Digital · Photography

In Mahon

Another quick post this evening as my son and daughter-in-law have been to visit and have only just left.

So, a digital photo I took when we took a trip to Mahon while we were in Menorca. There’s something vaguely Richard Scarry-esque about it. I feel. Maybe Gold Bug is hiding in the scene somewhere. 🙂

In Mahon

Ricoh GR III

Taken on 30 September 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Fire!

Photojournalism isn’t something I tend to do. It’s not that often that I’m at the scene of something interesting enough to be classified as such.

However, on this occasion, I was. I posted about the events of this day way back on the 16th August (the day I witnessed the events), and here’s a recap of the bit in question (it happened after I’d been shooting some medium format pictures around the old mills in Halifax)…

After shooting a couple of rolls of film I decided to go find a cafe and get a drink and, as I was walking through the town centre, I noticed a police car besides which an agitated looking man and woman were speaking to an officer and gesturing to the building behind them – a jewelry shop occupied the ground floor, and above were another three floors of unknown use. I heard to woman talk about a fire, and what sounded like there being a gas cylinder in the room. Within a minute smoke had begun to emerge from a first floor window. More police arrived and started to make people retreat from the scene, saying there was a danger of explosion. Some people were still approaching the scene and were told in no uncertain terms to “get back!”.

Soon a huge amount of smoke began to emerge from the windows, reeking of whatever was burning in there, for a short period reducing visibility down the entire street, and the orange glow of flickering flames could be seen behind the smoky glass. Shortly afterwards a fire-engine turned up and soon a fireman was spraying water through the first floor windows. After a few minutes of this, the smoke started to diminish and more fire-officers entered the jewelry shop on the ground floor, having to rip open a security shutter to gain access. After watching for a while longer (and having taken a few photographs) it seemed like everything was under control and I decided to move on and find the cafe I was looking for.

There’s a short video of the blaze here and a story on the fire here. Thankfully no one was hurt.

Fire!
Fire!

Olympus 35 RC on Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 16 August 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Central Garage

I’ve driven past this garage / petrol station loads of times and always think it will make a nice picture. I know that “gas stations” are a massive cliche in photography, but this one has a certain charm. It’s an old-fashioned looking place, with its window full of spares, and slightly dated-looking fuel pumps (although they could be the latest spec for all I know – I didn’t look at them closely, and my knowledge on such things is limited). And on this morning I got the chance to take a photograph.

I still think it deserves a better picture though, maybe on 6×9 medium format, or even on large format. It’s a case of choosing the right time when the light is nice and in the best position.

Central Garage

Olympus 35 RC on Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 8 August 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Around Hull in colour

I’m getting quite a large backlog of photos again, so I’m going to post my remaining Hull photographs here in a single post. It’s a mixed bag of subjects, illustrative of the way I tend to photograph things, which is to pick a location, and then just explore, making pictures of the things I find interesting along the way.

These shots are posted in chronological order, so maybe with some filling in of the gaps, someone might be able to work out the approximate route taken.

The first shot is of the back of the Princes Quay shopping centre (in the background is the car park where we left the car for the day). I liked the light and the slightly futuristic architecture, like someones re-imagining of the old TV show and movie, Logan’s Run.

The back of Princes Quay

The next shot is of a house I walked past. Again, the sunlight falling on it made it look nice, but it has an interesting architecture, with balconies and verandahs. The green hedge, black metal fence, and splashes of colourful flowers also drew my eye.

House with a balcony

Next, a couple of pictures taken around the marina. In the first, I think it’s was the boats name that made me smile, and I thought it worth a picture. The second it was the green boat that caught my attention. A working vessel that stood out among the sleek white pleasure craft.

Grumpy
Green boat

Later in my wanders, I walked through Hepworth’s Arcade which dates back to the Victorian time, being opened in 1897. It retains it’s old-time charm and has a number of interesting shops (including an amazing jokes and novelties store).

Hepworth's Arcade
Hats and novelties

Then we have a picture of the steps to the top of a curving bridge across the River Hull, and a view up the river from the top. If you follow the line of the river with your eye, you can just about make out the bridge that features further down this post next to the more prominent tall Gamebore building. We’ll see those again in a minute…

Steps to a bridge
Up the River Hull

But before that, here’s an unusually large frog in front of the Streetlife Museum, and then some old but attractive brickwork in the garden at the rear of the Wilberforce Museum, with a looming wharf building behind.

The lady and the frog
Behind the Wilberforce museum

And here’s the bridge and Gamebore building again. It’s the Drypool Bridge which I shared more pictures of a few days ago.

Bridge and tower

Bob Carver’s chippy is next. I’d hoped toget my lunch here, having visited before on past visits, but was disappointed to find it was closed down, so I couldn’t have a “pattie”. It’s not all bad news though as they now have new premises in a different part of the town centre, which I’ll bear in mind for any future trips.

Bob Carver's Fish & Chip Restaurant

And the final of my colour shots from Hull, here’s a picture of the beautiful 1936 art deco Burton’s building, which was recently restored. I’m not sure if it’s accommodating any new businesses yet, but it’s a gorgeous looking structure.

Burton

And that’s that. More shots from this roll of Ultramax still to come though, although maybe not just yet.

Olympus 35 RC on Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 9 August 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Parking tickets

I’m not going to claim that this is a good photo from any compositional point of view, but it’s kinda interesting because of its subject. A relatively ordinary Ford Ka in a car-park, but I do wonder what the story is behind all those parking tickets?

By my count there are eleven of them. I’m not sure how frequently a ticket is added, or if there is some sort of escalation procedure that occurs when it becomes clear that no-one is seemingly coming to collect the car. What does the traffic warden / car park attendant think when they stick yet another notice to the growing set already there?

Is the car stolen perhaps? But if that’s the case, would it have been carefully parked in a public place upon abandonment? Maybe the owner is indisposed in some way and unable to reclaim their vehicle, or perhaps even alert someone to its location?

I wonder if it’s still there?

Parking tickets

Olympus 35 RC on Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 9 August 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

The last few awkward frames

I had three or four un-shot frames of film following my the trip to Hull and I wanted to shoot them so I could get the roll of film developed. Four frames isn’t really worth a specific trip, so I decided to shoot them one morning after dropping my son off at work.

I thought the signal box at Kiveton station would be a decent subject as it’s not that far from where I was, even though I’ve photographed it before. Then, because I didn’t want to end up driving for miles, I took some shots of the M1 motorway. All three have turned out ok, although how interesting you find the motorway pictures I’ll leave to you.

I also shot a single frame of colour film on another subject, but I’ll post that another time.

Kiveton Park Station signalbox
Looking south
Looking north

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 9mins.

Taken on 9 August 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Around the old docks

Many of the buildings in this part of gull have a blue plaque affixed, denoting their historic significance, including the Old Dock Offices, and Blaydes Shipyard, You can see a couple reading one of the plaques in the third image. I read the plaques as I passed, but it seems I neglected to take a picture of them with my phone.

Still, the light was nice, producing clean and contrasty photographs on the Tri-X.

The last house on High Street
Towards the old dock offices
Blaydes House

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 9mins.

Taken on 9 August 2025