Big wheel

February 28, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

One of the Barcelona Christmas attractions was situated beside the marina and consisted of many more food and drink stands, plus attractions such as a large Ferris Wheel, which can be seen in both of today’s photos. There was a circus too, but I’ll post a picture of that on another day.

It’s been a somewhat sad day today. It was the last day for most of the people impacted by the wave of compulsory redundancies that hit our team after Christmas. There are still a couple of people here until the end of March, but I had to say goodbye to the others. I’m still in contact with most of them on social media, but it’s not the same as being able to reach out to them as part of the team.

I’m sure they will go on to better and brighter things, and I wish them every success, but I’m gonna miss them.

Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 20 December 2024

35mm · Film photography · Photography

El Caganer

February 27, 2025 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

My wife and I took a trip to Barcelona the weekend before Christmas. The main reason for the visit was to go see the festive markets, although this actually didn’t take up much of the three nights we were there.

The markets were nice enough, and importantly, different to those that we tend to get in the UK so there was some novelty in seeing different types of stalls. This being said, there was a lot of duplication in the stall types in the Barcelona Christmas Markets, with there being a lot of repetition of decorations, miniature nativity figurines and dioramas, and El Caganer figures.

The latter were something I’d not experienced before. El Caganer is roughly translated into English as “The Pooper” and is a peasant figure in traditional dress squatting down to poop (with a significant deposit made!). In Spanish Nativity scenes (which can be large dioramas depicting entire towns, rather than just the stable scene), the figure is positioned somewhere out of the way to be discovered (I expect it might be frowned upon to place him beside the manger…). While the original figure wears traditional garb, the tradition has also evolved to take account of the multitude of celebrities and mascots we have in modern times, and you can find pooping figures in the guise of almost anyone: pop stars, movie characters, videogame figures, royalty, politicians – including one stall which had a crapping Donald Trump complete with a bleeding ear from the assassination attempt! – and more. The range was certainly considerable and diverse!

You can browse a range of Caganer figurines at the official website even.

Today’s picture is of a Caganer stall at one of Barcelona’s Christmas Markets.

Something good that happened today…

I think I might rest this section of my daily blog. Not because it’s a bad idea – I fully intend to keep recognising the good things in my life – which is a good thing to do. But I’m considerate of the fact that sometimes they can maybe feel a little trivial to post about, so I think I’ll save these bits for when the “something good” is a bit more notable than my having eaten a nice pastie for lunch or something.

Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 21 December 2024

Digital · Photography

I’ve moved sites (well, sorta, sorta not…)

February 26, 2025 fishyfisharcade8 Comments

Yesterday I wrote about how I was upgrading my site and that I’d migrated all the posts, media, comments, and subscribers. That all went well, except for one thing…

My plan had been to upgrade my existing free WordPress site to the paid-for Personal tier, mostly to remove ads that visitors see, and also to take advantage of some of the additional features a paid site provides.

What I actually somehow managed to do was create a whole new site! While almost everything moved across ok, I soon realised that all my stats etc. were gone and I effectively had a brand new site, albeit fully populated with thousands of posts. I debated whether to just leave it like that – stats are not my primary reason for the site, far from it, and they’re not exactly earth-shattering in any case. But it niggled me somewhat that, even though all my previous content was there, it somehow felt like I was starting again at day one.

So, to cut a long story short, I cancelled the purchase of the new Personal site, re-directed all my subscribers back to the original free site, got a refund, and then did the upgrade properly. Now my pre-existing free site is correctly migrated onto the Personal plan level and all my stats are exactly as they should be. Next time I do something like this I’ll take more time to RTFM before clicking the button. 🙂

Hopefully, as a benefit, you should now be able to read this, plus any new and previous posts free from the scourge of adverts, and I can have a poke around the extra stuff I’m paying for to see if any of it is of use.

Following yesterday’s sunset, it feel’s appropriate to go with a sunrise for the launch of my new (although really mostly just the same old) blog.

Nikon D3200 & Nikkor 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6 DX.

Taken on 2 November 2018

Photography

I’m moving sites…

February 25, 2025 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

This blog post is a little bit different than usual. Let me explain…

I’ve decided to purchase a WordPress personal plan which will remove ads from my blog for readers and also provide me with some other features not available on the free version. At present all my existing site posts are being imported to the new site so fingers crossed that all goes well there. Once that has finished I’m hoping that anyone following my current blog will automatically be following the new version. I’m pretty sure that this will be the case, but fingers crossed!

I may also change the title of the blog too, although I’m not yet decided on that. The main reason is that there is another photographer from Sheffield going by the Steel City Snapper title, although they tend to post elsewhere (although I’m pretty certain I got the name first). They are quite prolific in promoting themselves locally though, which I don’t tend to do all that much, so changing the name of my blog might be a way to avoid any potential confusion down the line.

