Click on the camera for a larger view.

I found this Barbie Hollywood Star camera at a junk store. When I shook it, it rattled. Something was awry. But I wanted it anyway since you don't come across these very often. Brought it home and it sat on the shelf for a while until I got around to trying to figure out a way to give it some intrigue. It needed a good makeover. One day I took it off the shelf and opened it up. Just as I suspected, the capacitor for the flash had come loose. Hence, the rattling. There wasn't much left to solder it to and I wasn't much inclined to do that anyway...might break a nail or something... so I decided to make the Hollywood Star into a pinhole camera. It's now the Holeywood Star!

And she's got merit! This is the first 110 camera I've tried going pinhole with. Considering the small format, I gave her a really tight pinhole. I put a roll of Fuji film through her. Here's how it went down:

    I walked into the lab and said, "I shot a wedding this past weekend and I need these proofed right away!" Then I tossed the 110 cartridge onto the counter. We had a good laugh over the thought of being booked for a wedding, then showing up with only a Barbie camera ... wouldn't that be kind of funny? Kind of? So I went to Grocery Outlet to blow ten minutes. When I got back to the lab, the tech handed me the prints. I was thoroughly thrilled! Not only did the images "come out" (see "terms and definitions"), but I actually liked three of them! She told me there was no charge. I'm, like, "Why?" She said, "They didn't come out." I'm, like, "Yes they did." She said, "But they look like something my daughter would take." Her daughter is three years old. Now, I'm not going to argue over free, but I felt a bit of a let down. I'm thrilled and she thinks they didn't come out. It's kind of an analogy about my photographic vision in general.

The changeover to pinhole went well enough. I used a piece of black cardboard as the shutter. There just wasn't any other way I could see to do it. It's got a pink vinyl piece with velcro attached. The velcro makes long exposures easy. What once was the shutter button is now simply the film advance release button. Sometimes I have to squeeze the camera, just under the "rb" of "Barbie", so the gears don't pop.

Click on any image for a larger view:

Close up of hollow crab shell eye sockets.	Primroses.
Okay...it's a tire track on the beach and my dog in the background. See it?		Tree rings

The following is from a second roll:

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