The iPhone vs. the Holga

I originally posted this out on flickr in the Holga group on April 16.

I recently started to consistently use the camera in my cell phone so I thought I'd take a look at one of the most popular iPhone groups. With the proliferation of in-phone processing apps ( more than 150 are available in the iTunes store) I should not have been surprised by the popularity of the Holga treatment.

I looked at the first 20 pages or 600 images and here are my observations.

Holga treatment - 30%
Some processing - 62%
Polaroid treatment - 2%
Straight Photos - 38%

Holga Treatment - I counted square only
Some processing - Includes Holga, rectangular toy, cross processing, B&W conversions, Polaroid, HDR etc.
Polaroid - Shown with a Polaroid style border often with hand-printed legends

Being a toy camera user it never dawned on me to manipulate the photos taken using my cell phone. It seems I have to catch up with pop culture.

I think that it is very interesting that so many people love the Holga look. The thing is that many do not know what a Holga is or what one looks like. It is only name associated with a button pushed on their phone.

What happens when they walk into an Urban Outfitters and realize that the Holga is a real thing? I have a strong feeling that we’ll be seeing more Holgas on the street in the next year or two. I think this is a very positive thing.

That was two months ago. This afternoon I decided to go back and look at the flickr group again to see if there was any change in the number of modified photos. Looking at the first 600 photos the number of "straight" photos has dropped to 30%. The remainder are modified in some way. With the ease of creating and uploading these photos from the iPhone, toy and vintage camera looking photos are no longer a niche but is now firmly entranced into the mainstream.

Even with all of the faux photos, the popularity of the Holga is still growing, but not at the rate of its IPhone clones. Comparing the stats for flicker's "Holga" and "Photos Taken With An Apple iPhone" groups both are very large at more than 15,000 members. They are both within the top 1% of all flickr groups. They are very popular. Both groups are growing, ranked within the top 1% on flickr. The difference is that due to the proliferation of iPhones, the iPhone group is ranked at 30 of 16981 for growth while the Holga group is 181. There are a lot more faux photos being uploaded than real.

This is interesting for the all marketing types at the camera manufactures and marketing companies that import the products. I'm sure they are kicking themselves that they didn't private label an app so they could take advantage of the craze. They are doing their SWOT and competitive analysis trying to figure out how to adjust to the market change (there are opportunities for these manufacturers).

It's also important to lovers and users of toy cameras. We all have to differentiate our work from other photographers. "To find our own voice" is the cliché that is often used. The mainstream has discovered, can duplicate and loves the look of the Holga and toy cameras. The challenge for all of us is to produce photographs that rise above the norm and distinguish them, and the ideas behind them, from the mass of imitations.

Just another day.