Month: July 2023

4x5 Large Format · Film photography · Photography

Victoria Quays

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I’ve photographed the straddle wharf at Victoria Quays on many occasions, but this is the first on 4×5 large format.

I still need to learn more patience with the format as, although this is a picture I’m happy with, there’s still a little softness in the upper part of the image where the front-standard must have had a slight bit of tilt in play. It only affects the roofs of the buildings and the upper branches of the tree, and everything through the middle of the scene is sharp from edge to edge. It would have been preferable had the tilt been reversed and the softeness had affected the water, where it would have had little noticeable effect. The soft focus is only really noticeable at magnification and I doubt you can see it in the smaller res version published here.

I didn’t rush this picture (I have one that I did to show in the next day or so though, so don’t worry, you’re not missing out!), but I also didn’t spend enough time fine tuning the focus. I think I might consider buying a more powerful loupe – the 4x magnification model I have is very good, but perhaps a 6x would better ensure I don’t miss the detail?

Victoria Quays

Chamonix 045N-1. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+9 15mins 45secs @ 20°

Taken 8 July 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A church and a chapel

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A mere stones throw from one another, here are Cemetery Road Baptist Church and Lansdowne Chapel.

I’ve noticed that, in certain shots – and particularly when pointing the camera upwards – the blue skies in my pictures take on a deepr, almost petrol-blue tonality. While the sky does tend to be a deeper blue when you look towards the vertical, I’m not sure that explains this change in tonality that I sometimes get. I could probably fiddle with the colours during the edit, but I quite like the richness of it.

Cemetery Road Baptist Church
Lansdowne Chapel

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 20 May 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Framed by foliage

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I was going to title todays post “hiding in the bushes” but that just sounded creepy. Framed by Foliage sounds much nicer.

I guess the theme today – if four pictures can be said to constitute a “theme” – is my tendency to choose to frame subjects with vegetation, whether it be shrubs, flowers, trees, or all three. I notice that I do this a lot. I don’t know if it’s unusual or if everyone uses this particular device. Whatever the case, it’s one I use often.

The foliage in these images is rarely the subject, even if it sometimes takes up a lot of the frame, but it is still integral to the picture. All four pictures shown today would still work thout the framing, but they would be markedly different.

Salmon pink housing
Centrally secluded
Hotel
Manpower Services

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 20 May 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Underpass(es) and a dropped camera

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Or perhaps it’s “underpi”? 😉

Anyway, whatever the plural (and I expect there isn’t a collective noun), here are three photographs of underpasses. They’re all fairly close to one another – in fact, the latter two photos are in the same structure.

They felt like a good trio of pictures to publish together.

This whole roll of film had a sense of suspense about it. I took my Canon Sure Shot Supreme on an outing a couple of months back and decided to carry it in its case using the built-in belt strap. This was very convenient right up to the point where the strap came unglued and the camera fell onto a concrete floor (still inside the case, thankfully). The camera’s plastic shell became slightly misaligned and had to be popped back into shape, an a few little chips of plastic broke of around the shutter button. I was concerned about light leaks (so I filled the chip holes with a bit of black silicone), and also some sort of major damage to the mechanism or electronics. However, when I finished shooting to roll a few weeks later and got the negatives back they were all perfectly fine. So I still have a working Supreme, albeit now with a few battle scars.

Man in the underpass
Below Brutalism
In the midst

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 20 May 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Seeing red

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There is something that attracts me to photographing post boxes. It’s not hard to figure out – it’s the vivid red that does it. I photograph them in black and white sometimes too, but colour really works best.

This one dates back to the reign of King George, so would have been erected sometime between 1936 and 1952, when he died and new boxes tok on the ER markings denoting Queen Elizabeth II.

It also has a sticker on it advertising a march and rally seeking justice for the events that took place at the Battle of Orgreave during the miner’s strike in June 1984.

Red

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 20 May 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A place passed on a walk

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One of my primary means of taking photos is to just go for a walk somewhere promising and see what pictures present themselves. Even ordinary looking areas can usually turn up a wealth of subjects, particularly if the lighting or weather is agreeable for what you are seeking to achieve.

This is a photo (as, indeed, are most of the pictures I’ll be posting over the next few days) that was made this way. Just a place I walked past that looked like it would make a nice picture.

Hebblethwaites

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 20 May 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Sunny day street art

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On the wall of the Porter Cottage pub, this piece of street art looked great in the sunshine helped, I think, by the black brickwork.

I’m glad that this week has finished. I had two days out of the office, but the other three days felt like five day’s had been squeezed into them. I expect to be busy again next week, but at least I have no travel planned (thopugh maybe a day off on the Friday if I can squeeze it in…). Maybe I’ll be able to write more on the blog.

Black wall colour
Street art fragment

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 20 May 2023.

Digital

In the car park

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I’ve been out all day in London for a meeting today. I took my Ricoh with me and made a few pictures when I got opportunity. This one was taken in the car park this evening when I got back to my car. It’s just a support girder, but something about it appealed, as it sometimes does.

In the car park

Ricoh GR III
Taken 13 July 2023

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Green door

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A third day of little more than just a picture, I’m afraid. I’m so busy with work right not that I just don’t have the time or energy to think about writing anything. Hopefuly things will improve come the weekend.

Green door

Olympus Trip 35 & Fujifilm 200. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 20 May 2023.