I Took My Holga Down to the Homer Boat Harbor

Fall time in the Homer Small Boat Harbor with my dog Turtle. Homer, Alaska.

The Holga crappy plastic film camera has a sort of cult following. It’s been a staple in art kid backpacks for generations now, and for pretty good reason. It’s cheap construction, simple lens, and penchant for producing unique images with vignetting, light leaks, and soft focus lends itself to the artsy fartsy side of photography. You never really know what you’re going to get, and that’s the fun of it.

The camera’s plastic construction even feels like you’re holding a toy, and in turn I find myself taking my photography a lot less serious, taking more chances, and often being surprised by the images that come out the other side. Does every shot come out perfect? No. Not even close. Some of them aren’t even usable (Although that’s not really the camera’s fault. It’s simple make means that if you hear the shutter “click” then it took the photo. The rest is up to you.), but the vast majority of the frames seem to have a lot of beauty in their imperfections.

How I Built a Darkroom in Rural Alaska for $37

I turned my spare bathroom into a photographic darkroom. My wife is super thrilled about it…

Ever since I moved to Homer, Alaska in 2017 I’ve dreamed of having something like a community darkroom to print my mediocre film photographs and waste away long winter hours. Homer is a pretty artsy town, and I think there might be enough interest to keep something like that going on a small scale.

Well, this winter I took the first steps to hopefully making that dream a reality — I built a darkroom in our spare bathroom at home. It took me about 2 weeks to track down everything I needed, and thanks to a couple of generous donations I spent a total of about $37 putting everything together.

Attempting to Develop 20-Year-Old Disposable Cameras (And Kind of Actually Succeeding)

A 22-year-old photo of a girl drinking a Diet Dr. Pepper.

So my mom texted me a couple of weeks ago and said she found some old rolls of film in a drawer and was mailing them to me. “Maybe you can develop it and see what you get.” Sure, I thought, why not? I had a small clutch of color film I was getting ready to home develop, so I’d just add these to the back of the batch and see.

A few days later here comes the mail with 5 old disposable cameras packed in. I’d never developed disposables before and wasn’t sure what was inside (turns out they’re just normal film canisters. Who knew?). Of the lot, four of the cameras were spooled with 800 ISO film, and one was 400-speed. All were Kodak except one was a CVS-branded canister, so still probably Kodak.

First Friday: Photographs at Grace Ridge Brewing in Homer, Alaska

Pot fishing for grey cod in Kachemak Bay, Alaska. Photo by Clay Duda.
Pot fishing for grey cod in Kachemak Bay, Alaska.

I’m excited to announce that I will have a selection of photographic prints on display for the month of February at Grace Ridge Brewing, 870 Smoky Bay Way in Homer, Alaska. The exhibition kicks off with a “First Friday” opener on Feb. 3, 5-7 p.m.

Appalachian-inspired brooms crafted by Willow Q. Jones will also be on display.

I Call This One “Boy with Areca Palm”

“Boy with Areca Palm.” 2022. Photo by Clay Duda.

I freaking love photographing this kid. My son is 2 1/2 months old in these photos and he makes taking good photographs pretty easy. Plus it’s rewarding as a parent and all that good stuff.

Here he is with an Areca Palm, a plant that wishes it lived in Hawaii and not Alaska this winter. My son might think that too, but so far he seems to like the snow.