Helene “Eleni” Barrette has been traveling and living abroad for over 19 years and is originally from the Ottawa region in Canada.
I fell for her pinhole shots taken with a Pinholga and asked for a guest review. She said yes!

In her words:

“I’ve always been a fan of B&W. So much one can do with it, so many results
you can achieve. I like to be in control of the final result from the start.
B&W offers me that but color doesn’t.

“I’ve been using my PinHolga for a little over a year now. I’m far from being
an expert with it or in pinhole in general….but I love it. Since every
Holga is unique, I assume that every PinHolga has the same attribute.

“I’ve learned though that a pinhole camera is very wide angle so get really
close to your subject. When you think you are close enough, get closer!
Also, the most unusual the camera’s point-of-view, the more interesting the
photo. In my experience, what works best for me is 8 sec on a sunny day.
Then for other situation, I bracket, increasing by one f/stop at a time.
(8-16-32-64-128…)”

Favorite film? Kodak TRI-X girl, not others match it for me.

Top 3 cameras? Nikon FM2 (like to be in control!), Agfa Isolette (a 1940 something medium format camera.), PinHolga (obviously!)

Why analogue?

For me, I prefer the imperfections of films to the “perfection” of a digital
photograph. I dislike the artificial look of added textures and distress
look .

Ultimately, it’s a matter of choice. I much prefer to be in a traditional
darkroom than in front of a computer! Nothing like seeing a photo emerge in
the dev!

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