In November I spent a few days in Venice, Italy and captured a few images on my trusty Holga. I absolutely love black and white film and equally love architecture (it’s a little known fact that I was an Architecture/Interior Design major back in my undergrad days!) Here are a few of my favorites:

A shot taken on my Holga while hiking the trail that connects the five villages that comprise the Cinque Terre, Italy.

When I was in Italy for the Jose Villa workshop, Jose surprised the attendees with a half-day trip to Florence. There was only one catch. We could only bring one camera and one lens. For a digital wedding photographer who fires off thousands, THOUSANDS of shots in a matter of hours, with an arsenal of lenses…this is kinda a big deal. The day before the surprise trip to Florence I was the winner of a drawing amongst the workshop attendees and I received a fabulous little Holga, which I happen to have no experience operating. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the camera, it’s rudimentary to say the least. Being in Italy, of course I wanted to bring my trusty 5D MkII to capture every moment in Florence, but Jose encouraged me to challenge myself and step outside my comfort zone.

So, I boarded a train to Florence with only a plastic Holga in my bag. (Bonus- it felt really good to travel light for once!) Shooting film really forced me to slow down and think about each and every shot. After all, I only had a 3 rolls of film with 12 exposures each! After returning home, I sent my film off to the lab and anxiously awaited the results. Today, Fedex finally knocked on my door and presented me with a rather large box full of images. To say I felt like a kid on Christmas morning is an understatement. It was so exciting to tear into the box…you kind of forget the moments that were captured. And, to hold tangible prints…ahhh, such an amazing feeling! So here are just a few of my favs, no editing, no fuss, just beautiful film:

My friend Mireen rocking her Holga too!

This artist surprised our group by speaking Swedish with my friend Alicia



A shot from atop the bell tower of the Duomo…and an experience I will NEVER forget thanks to
Mireen, Alicia and my roommate Jyll!