A couple of pubs

October 20, 2019October 20, 2019 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

A bit of a dip into the archive for today’s post. I present here a couple of photographs of pubs in Sheffield. They are from a series of images I made that were going to form the basis of a project I was working on. The project kinda fizzled out, but I have a roll or two of images that I shot for it that I’ve not really done much with (although at least a couple of others have appeared in the blog at various points).

The two photos were taken almost two years ago on a wander around Sheffield city centre on a Sunday, and I’ve chosen these two as they feature the same subject matter – public houses. Despite the seemingly never-ending set of pub closures that is befalling the UK, city centres seem to be less affected, and there are still a wide ranges of places still open and thriving. Although these photos were taken two years ago, both of these pubs are still in business as far as I know, and the areas in which they stand are undergoing a lot of renewal (from old, small industrial units, to new businesses, university facilities and residential conversions). If such a time comes when they are no longer trading, then I’m glad I have these documentary pictures.

Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Fomapan 100.

Taken on 12 November 2017

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Expired Ektachrome in my Holga

October 19, 2019October 19, 2019 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

I was recently fortunate enought to receive several rolls of free film from a kind person on a photography forum I frequent. All the rolls are expired, but that’s never stopped me before.

As well as some Tmax 400 that expired in 2018 (so, basically fresh), the film is mostly transparency, with a number of rolls of Provia, Velvia and Ektachrome. The Fuji stuff expired in 2014, so I’m hoping that that will be in decent condition, but the Ektachrome is dated 2003. With the age of the Ektachrome in mind, I decided to shoot a test roll through my Holga, thinking that, even if the colours were a bit whacky, I could pass the results off as “Holga” photos.

The results are not too bad considering the age of the film and its largely undocumented provenance. The transparencies have a strong purple cast, but colour correction in Epson Scan did a pretty decent job of removing that. There’s still notable purple / red speckling in the shadow areas, and the backing paper is showing in a few frames, but overall the results aren’t awful – not a film I’d want to use for an unrepeatable event or anything, but fine for a freeby and a bit of experimentation.

Anyway, here are a few shots from the roll. I doubt there’ll be any awards winging my way, but for what they are they’re fine.

Holga 120N & Kodak Ektachrome E100S (expired 2003).

Taken on 24 October 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Sir John Betjeman

October 18, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

This statue of Sir John Betjeman stands in St Pancras railway station, London. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death in 1984. As well as a lover of railways, he was a vociferous voice in the preservation of ancient buildings and was instrumental in the saving of the St. Pancras station and hotel which had been scheduled for demolition. The station was secured and is now the London terminus for both the Midland Mainline domestic route as well as the international Eurostar service to continental Europe. This sculpture was commisioned for the re-opening of the station following its redevelopment in 2007.

You can watch him talk about railways in this film.

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 9 October 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Barbican Centre

October 17, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

B B B B Barbican Centre.

A quick post today, but I hope you’ll note how I attempted to align the sides of the forground structures with those of the tower in the rear. Not perfectly, but close enough. 🙂

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 9 October 2019

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Golden balloon

October 16, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Back in August I visited Renishaw Hall, a local stately home. The main reason for my visit was to take some photographs in the Italianate gardens for a photo comp I’m involved with. My photo did pretty badly, as it turned out, so from that point of view the visit (and £8 entrance fee) was a bit of a waste of time, but I still enjoyed the day and it might be nice to visit again when the autumn colours are in better evidence.

Anyway, I took some other photos during the visit, including shooting half a roll of Ektar. For some reason, several of the Ektar shots are very contrasty with little shadow detail – looking almost like underexposed slide film – but some came out ok, including this one.

Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Ektar.

Taken on 26 August 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Faces in the trees

October 15, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

When new commercial developments are built in Sheffield there is often a requirement for them to install a piece of art somewhere on the site. These can often be seen at shopping centres and suchlike. I suspect that this sequence of metal faces is a similar thing, probably installed when the nearby housing development was added. Or I could be completely wrong.

Whatever the case, it’s an unusual and striking thing to come across, it being tucked away on a footpath behind the houses close to the back of a nearby supermarket.

A piece of debris on the rightmost face gives the illusion of a teardrop.

Pentax Espio 140m & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 22 September 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Bench-land

October 14, 2019 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

I guess today’s picture serves as a direct sequel to the one I posted yesterday, given that the two people on the foreground bench appear to be the same couple who were walking through the scene in the other photograph. This wasn’t intentional and I only realised it to be the case after scanning the negatives. but I quite like how it turned out though.

I’ve not photographed the Barbican Centre much before, but it’s a wonderful urban location. Amazing brutalist architecture that is very well maintained and with a wealth of compositional possibilities. I only had a spare 10 minutes to take some photos while passing, but I could happily spend hours there.

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 9 October 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Three figures at Lauderdale Tower

October 13, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

On my way to a meeting in London recently I was a little early and so managed to grab ten brief minutes of photography at the Barbican Centre, which was on my route. Here’s one of the photographs.

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 9 October 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Three’s a crowd

October 12, 2019 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

I have to say that I’m very happy to have my Olympus OM-1 back from its repair. I’d not used it for a while and it had developed a shutter issue. The repair cost me around the same as it would have done to buy a new OM-1 body from a reputable dealer, but this is my OM-1, and it’s worth the money to keep it in good working order. It’s probably my favourite 35mm camera, and while I’m still not too keen on the shutter speed selector being on the lens mount (which I find a bit fiddly), it’s otherwise a very satisfying piece of kit to use. It also looks gorgeous – a proper camera if ever there was!

I loaded it with a roll of HP5+ and shot half in Sheffield, and the other half in London (while travelling between the railway station and the meeting venue). This is one of the Sheffield photos.

Olympus OM-1, Zuiko 28mm f/3.5 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 6 October 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

F. G. Thomas

October 11, 2019 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

My photo today is a street shot, but the intent was mostly to capture F. G. Thomas, which I noticed has now closed it’s retail premises.

The shop had been there as long as I remember (it had actually opened there way back in 1925) so it came as a bit of a shock to see the empty window and for-lease sign. It appears that, as the lease was up for renewal on the premises, the current owners have decided to move their business online as their footfall in the shop had been gradually declining.

I’ve racked my mind, but I can’t honestly remember ever having gone in the shop, much less bought anything, which makes me feel oddly guilty. On the one occasion I bought a fountain pen (they were a requirement for some unknown reason when I started comprehensive school in the 80s), I think it was from WHSmith, just around the corner on Fargate.

I’m glad to have captured the signage of the shop, even if the windows are now empty – the little man with his “is it a globe, or is it a hairnet?” hairstyle was a nice thing to see.