Using the all-plastic, totally manual, "toy" Holga camera, award-winning photographer, writer and yoga student and teacher Lou Chapman offers a collection that "transports the viewer to a dreamlike world where reality is reflected rather than accurately depicted." That's how the International Photography Hall of Fame described Chapman's work in announcing his solo exhibit there. The collection of images in this book expands on that exhibit.



A gate in Maui. A policeman in Madrid. A parking lot on the border in El Paso. The Roman Forum. Chapman's images reveal the energy of the moment, rather than present a realistic representation of the subject matter.



Someone using a Holga must manually advance each frame of film and set one of only two aperture settings, as well as guess at focusing. In work with the Holga camera, Chapman says he gets “a constant reminder that ultimately, I am not in control. I can only capture a reflection of what I think I see through the viewfinder.”