There and back again

August 11, 2019August 11, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A couple of photos for today’s post, so chosen because they present a pair of images depicting the same location.

They both show the same country lane featured in my image posted yesterday, but about half-a-mile or so further along it’s length. At this point, the track decends into a gentle limestone valley and the route takes on a meander. The viewpoint from both sides of the small valley were very nice, although the light had broken through a little by the time I took the second image on the way up the other side, so that one has a lighter feel.

I’m not sure if the electricity pole detracts from the scene. It probably does if it was a traditional, nostalgic rural scene I was going for, but these poles and other pieces of infrastructure are a part of the landscape these days and, while maybe not as picturesque, no less man-made than the drystone walls that criss-cross the land.

What do you think? Do these sort of objects spoil or enhance a scene?

Minolta Hi-Matic G2 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 8 August 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A lane under a tree

August 10, 2019August 11, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A shot from a walk in the countryside near Eyam on Thursday morning. The trip was ostensibly for a recce of a location (as seen in this shot) and I took a bunch of photos on digital with the plan being, if they look ok, to come back in the autumn for an early morning picture with some colour on the tree.

I also had the Minolta Hi-Matic G2 with me as I’ve been running a roll of HP5+ through it to check it’s all ok prior to selling it on. It’s a nice little camera, but this is only the second time I’ve used it since I got it nearly three years ago, and it doesn’t really do anything that my Olympus Trip 35 doesn’t. The action on the advance lever is sweeeet though!.

I’m not sure if the battery in the camera is running low or if it’s the wrong voltage, but most of the shots came back a little underexposed. This, however, has resulted in some wonderfully gritty and atmospheric results that I’m really taken with. You will probably be seeing more of them over the coming days. 🙂

Minolta Hi-Matic G2 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 8 August 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Surrendering to the flowers

August 9, 2019August 11, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

There used to be dog shows in this field. They’d attract a sizeable crowd of participants and spectators and, while I never stopped to watch, I drove past and witnessed them often enought to recognise that they were a fairly regular occurrence.

Then a few years ago they just stopped. I don’t know why they ended (or even realised that they had at first) but it became apparent that the field was starting to become unkempt and, before long, the container in the mddle of the field that had contained the ramps, tunnels and other obstacles for the jogs to negotiate was opened to the elements. More recently it’s had sizeable chunks of its structure removed. The field seems to have a new lease of life where wildflowers are concerned though!

I posted about this this same location back in early 2018 too.

Minolta Hi-Matic G2 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 4 August 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Damflask

August 8, 2019September 4, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

This is another photo dating back to early 2017 and depicts Damflask reservoir to the north-east of Sheffield. It is one of a series of reservoirs in the Loxley Valley and tributaries, the others being Agden, Dale Dyke, and Strines.

Dale Dyke is notorious for having catastrophically burst in 1864, shortly after construction, flooding the valleys downstream and the city of Sheffield, resulting in 244 deaths.

Damflask reservoir is named after the village of the same name that was washed away by the Dale Dyke tragedy.

Olympus 35 RC & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 13 January 2017

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Flower display

August 7, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I got my OM-1 off the shelf the other week thinking that I haven’t used it for a while (since my holiday in Sorrento last summer, in fact) so I fired off a couple of shots just playing around and noticed that the mirror was staying up when the shutter was fired. I decided to investigate and discovered a partially used roll of Ektar still in the camera! Shutting the back as fast as possible, I quickly realised that this was the roll that I thought had gone missing at some point, clearly having forgotten that I’d loaded it on holiday and taken a few shots.

I decided that, given that the holiday shots were probably ruined, I might as well finish off the roll and see if I could resolve the shutter / mirror business. The same problem kept occuring intermittently, so I was sure that I was losing multiple frames – I’d have to wind on twice before the shutter would cock again – and expected them all to be blank.

