Toy camera vs. Digital Camera?

I have received several emails in the last few weeks about how I created the ‘effects’ and ‘light leak textures’ in my images, so to answer them all in a few quick notes: All the images you see on the site were created on film. Most using ‘toy cameras’. What is a toy camera? It’s a camera made of plastic, costing less then a few rolls of film. People ask me, if I work for one of the most cutting edge digital photography companies, and teach advanced photoshop to college students, why do I choose to create my images using a $19 Holga and 4 year old film?
I guess it would come down to the organic nature of the image.. while digitial photography has made tremendous progress over the last ten years, I see so many photographers spending hours in photoshop trying to create an organic look to their digital captures. Do you need a $5,000 camera, a big G5 and Photoshop to create a great image? Of course not..
Why struggle with photoshop filters and cheap effects, when you can simply grab a Holga, a $1 roll of 120 film and go shoot? My philosophy on images comes down to this: If you need to add effects, filters and embellishment to your image to make it better, then you didn’t start with a very good image.
Ya.. I admit it, I was the first person around to get a Nikon D200, its great for images of my family and my dog loves having her photo taken… but that’s about all it will ever be used for.