Another photo of the Humber Bridge, and another affected by some unusual out of focus areas (this time the far river bank in the lower right of ther image). The good news is that I may have worked out the cause of these odd defects – I think it might be the yellow filter I’ve been using. The rationale behind this is that I’ve realised that the out-of-focus areas are only present in shots where I used the filter. All the others are either fine, or any OOF bits can be easily put down to camera movements.
The next thing will be to take some photographs without the filter. Hopefully these will be ok and I can move on and put this situation behind me (and also throw the filter in the bin – it was only a cheap one. Which I gues may be from where the problem stems…).
A couple of pictures from a recent trip to the Humber Bridge. For once I actually got nice conditions, with plenty of light and also an interesting sky, helped quite a lot by a yellow filter. I did have to hang around for awhile on occasion when the sun was obscured behind clouds, but I can’t really complain.
I’m happy with these two pictures but, again, there are issues with the focusing, with the far tower of the bridge being out of focus in both images, even though I’m pretty certain I checked it was ok before taking the picture. I’m wondering if it might be the way I use my loupe to focus and so I’ have’ve made some changes to this proces ready for my next 4×5 outing. Fingers crossed.
Another large format shot. And another with faults, this time some out of focus elements in the middle right of the frame. I’m not sure whether this might not just be a gust of wind blowing the power lines and trees about though. I’ve had similar issues with other shots however, including some I’ve just developed, so it could well be something else causing it. More (time consuming and tedious) trial and error work will no doubt be required. So far I have to say that it’s the promise of large format that is keeping me going rather than the actual process – 35mm and medium format are sooo much less faff!
Still, the problem in this picture is barely noticeable unless you start pixel peeping, and otherwise I like the picture. Maybe I should give myself a break. I used a yellow filter here which has really given the skies some nice contrast.
The last couple of medium format pictures from this year’s Sheffield Steam Rally, the first a late 60s Bedford coach, which reminds me a little of childhood daytrips with school, of on a working man”s club outing to the seaside (although this style of bus would have been dated by the time I was going on those).
And secondly, a hundred-year-old Triumph motorcycle. I’m not sure which model – either an SD or an R perhaps?
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE, & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed, home scanned, and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Well, after two-and-a-half-years, I’ve finally tested positive for covid-19. My wife too (although this will be her second time).
I’m not sure exactly where I picked it up, but the flight to Spain is probably a good bet, confined in an airplane for two-and-a-half hours, plus walking through two international airports would seem to increase the odds. That said, I might have just picked it up in the local shops. Who knows?
I first noticed the symptoms last Wednesday, a couple of days after we returned from our trip. Nothing severe, just a mild sensation at the back of my throat like there was something stuck there, maybe a bit of granola from my breakfast of something. I also had some achy muscles, but I was putting those down to all the hiking about I did in Malaga – especially a hike up a steep path to the castle – but they may well have been covid symptoms too.
By Thursday I was feeling worse and under the belief that I’d caught a summer cold. My muscles ached more and I was suffering from bouts of fever and chills although, again, nothing too severe. Friday and Saturday were similar, but paracetamol kept the worst of it at bay – a headache around the base of my skull being the most debilitating symptom. This morning my wife was feeling ill too and we pulled out some of the covid testing kits we still have at home. Almost instantly, both our tests showed two solid lines indicating infection.
I’m actually feeling quite a lot better today and haven’t needed any paracetamol, but I’m feeling somewhat pissed that my remaining annual leave – where I had quite a few things I’d hoped to do – has been blighted by illness and resulted in my doing little. It’s a public holiday tomorrow here in the UK and the weather currently looks nice so, if I don’t feel ill, I’m tempted to take a trip with my camera somewhere. It’ll be someplace outdoors and I’ll not be mixing with anyone, so it should be fine if I decide to go ahead.
It still makes me feel oddly guilty to be considering it though, even though there are pretty much zero restrictions regarding covid here in the UK anymore. Even people working in healthcare are allowed to go to work while infected in most circumstances, so a trip out somewhere by myself should be ok I guess.
Here are three more Sheffield Steam Rally pictures. 2023 was the first year the rally returned after three years away due to the pandemic.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE, & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed, home scanned, and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
A few pictures today of traction engines (and a wooden caravan) photographed at the Sheffield Steam Rally back in June.
