Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
The last of Lomography Color Negative 800 images that I converted to black and white (the one’s I’m going to post, at least).
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC / Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC & Lomography Color Negative 800. Lab developed, home scanned & converted with Negative Lab Pro. Converted to B&W in Lightroom.
Taken 30 November 2025.
Gainsborough Old Hall began as a 15th‑century manor built by Sir Thomas Burgh II before later passing to the Hickman family, who modernised. Over the following centuries it fragmented into workshops, tenements, civic spaces and even a theatre, before falling into decline. Restoration efforts in the mid‑20th century ultimately saved it, and it now survives as one of England’s best‑preserved medieval manor houses, owned by English Heritage.
I’ve been inside on a previous visit, back when I had a one year English Heritage membership, but this time I just took a few pictures of the exterior.
Again, these are Lomography Color Negative 800 images that I’ve converted to black and white.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC / Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC & Lomography Color Negative 800. Lab developed, home scanned & converted with Negative Lab Pro. Converted to B&W in Lightroom.
Taken 30 November 2025.
Standing beside the river Trent on its east bank, this statue is named The Pilgrim Woman.
On 10 May 1608, a group of Separatists, mostly women and children, escaped Gainsborough to find religious freedom. They left town along the River Trent on a small barge called The Francis, heading for Stallingborough near Immingham. Their plan was to meet a bigger ship there that would take them to Amsterdam in Holland where they would be able to worship freely. A few years later in 1620, they traveled on to America aboard the Mayflower.
Although not visible in my picture, the plinth upon which the statue stands is engraved: “Steering our Future Informed by Our Past“.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC / Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC & Lomography Color Negative 800. Lab developed, home scanned & converted with Negative Lab Pro. Converted to B&W in Lightroom.
Taken 30 November 2025.
Another food production factory in Gainsborough, this time the AB Mauri (former Rank Hovis McDougall) works.
Beyond lie rows of terraced houses, and the spire of the Trinity Arts Centre (which resides in a Grade II listed former church , hence the spire).
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC / Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC & Lomography Color Negative 800. Lab developed, home scanned & converted with Negative Lab Pro. Converted to B&W in Lightroom.
Taken 30 November 2025.
This is the view south where the River Trent flows through the town of Gainsborough, looking onto the Kerry food manufacturing plant and then, a few miles further upstream, West Burton power station.
While I wasn’t satisfied with the colours I achieved with the Lomography Color Negative 800, the film has quite a fine grain structure – at least in this 120 format – and it’s produced some quite nice B7W conversions.
This frame is not only converted to black and white, but also cropped.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC / Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC & Lomography Color Negative 800. Lab developed, home scanned & converted with Negative Lab Pro. Converted to B&W in Lightroom.
Taken 30 November 2025.
Back to a run of photos I took in Gainsborough towards the end of last year. These were shot on a roll of Lomography Color Negative 800 – the first time I’ve shot this stock.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t all that pleased with the results. Part of this is down to me, or rather to my light meter, which I had inadvertently switched to it’s cine mode somehow, resulting in poorly exposed photographs. But I’m also not that happy with the colours I got.
Again, this might be down to the exposures in some cases,but I don’t think all frames were affected. It’s also hands down the worst film I’ve ever had to scan. The base is quite thin and it had a very pronounced curve to it that made it extremely frustrating to scan with my flatbed. This fact, more than any of the others, has put me off shooting it again (and I still have a couple of rolls in the freezer!).
The picture below is the only that I’ve left as a colour scan – I like the warm morning light on this closed up shop window. All the rest of usable frames I’ve converted to black and white, and I’ll post some of those in the next few days.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC / Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC & Lomography Color Negative 800. Lab developed, home scanned & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken 30 November 2025.
Yashica Mat 124G and Ilford Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 24 January 2026
Yashica Mat 124G and Ilford Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 24 January 2026
I like my Holga. Its lo-fi images have a definite charm, I feel.
This time though, the “fi” is as low as I’ve ever seen it. I really don’t know what has happened with this roll of Fomapan 400.
The white speckles from the faulty batch of which this is a part are present and correct, and the scratches that the camera has started adding to the negs have made an appearance (although I’ve cloned the worst of them out), but as for that blothcy mottling? Well, I really don’t know.
It looks like the film is damaged, or has gotten wet, but it’s been stored in it’s sealed box and wrapper since I got it and kept in the fridge, so that seems unlikely.
I suppose my development could also be to blame, although I’ve not encountered such issues before. The only thing that I can think of that might possibly have had an effect is that it was quite cold in the room when I developed the film, so it’s possible the chemicals cooled by a couple of degrees over the course of the hour’s semi-stand process, but I’m not sure if this would have been the outcome.
Despite all the problems though, if anything can carry off this distressed look, it’s the Holga, and it still manages to do so with aplomb.
Yashica Mat 124G and Ilford Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 24 January 2026
I was quite happy with a lot of the pictures I made on this particular outing, but this one especially. My only issue with it is that I wonder if it might have been improved with a lower POV to hide the distant scenery?
Yashica Mat 124G and Ilford Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 24 January 2026
Steel City Snapper photography 