At the time of typing this, there are still over 5,000 posts and other bits and pieces still to transfer as part of the import process. It’ll probably take all night to finish.

I’m not sure what will happen with this post – I think it will miss out on the currently running import, so I’ll probably re-post it on the new site when it’s up and running.

Anyway, apropos of nothing, here’s a picture. As the sun sets on my free blog, I’ll prepare for the new one to be born. See you all on the other side, I hope!

Panasonic Lumix GX7

Taken on 20 September 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Backlit trees

February 24, 2025 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

I spotted these trees backlit by the autumn sunshine after dropping my son of at work. I don’t tend to take my camera out when doing this, but on this occasion I had a few frames of film still waiting to be shot so had it with me on the off-chance.

Something good that happened today…

Nothing particularly good happened. Nothing particularly bad happened. It’s been an average day.

I sometimes (often!) struggle to find something to write in this slot on the blog, especially if my mood is low – the things I use are often trivial – but in reality I have so much to be thankful for and, while I’m often unhappy about all manner of things, I am grateful for what I have. It’s good for me to recognise this.

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 11 November 2024

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Back before Christmas

February 23, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Early November in Sheffield, and the Christmas stalls were already present but not yet quite ready for the public, so they were still locked away by fences (in a festive shade of red, at least).

I like how the girl in the first picture is, at first glance, dressed in what looks like a Santa coat.

Something good that happened today…

I watched the second episode of the new period drama, A Thousand Blows, which started airing on Disney+ this afternoon. I watched the first episode last night and it quickly caught my attention and drew me in. It’s a fictional period drama that is based on actual characters in the underworld of Victorian London, following two new migrants, Hezekiah and Alec from Jamaica and how they become embroiled up in the escapades of The Forty Elephants, a real-life female criminal gang, and also bare-fist boxing (with a muscular Stephen Graham portraying boxer “Sugar” Goodson. It’s from Steven Knight, the man behind Peaky Blinders, and is similarly violent, but the characters are interesting, they are portrayed well by the cast, and the story has its hooks in me. Hopefully it will keep it up through the full six episodes.

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 10 November 2024

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Remembrance

February 22, 2025 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

In a perfect demonstration of the finger-on-the-pulse, timely nature of my blog, today’s pictures are of last year’s Remembrance event at Barker’s Pool in Sheffield which I photographed while I was in town on the 10th November. It was very busy and not really possible to get a good viewpoint amongst the crowds, but I particularly like the picture of the poppy seller, and the Kodak Ultramax has produced some nicely vibrant colours.

Something good that happened today…

I had planned to drive to Lincoln today but a poor night’s sleep meant I didn’t get up in time. Instead I drove into Sheffield city centre and then took a long hike up towards the Woodseats area before dropping down to Abbeydale Road and back into town again, where I wandered around further.

My plan was to try and finish off the remaining frames from the roll of Ilford HP5+ that I started shooting last weekend, but also (if possible) to finish the Kodak Gold that was loaded in the Kodak H35N half-frame camera that I received at Christmas from my generous Secret Santa. In the end, I achieved both goals and now have the HP5+ to develop, while the Gold has been posted off (along with a previously exposed roll of Lomo CN400) for processing at a lab. I’m not sure if there are any prize winners from the H35N as it was the first roll I’ve shot with it, so it was a bit of a test, but fingers crossed.

The walk was a good one and I recorded over 13,000 steps, so I treated myself to a latte and a (rather large) cinnamon bun in a cafe. I felt I’d earned the treat so it was very pleasant to take the weight off my feet for a while and enjoy the coffee and bun.

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 10 November 2024

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Tacos

February 21, 2025February 21, 2025 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

Something good that happened today…

I’m feeling pretty down today and was going to post this with no words at all, but that felt petty and childish. So the fact I’m making myself do so is a good thing, I guess, and better than being completely deflated.

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 10 November 2024

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Court House

February 20, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

This Court House building stands at Renishaw, Derbyshire. The building to the right and out of frame is the attached Constabulary. The property was up for sale a few years ago and the Sheffield Star website ahd an article showing what it looked like inside, with the former courtroom and even the jail cells converted to living accommodation. I presume it sold, and I read somewhere that there are plans to convert the building to apartments, but I saw no sign of that being the case when I made this picture.

Something good that happened today…

Have I already posted about having made a stew with dumplings for one of these? I think I might have. Anyway, we made another stew (with dumplings) today, and it was good also, and my belly is full.

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Portra 400. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 26 october 2024

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Tree like a torch

February 19, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I’m still months behind with posting pictures, so it’s still got a somewhat autumnal feel here on the blog, including today’s post of this strikingly coloured tree on the gradually-reverting-to-nature Renishaw Golf Course.

Something good that happened today…

A piece of work that I’ve been procrastinating over for the last few days suddenly took shape today. It’s not finished yet, but it’s in good shape now, so that’s good.