I did a quick tally of how many negative I currently have waiting to be scanned today and it came as a bit of a shock. I currently have four rolls of colour 135 each with approx 38 frames on each, two rolls of colour 120 with 15 frames on each. On top of that I have four frames of large format sheet film to develop and scan, and also a roll of 120 HP5+ with 6 frames left to shoot before I develop and scan it. By my reckoning that will be 201 pictures to be scanned – a daunting prospect! Plus I still have three rolls of film that I’ve already scanned that have not been seen here in any shape yet! At least I won’t run out of stuff to publish on the blog any time soon…
Obviously not everything will be worth publishing, but I expect that I will be featuring more picture-heavy posts on here to avoid falling ever further behind, chronologically.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE, & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed, home scanned, and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
I returned from a long weekend in Spain yesterday, an anniversary trip to Malaga with my wife.
The trip was nice, although the weather was very hot and, on the last couple of days, humid too! I guess this is what we get for having gotten married in August and then expecting to take an anniversary trip to a warm county to coincide with the same time of year…
We enjoyed ourselves though, ate a lot of nice food, and took plenty of (somewhat hot and sticky) walks. Malaga was very busy while we were there as it was the final two days of the Feira de Malaga – an annual festival where there is lots of live music, entertainment, and thousands of people walking around the streets drinking Cartojal, a sweet wine from the region.
There will be lots of pictures to come from the trip – I’ve just sent off four full rolls of 35mm to be developed today, so that will be a lot of images to choose from!
I also shot quite a lot of digital pictures while there and thought I’d post a few of those today.
This post is all aerial shots taken from the plane on the way to Malage, and on the journey home to the UK. They are not likely to win any prizes, but though they might be ineteresting to post and have a bit of a theme to them.
A bit of detective work on Google maps has allowed me to identify the locations of the pictures, although some were obvious anyway and I knew what they were as we flew past. There are not may pictures from the outbound journey as the weather was pretty cloudy, so just the first three shots are from that flight.
Estacion de Cartama (about ten miles north of Malaga)
Santa Rosalina. Just a little south of the previous picture.
Real Guadalhorce Club de Golf. This is just north of Malaga airport and we were very close to touch down. I like that you can see tiny people playing golf.
On the flight home now. Looking east towards the city of Malaga. Roughly in the centre of the image is a small-looking hill. This is where the Castillo de Gibralfaro sits. We climbed to the top of this one day. It’s much higher than you might imaging from this distant view!
Climbing over the coast heading south over the Mediterranean before turning back north. Malaga to the east with the port visible.
Now heading north and looking west towards Malaga. The port is still visible, as is (jus!) the hill where the castle sits.
Heading inland now, Malaga no longer in sight. This agricultural valley lies to the east of Estacion de Carma, which can be seen in the middle of the frame.
Much higher now, with the town of Loja in the cetre of the image with the River Genil flowing through.
Another river, this time the River Guadalquivir, with the village of Villa del la Reina on its southern bank and the town of Andujar further distant.
We’re now flying east of Madrid. Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport can be seen centre right, and both football stadiums are also visible – Atletico Madrid’s most prominently right in the centre of the frame, but Real Madrid’s ground can also be seen in the full resolution shot.
Leaving Spain now and heading out over the Bay of Biscay and into France. The port of Bilbau is prominent at the bottom of the frame, and the city of Santander further to the west.
Over France just north of Saint Nazaire with Quiberon Bay visible in the frame. The window had some external frost on it for a while, so exuse the image quality.
The Sain Malo estuary is the prominent feature in this image.
The Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey sit topped with clouds out in the English Channel.
The northern tip of Normandy, with the port of Cherbourg in the distance. We would have been flying a few miles north of Utah Beach, one of the D-Day landing sites from WWII at this point.
And now we’re back over the United Kingdom (or England if yoy want to be specific), with the full expanse of the Isle of White in view.
A minute or two later, we’re over The Solent and about to fly over the British mainland.
The A1, one of the countries main north-south routes, is clearly visible here near the village of Willoughby on the Wolds.
Over East Leake. Not far to go now.
The final aerieal shot of the trip, with the village of Sutton Bonnington below. We touched down shortly after.
So, something a little different today. I hope you’ve enjoyed the virtual travellogue. 🙂
Ricoh GR III
Taken on 18 August 2023 (first three images) and 22 August 2023
Steel City Snapper photography 