Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
I spotted this mannequin as I was walking past this shop and though it might make an interesting picture, so I did a u-turn a took the shot.
Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 22 February 2025
The end of the three-day May Day bank holiday weekend is drawing to a close and I’ll be back at work again tomorrow. A number of businesses in the UK have trialed four-day working weeks recently, in most cases very successfully, but I don’t think my employer has any inclination to offer the same. Perhaps in time, as more places start to provide employees with these types of flexible working options, it will happen, but I’ll probably be on brink of retirement by the time it does.
A four-day week certainly sounds appealing though, even if it means working longer hours on the days I work. I could do a lot with an extra day, and it would expand the time I have for leisure, certainly. It would be like having a bank holiday every week!
I went out for a walk with a camera on Saturday, but nothing particularly focused – I needed some more DD-X developer, so went for a lengthy walk around town, snapping anything that caught my eye, although I only shot ten or eleven frames. I got my DD-X though, plus three rolls of 120 black and white film (I still have a huge stash of film to shoot but very little medium format B&W left, which is something I use quite often, so I got a few rolls to tide me over).
No photography related stuff today (unless I include uploading some new pictures to Flickr and posting here), but I went to see Thunderbolts* with my wife, which was good fun. Back to the 9-to-5 tomorrow.
And here’s a random picture of a building…
Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 22 February 2025
I took this picture while attending this year’s Photo North festival in Leeds last month. I’ve taken similar images at this venue before, but I like how this one turned out with the placement of both people and gallery exhibits.
Ricoh GR III
Taken on 12 April 2025
A couple more shots of the flooded field at Elmton, although without any sign of the church this time.
Appropriately enough, the road that runs past the field is called Spring Lane. The spring itself is a little further up the road to the south east, but I’m not sure if it’s this which feeds the flooded area at the bottom of the field.
There’s something I find fascinating about water courses that takes me back to being a child where I would read Ladybird books or similar, and watch children’s educational programmes about the water cycle. There’s something in me that wants to trace the journey from source to destination. From that tiny bubbling spring all the way to the ocean.
I enjoyed making “boats” out of a twig or a branch and then watching as they navigated the straights, eddies, and rapids of a stream until they would eventually reach a place where I could follow them no longer, but from where I would imagine them making a grand voyage all the way to the sea.
Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 16 February 2025
The bottom corner of this field at Elmton floods in wet weather and makes for some interesting picture opportunities, including reflections of St. Peter’s Church.
I guess the shots also continue this week’s molehill theme. 🙂
Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 16 February 2025
Good luck playing on this football pitch!
Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 16 February 2025
This little scene caught my eye as I passed. The interplay of all the elements – the wall, the poles, the cables, plus the large bush and the bench – all came together in a way I found pleasing. The mole hills are just a little bonus extra.
Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 16 February 2025
Following the barn and schoolhouse pictures that I posted a few days back, here’s another subject that’s featured on the blog on multiple occasions (possibly because it stands right next to said schoolhouse and barn…). In fact, one of the pictures I’ve posted before is very similar to the lat one in today’s set. But, again, what the heck. It’s a nice subject, so who wouldn’t photograph it again? 🙂
My son had another job interview today, this one a little less impromptu and with support from his job coach. I don’t know what the outcome will be (apparently one of the other people being interviewed – for a job in a clothes store – was a marine biologist!), but he looked very smart and even if it doesn’t work out, every interview is more experience for him to draw upon.
Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 16 February 2025
I’ve been attempting to scan some medium format Provia 100 this evening and I’m not sure I’m happy with the results. Slide film can be a PITA to scan sometimes and it’s hard to get the results to look like the actual image on the film.
This has resulted in less time than anticipated to update the blog, so this is a bit of a quick post, although it does feature a picture that I really like.
Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 16 February 2025
Two subjects (which conveniently stand next door to one another) that have featured on the blog a number of times before (here, here and here, for instance). Sometimes subjects just demand further photographs, I find.
Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 16 February 2025
