using the Holga, I noticed that the external flash was not firing. I checked the batteries and did a test flash and they were working fine. Then I remembered my usual mistake with the Holga, which was always leaving the switch in B mode, which should be in N mode. I was right about the switch, so there goes 2 fresh rolls of Fuji Reala.. although some shots turned out great like this one.

3 - Holga (Bulb Error) / 2 rolls

Dianne was a friend of mine from UST that happens to sell clothes online, this was around summer of 2007 back when people still use Multiply. We were supposed to shoot outdoor but the sudden downpour left us no choice but to shoot indoors, good thing the parking lot behind the soccer field was there. I was using the Holga with a Colorsplash flash, the flash was firing at the time but I had no idea that I left it on bulb mode until the shots came in. Good thing Fuji Astia was cheap back then so it was no biggie (around 40 per expired roll courtesy of the whitemumu aka Timmy).

3 - Hasselblad (Film Loading Error) / 2 rolls

It was the day of my thesis proposal at school, so I had to wait until my project presentation to be finished before I could join in the shoot. It was a joint collaboration with our friends from the Fashion Design course, who happen to be making waves at the local fashion scene now. Since it was a shoot for the school, we can borrow any photography equipment we wanted that was school property. It was a no brainer, I had to use the Hasselblad 501 CW just in case I finished early and join the shoot. By the time I arrived at the 6th floor they were already halfway, so we decided to change the location at the 14th floor which was empty at the time. I already used the Hasselblad camera a few months back for a assignment we did in CNCTPHO (concept photography) about still life. I loaded it with a Fuji Neopan Acros and started shooting, our model at the time was Amanda who looked perfect in her dress and makeup. Sad to say, by the time I had it developed at Well’s Photo the lady told me that it was a blank roll. It sucks though because we had a really talented team who created the dress and did the hair & make-up. Good thing that the Fuji Velvia roll was loaded right so I only had one roll with the Hasselblad. Someday I’ll buy that same Hasselblad camera we had in the school, someday.

1 - Holga (Bulb Error) / 10 rolls

Holy Week of 2007 we headed out to Caramoan. At the time it wasn’t that well known of a tourist attraction than it is now. Knowing that it was a trip to the beach, i opted not to bring my DSLR with me, instead I brought my film cameras. I had lots of films in my stash during those days, so I brought like 10 35mm rolls and 10 medium format rolls. Going there was already tiring enough but it was worth it. So I took photos all throughout the trip with both cameras by the time I was supposed have the films scanned the lady at Well’s told me that the medium format rolls were either super underexposed, blank or blurry. Turns out it was stuck on bulb mode all the time during the trip. There was still no Digiprint at the time so you can just imagine the cost of having it processed per roll then another additional fee for having it cross-processed, 10 rolls of film. It was an expensive mistake no doubt and I could just imagine how the images would turn out with the scenic views of Caramoan matched with some Velvia goodness. It was a week’s worth of school allowance haha. The fisheye shots turned out pretty great though.

The whole point of my post is that all of us make mistakes at the beginning. You can charge it to experience and learn more on how to avoid it. Hell, even for me who have been doing this since 2006 still make those newbie error until now. It doesn’t mean that doing it right for 1000 times will make 1001 error-free. So don’t be discouraged when you fuck up a roll of Agfa Vista with your film camera because all of us do at some point.

Care to share your epic fail film experience?