This is Holy Trinity church at Wentworth. The church was built by William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam in the latter part of the 19th century, and consecrated on 31 July 1877. It’s quite an imposing building, its steeple visible from miles around. I remember the first time I saw it years ago, viewed from the road to Hoyland to the north, and feeling my gaze drawn to the structure, a huge spike pointing to the heavens, and thinking that it felt like the location from an M.R. James ghost story.
The GW690 is something of a beast of a camera – it didn’t get the nickname of The Texas Leica because it’s compact, that’s for sure. As a result it canbe quite an awkward camera to use, despite its otherwise simple set of controls. I find it quite difficult to hold in portrait orientation and most of my missed shots, where there has been a degree of camera shake, have been when taking pictures this way. The camera has a second shutter release button on the front of the body to aid in taking portrait format photos, but I still tend to generate more of a wobble when using it even like this.
Thankfully the portrait oriented pictures I took on this day in Wentworth have all come out ok with the exception of one.
Fujica GW690 & Fomapan 400. Shot at 200asa and developed at box speed by lab (in Xtol).
A couple more photos from Wentworth today and, let’s face it, there will be a few more day’s worth of Wentworth photos yet to come given that I shot three rolls of film there. All GW690 though, so not that many in total really.
The first one required crackerjack timing (c.f. Jack Burton) to avoid any of the frequently passing vehicles getting in the shot, but I’m not sure if I should maybe have cropped the right side a little. It was composed this way deliberately to avoid the clutter of parked cars and stuff further down the road to the left, but it feels a little unbalanced as a result..
I made a big pan of chicken and bacon soup earlier today to satiate my current need for a soft diet. The soup looked great when ready, and then I had to blitz it in the blender to get rid of any chunks. It looks nowhere near as nice now but, thankfully, it still tastes great. I had a huge bowl of it for my tea and feel pretty full now!
Fujica GW690 & Fomapan 400. Shot at 200asa and developed at box speed by lab (in Xtol).
Yesterday’s trip to the dentist resulted in, as I expected, the removal of one of my teeth – an upper back molar. The experience was not a pleasant one. It didn’t hurt at all and, so far, I’ve suffered no real post-extraction pain either. The lack of pain does not remove the other sensations resulting from having a tooth removed however. I’ll not go into details here as people might not want the gruesome breakdown, but suffice it to say that it is a highly uncomfortable physical experience even without pain.
I’m now stuck with a diet of soft or liquid foods for a while, so I’ll be having soup shortly, and had porridge for my breakfast and scrambled eggs for lunch. No hot drinks for a few days either, and even my soup will have to be left to cool before I awkwardly eat it while trying not to get any in the tooth socket. This is more to protect the healing of the extraction site than because it will cause pain, I think. I’ll also start a regime of saline rinses after I eat today and will need to carry on with those for the next week or more. At least it being on the upper jaw means that gravity works to prevent stuff getting stuck in there a little
Hopefully the infection that caused my trip in the first place has gone with the tooth though.
Enough horrible dentistry stuff, so here’s a photo of Wentworth post office, cast in some quite significant contrasty shadow by the light and the film I used. It took me a number of attempts to get this shot as cars kept pulling up in front on a frequent basis.
Fujica GW690 & Fomapan 400. Shot at 200asa and developed at box speed by lab (in Xtol).
Another GW690 photo from my recent walk around Wentworth. I’m posting early today as I have a dentist appointment later which might (probably will!) involve a tooth extraction, and I’m not sure whether I’ll feel like writing anything after that.
Fujica GW690 & Fomapan 400. Shot at 200asa and developed at box speed by lab (in Xtol).
There is a rabbit lurking in this picture of a cottage.
The photo was taken on a visit to the picturesque village of Wentworth, South Yorkshire, which I visited a couple of weeks ago. I got quite a few photos I’m happy with. This is a good thing as I was shooting my GW690 which only gives 8 shots per roll of 120 film, and I shot three rolls. It probably costs the best part of £1 per shot, maybe even more in this case as I had a couple of rolls lab developed as I didn’t have time to do them myself.
I bought the GW690 over a year ago and I haven’t used it all that much – probably due to the limitations of only having 8 shots per roll rather than the cost, as it means I need to take a few rolls with me in the event that I find lots of things to photograph. It does take very nice pictures when used correctly though, and I hope to use it more this year.
Fujica GW690 & Fomapan 400. Shot at 200asa and developed at box speed by lab (in Xtol).
Papa’s has been featured on the blog before, back in 2019. It’s one of those subjects that presents itself as a great photo opportunity, with lots of detail and interest, set against the backdrop of the beach and sea beyond. I had fish and chips the day I visited when making the previous post. I had fish and chips again on this occasion, but it was much colder this time around so instead of eating them on the pier, I walked back to my car parked a short distance away on the promenade and ate them while I sat and looked out at the incoming tide.
There is something comforting about eating in the car like this. It reminds me of when, as a child, we would sometimes drive to a place named Sandilands not far from Mablethorpe in my grandparent’s car. My grandma would always stay in the car, but grandad would come down on the beach with us (us being some variant of my sister, my cousins, and myself) where we would collect the big white pebbles that were scattered around, and which my grandad placed on the ground around the base of their caravan as decoration. When it got cold, we would go back to the car and eat snacks and watch as the sea came in.
Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-S 0mm f/1.8 & Ilford Delta 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°. / Olympus XA3 and Kodak Colorplus (expired 2012 and shot at 100asa)
Along the promenade at Cleethorpes I passed these two rubbish “bins”. One, south of the pier, jauntily named “Hammy the Haddock” (although Hammy sounds more like a pig’s name). The other, to the north of the pier didn’t have a name that I noticed, but as it’s a repressentation of our planet, I assume it’s called “Earth”.
It’s possible that there may be more of these designs further down the promenade to the south, but I didn’t walk much beyond Hammy on this visit. They are nicely designed pieces of functional street furniture and I can easily imaging children (and even adults) being excited to put their rubbish into either one rather than dropping it on the ground.
It’s contents might not be as edible as Pizza Hut’s… But who knows? Has anywone done a comparison. I mean, wooden frames and cloth seats might not sound as good as a hawaian or a meat-feast, but perhaps it’s a yet-to-be-discovered delicacy?
Enough of this nonsense!
It’s quite a simple picture, just a shed stood in the sunshine, it’s deckchair innards waiting patiently for the warmer weather and the visitors it will bring. I like it’s simplicity though, just an angular block of white painted planks with the winter sunshine adding some nice contrast. Of the three photos I loaded to Flickr today, this one got the least likes so far, but it’s the one I like best. There’s no accounting for my taste I guess…
The big wheel that stands on Cleethorpes beach has features in a number of photos on the blog recently, often in the distance. Today there a couple of closer shots.
The obvious thing to note about the structure is that the seats have been removed while the ride is closed over the winter months. Without these though it presents a cleaner profile against the blank backdrop of the blue sky day.
Steel City Snapper photography 