Laura Burlton's Dreamy Photos

I was excited to see who won the Holgapalooza Photography Contest this year, and immediately started seeking out the winners' work. The most striking to me was Laura Burlton's Holga photographs of children, mostly photographed in front of fairytale-themed chalk backgrounds. The result is some kind of childhood-fantasy-dreamland with just enough a hint of something-short-of-creepiness. I mean that as a compliment. The photos evoke that unnameable feeling of remembering childhood, where your memories are more like pictures, or fragments of dreams.

All above images ©Laura Burlton

Jeff Soderquist, our first toyeur (well, besides me.)

Let's give a warm Toyeur welcome to our very first toyeur, Jeff Soderquist! Jeff had a pretty great collection of Holga shots just laying around in his Flickr account and was kind enough to share them with us all. It's enough to make you want to go out and grab a case of Portra, right?

Pink Tulip Field
Holga 120 with Kodak Portra 400 film
©Jeff Soderquist

Grass Blades (Original artwork by John Fleming)
Holga 120 with Kodak 400 Tmax film
©Jeff Soderquist

2010 Darrington Kickball Classic - 1
Holga 120 with Kodak Portra 400 film
©Jeff Soderquist

"Learn as I go photographer living in Seattle. I have been dabbling with photography for about a year and a half. Landscape and street photography are my primary focus, but am becoming increasingly interested in photographing food. I love the Holga120 for its simplistic unpredictability. It forces me to rethink the way I photograph the world, getting closer to my subject matter, becoming obsessed with available light (cause the Holga needs a lot of it), hoping my next click of the shutter will be that one magical photograph I’ve been dreaming of."

-Jeff Soderquist

Taking submissions

While Toyeur.com is in the works, I'd like to start showcasing some of the amazing works on film shot with plastic cameras that I know are out there. I only have two rules: It must be shot on a "toy" camera, and it must be on film. If you have questions about whether your camera fits in the "toy" category, just message me and we'll discuss. We're working on the honor system here, so please be respectful.

Please submit 3 or 4 JPEGs to sarahemckinney@gmail.com along with a short bio and info about what camera and films were used and I'll start posting!

Toyeur on Twitter and Facebook

©Sarah McKinney 2010

I'm gearing up for the design and launch of Toyeur.com with the help of the wonderful John Reed. More photos to come in the mean time. Keep watching!