What I actually ended up with was several frames that are badly out of focus where the camera had mis-fired in some fashion. All the other frames were ok, and even the holiday snaps hadn’t suffered much in the way of light-leak damage from the opened back (although most of them are nothing to write home about anyway). After removing the roll of film, I test fired the camera at multiple speeds, but couldn’t get it to re-occur. Loading a test film caused it to happen once or twice, but nothing like as much as before.

So I now have a roll of expired film in the camera to test it out properly. So far, fingers crossed, it’s been fine (12 shots in). Maybe the camera was sulking due to my inattention? 🙂

Here’s one of the shots from the roll of last year’s Ektar.

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Kodak Ektar.

Taken 3 August 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Record breaker

August 6, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

By the end of today this is likely to be my most viewed photograph on Flickr (in the fifteen years or so that I’ve had an account on there). It managed to get into Explore today and, while I’ve had quite a few photos in Explore before, I think this one is the closest to the top of the page I’ve ever had – it’s the 25th photo in Explore today. It’s far from the highest in terms of favourites though (it has 100 at the time of writing, although that’s still a huge amount compared to what most of my photos get – I usually get 10 to 20 faves on average).

That said, I’m not really someone who seeks faves and likes. I do feel good when I get them, but I don’t take photos for that reason, so it’s not a big deal if they don’t get heaps of attention. I might have mentioned this before, but it always seems to be the case that the photos that I really like, and which I think might deserve special attention, are rarely (if ever) the ones that get into Explore. It always seems to be something slightly random. It’s not to say I don’t think they’re good shots, but they’re not the ones I’d expect to get in there.

EDIT: In the time it’s taken me to write this, it’s now surpassed my previous most viewed image (this one, which had 15,614 views, should you be interested).

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Kodak Portra 400.

Taken on 17 June 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A man sat below a yellow wall

August 5, 2019August 5, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I guess that today must be “literal blog post title” day or something. In my head, at least.

This is what I assume to be a vacant lot in Barcelona, in the Gothic Quarter. The wall at the rear of the shot certaily has that “not intended for public view”-look about it, all rough concrete and clearly visible lines where the floors once stood.

Someone, however, has decided to paint it a bright yellow. It’s has a mustard tint to it in this Portra 400 photo, although I seem to remember it being more vivid at the time (this could be my brain frazzling out bad memories though). Whatever the case, I thought it was worth a photo, especially with the chap in the chair.

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Kodak Portra 400.

Taken on 17 June 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

In Plaça de Catalunya

August 4, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I’ve been out all day helping my son move house, so don’t really have the energy to write too much today, so here’s a shot from my trip to Barcelona back in June that I’d not done anything with until now. Normal, slightly more wordy posts will resume tomorrow. 🙂

Olympus OM-10, Cimko 28mm f/2.8 & Arista Edu 200.

Taken on 18 June 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

High Bradfield church

August 3, 2019August 3, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A bit of a dip into the archives for today’s picture, which was taken two and a half years ago. This is a re-scan of the negative and it’s been cropped a little ro remove an overly large amount of featureless sky. I’ve posted a few other shots from this same roll in the past, including this one, which was taken a little further down the hill.

The light on the day it was taken was very flat. There was a hint of mist, but it was more of a haze, and didn’t manage to convey much in the way of atmosphere unfortunately.

This was the first time I ever shot HP5+ in 135 format and, to be honest, I was really disappointed. The shot here isn’t too bad, but many of them were just a bit dull and lacking in contrast. Keeping on the honest theme, I now realise that it was more a combination of the conditions and my photography that led to the unhappiness with the results. HP5+ has since cemented itself as my go-to black and white film, and I love the stuff.

Olympus 35 RC & JCH Street Pan.

Taken on 13 January 2017

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Moored at the quay

August 2, 2019 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

Another photo taken at the canal basin in Sheffield. I took five or six shots here to finish off a roll of film still in the camera after my trip to Barcelona and I shot all of them with a red filter. The somewhat harsh tones add a grittiness to the images.