Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
Despite owning a perfectly good bicycle, this man has taken it upon himself to build a horse. As I took this picture I had a brief moment where I wondered what would happen if it had suddenly sprung into life like something from a Harry Potter movie or something. It doesn’t have a saddle, so I expect riding it would have caused a degree of chafing.
Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Plus-X (expired 2008). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 6mins @ 20°
Taken on 27 August 2022
Only two donkeys out giving rides on the day I took this picture. The guy in charge looks a bit chilly from his stance.
Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Plus-X (expired 2008). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 6mins @ 20°
Taken on 27 August 2022
I’ve made pictures of the bungalow in today’s post twice now. It’s a wonderfully photogenic little house.
This one was shot on medium format film with my Yashicamat 124G, but the previous picture was shot with a Ricoh GR III digital compact.
Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 160NS. Lab developed, home scanned, & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 17 September 2022
The house in today’s picture is clearly a former windmill. When it became a residential building, I know not. It looked like a good subject for a picture or two though.
I took a couple of pictures of the house and, while I was doing so, I was observed by a lady looking out from a window in a nearby property who was engaged in a telephone conversation. I smiled at her when I saw her watching, but her face remained resolutely stern and she didn’t return the expression. The first shot I took was with my Nikon F80, a fairly standard looking SLR camera, but I wonder what she thought when I pulled the distinctly old-fashioned-looking Yashicamat 124G TLR from my bag to make the photo below? I did smile at her a second time as I did this, but again to no trace of a similar response. I wonder what was said about me on her phone call that day?
Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 160NS. Lab developed, home scanned, & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 17 September 2022
It’s very rare that I make prints of my photographs. Occasionally, I’ll get a bunch of cheap mini prints of random shots as they can be nice things to put in gifts, and I had a print made of a picture my cousin liked for her to hang on her wall, but rarely do I make a print for myself.
I might get a print of the picture posted here today though. It’s not a perfect image and probably not something anyone would buy commercially, but I like the photo – it’s evocative and also, because I was there when it was made, personal. It’s mine. It would be a nice thing to look at when I’m at work, I think, maybe even moreso when the dark winter days kick in proper.
Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 160NS. Lab developed, home scanned, & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 17 September 2022
This is the Coastwatch building which sits atop the dunes at Mablethorpe’s north shore, tucked away in a corner of the visitor car-park. On the day I visited, it was still a couple of days before the state funeral of the queen and the country was still in the official period of national mourning, so the flag is being flown at half-mast.
I’m quite pleased with how this image turned out. The structure itself makes an interesting focal point, but it’s helped no end by the cloud detail, the light, and the colour rendition of my scan which has rendered the Fuji Pro 160NS very nicely to my eyes.
It’s not the first time I’ve shared pictures of this place on the blog and you can see some earlier images in this post.
Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 160NS. Lab developed, home scanned, & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 17 September 2022
One of three crazy gold courses at Mablethorpe. When I was younger, this was part of the Arnold Palmer chain of courses. The Arnold Palmer course had a hazard in the form of a windmill with ball-blocking rotating blades (which, for all I know, is still present on this new pirate-themed course, but it was closed so I couldn’t take a look). The trick to beating the windmill was to bounce the ball from the sides of the course, bypassing the rotating sails completely, and still allowing for a skillful hole-in-one if you were good enough.
The final hole was a sloping contraption with a single hole in the centre and a set of traps. Missing the hole would result in your ball rolling back into one of the traps and being lost (or, as I suspected, conveyed back to the hut where you payed and collected your club and ball via some sort of underground channel – you could hear the balls rolling back when you were paying for your game). A successful shot however would cause a bell to ring and allow the lucky player to claim a gift and a free pass for another game. I still have a free game pass in my wallet, despite it having being rendered useless decades ago. It’s worth more for the memories than the free game ever was.
Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 160NS. Lab developed, home scanned, & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 17 September 2022
Today’s picture is one of those occasions where I looked at an everyday scene and thought, “there’s a photograph“. It was taken from the rooftop level of a multistorey car-park and when I glances over the side there was something about the arrangement of buildings that just looked right. Part of it was due to the light (although I remember having to stand and wait a few minutes for a cloud to pass in front of the sun before it looked just as I wanted it to). Part of it is the different geometric patterns and textures on each of the buildings. I also like the way the road briefly appears at bottom left before vanishing amongst the architecture. It’s also a somewhat empty picture, with no signs of human foot or road traffic to be seen.
Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 27 August 2022
This was the first photograph I took after breaking my ankle. It was shot just over two weeks after the accident during my first real trip beyond the house. We’d gone out to visit the Chinese supermarket to re-stock on instant noodles (which I’ve taken a fondness to over the last couple of months, and which the Chinese supermarket has a bewildering selction from which to choose) and so I took the Yashicamat with me on the chance that I might make a photograph or two. In the end I shot the whole roll during the hour or so we were out. I don’t think it’s the best roll I’ve ever shot but it was good to scratch the photographic itch.
The photo below was intended to be a picture of the building itself but, as I framed up the shot, the lady appeared in the doorway at just the right time.
Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 27 August 2022
A few days ago, after I’d broken my ankle, I wondered if I might need to ration out the photos I upload given that I might not be able to go out and make more for a few weeks. As a result I uploaded some photos that I might have otherwise left on my hard drive. One of the photos was the one published here today.
For some bizarre reason, it’s managed to be selcted for Flickr’s Explore selection. I posted about my thoughts on which of my pictures are selected for Explore in this post a few weeks ago. My thoughts on this picture are much the same. I generally post a lot of photos to Flickr and yet it always seems to be the ones that are what I’d consider less sucessfull that seem to be picked to go into Explore. Perhaps it’s just mye eye? Maybe everyone else sees this as some sort of masterpiece of subject, light and composition? I suspect not though, and it’s just that the Flickr Explore algorithm is inscrutable.
Holga 120N & Fomapan 100. Adox Adonal 1+100 18mins @ 20°.
Taken on 9 July 2022
Steel City Snapper photography 