The humble Holga was my gateway drug to the world of film photography. I picked up my first plastic-fantastic Holga camera on a whim while traveling solo in Europe in the early spring of 2008. Looking back now, the rolls of film from that camera captured my formative years from just after graduation (into the “great” recession), my first job, college friends and Craigslist roommates, and reconnecting with my roots in LA. Lost, conspicuously, were film from that seminal Europe trip, when I accidentally exposed the roll from not rewinding properly. Lesson well-learned!

These photos from 2008-2012 were captured joyfully and impulsively, sometimes blurry and badly exposed; they reflect my love for photography without any of the snobbery of shooting with high-end equipment. Most of these faces I haven’t seen in real life since those years, but I’m grateful for the good times (and bad) that we shared.

In non-chronological order…