Little details

August 21, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Today’s photograph was very much spur-of-the moment with the only real intent being to frame the lady in the pink top in front of the dark doorway. I managed to do this without chopping off the top of the streetlight, which was nice. The thing I like best about the picture though – an I don’t know why – it the lone Costa Coffee cup stood on the floor. It’s a tiny detail in the photograph and yet it makes it much better somehow. Or maybe it’s just me?

The Olympus Trip 35 did another stirling job of catching the composition sharply and correctly exposed.

Olympus Trip 35 & Kodak Colorplus. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 18 July 2022.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Grand Central

August 20, 2022 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

Grand Central is the shopping centre located above New Street railway staion in the centre of Birmingham. It used to be known as The Pallisades following a redevelopment in the 1980s and, before that, simply Birmingham Shopping Centre when it first opened in the early 1970s.

The ameneties radiate out in various directions with a variety of retail and dining establishments present, but the area in the tow phots here is the main atrium where access to the railway station is present.

Olympus Trip 35 & Kodak Colorplus. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 18 July 2022.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Joke shop

August 19, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

This joke shop in Scarborough has been there for a long time, since 1996 in fact. I only discovered this today and it came as a bit of a surprise as, if I’d been pressed, I’d have said it had been there for much longer. I was certain that it was there when I used to visit the town on coach trips back in the 1970s and 80s, but apparently not. Maybe there was another joke shop there (or close by) before that, or perhaps I’d just gotten my memories in a twist soewhere along the way.

The yellow and red of the shop frontage have popped nicely on the Colorplus film, despite the day being somewhat dull and overcast. It’s certainly fared better than the Portra 800 I shot under similar conditions (of which you will see some results in the coming week or so).

Olympus Trip 35 & Kodak Colorplus. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 28 July 2022.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Fish & chips

August 18, 2022September 4, 2022 fishyfisharcade5 Comments

This is where my wife and I got some lunch when we visited Scarborough at the end of July. We’ve always used another chippy on past visits – the Lifeboat Chippy – further down this road at the bottom of the hill as they do very nice fish and chips, but as we were already halfway up the hill when lunchtime arrived, and as we were walking in the opposite direction to the other shop, we decided to give this one a go. We didn’t have any chips as we’d had breakfast sandwiches earlier at the start of the journey and were still feeling a little full, so both of us opted for fish only. The fish was pretty good and I managed to eat it without being attacked by gulls!

Olympus Trip 35 & Kodak Colorplus. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 28 July 2022.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Keeping the British end up

August 17, 2022September 4, 2022 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

So said James Bond at the end of The Spy Who Loved Me. I too am “keeping the British end up” at present, although in the somewhat less pleasurable sense of elevating my broken ankle (at the end of my British leg…) rather than Bond’s double-entendre allusion to a bit of hanky panky in a submarine escape pod.

Unfortunately, in order to type up these blog posts I need to sit at my computer with my foot on the floor (although I am tring to figure out if there’s any way to raise it while I work, even if for a short period). This quickly results in a dull ache starting in my ankle and it soon starts to look noticably more swollen. Luckily for me, my posts rarely stretch further than a few paragraphs, so I will suffer the twenty minutes or so it takes for my art.

I’m off work at present as there’s no effective way for me to keep the ankle raised at my office desk, but I’m hoping it might have recovered sufficiently for me to return next week, even if I need to take breaks. This is the first sick time I’ve had in years and I feel oddly guilty about it, probably because the reason is due to injury rather than actually feeling unwell.

Here’s a picture completely unrelated to what I’ve written above because, well, I suppose I have to post a picture in my so-called photography blog. 🙂

Olympus Trip 35 & Kodak Colorplus. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 18 July 2022.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A different point of view through the Olympus Trip 35

August 16, 2022September 4, 2022 fishyfisharcade10 Comments

A few days ago I posted another photo made at this same location. I was over to the right of the church for that one though, so it was completely out of frame with just the modern high-rise structure rising above the trees. I like this new shotfor the contrast between the two styles of architecture. That original image was shot with my Olympus 35 RC, this one with my Trip 35.

One thing that has struck me while looking at the photos from this roll of Kodak Colorplus is just how nice the lens is on the Olympus Trip 35. It’s a camera I’ve neglected – not having shot mine for a number of years – and then using it’s younger, more compact (and, for me, more recently acquired) sibling, the Olympus XA3 when I wanted a straightforward zone-focus point and shoot experience. The XA3 is a great little camera – truly pocketable – with a sharp lens, but I think the lens on the Trip 35 surpasses it. It’s amazingly sharp and doesn’t vignette either (which the XA3’s lens does to some degree). I shall have to ensure it gets more regular exercise from now on.

Olympus Trip 35 & Kodak Colorplus. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 18 July 2022.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Inbetween

August 15, 2022September 4, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I was going to post different photos and maybe write a longer piece today but my broken ankle is aching and I don’t want to be sat at the PC any longer than I have to.

The picture I’ve chosen instead was taken while walking to the railway station about a month ago on one of the hottest days the country has ever faced (since records began, at least). The following day was even hotter, breaking the aforementioned records in more than one location.

The day was already very hot even at the time I made this picture, sometime between 7 and 8am, but the scene caught my eye and so I stopped momentarily to take the shot.

Olympus Trip 35 & Kodak Colorplus. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 18 July 2022.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Exploring the unexplorable

August 14, 2022 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

A few days ago, after I’d broken my ankle, I wondered if I might need to ration out the photos I upload given that I might not be able to go out and make more for a few weeks. As a result I uploaded some photos that I might have otherwise left on my hard drive. One of the photos was the one published here today.

For some bizarre reason, it’s managed to be selcted for Flickr’s Explore selection. I posted about my thoughts on which of my pictures are selected for Explore in this post a few weeks ago. My thoughts on this picture are much the same. I generally post a lot of photos to Flickr and yet it always seems to be the ones that are what I’d consider less sucessfull that seem to be picked to go into Explore. Perhaps it’s just mye eye? Maybe everyone else sees this as some sort of masterpiece of subject, light and composition? I suspect not though, and it’s just that the Flickr Explore algorithm is inscrutable.

Holga 120N & Fomapan 100. Adox Adonal 1+100 18mins @ 20°.

Taken on 9 July 2022

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

All Saint’s on the Holga

August 13, 2022 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

Another set of photo’s of All Saint’s Chapel at Steetley. These were all taken on the same visit when I shot some pictures with my Olympus 35 RC. If I had to choose, despite liking black and white photos , I think that in this case the colour images are the better set. That’s not to say I don’t like these, but I don’t think they hang together as cohesively. Some of the individual frames are also identical compositions to the 35 RC shots but, again, don’t really work as well I don’t think.

The Holga is a great camera and one which I usually really enjoy my results from, but I don’t think this set is amongst the better ones. I’m sure I will do better next time.

Holga 120N & Fomapan 100. Adox Adonal 1+100 18mins @ 20°.

Taken on 9 July 2022

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Open spaces in urban places

August 12, 2022August 12, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Walking through Birmingham a couple of months ago, I passed through this open space on the way to my destination. The modern tower rearing up above the treeline was quite striking, I thought, so I made the picture. It’s got several layers to it: the foreground grass, the people, the trees, and then the rising architecture beyond, which I though looked interesting.