This is the signal box at Beighton Station, not far from where I live. Although it’s named Beighton Station, no station has been present since the 1950s when passenger services ceased. There have been recent rumblings about building a new terminal suitable for tram-train services however.
The signal-box is currently scheduled for demolition in 2021, much to the displeasure of locals who see it as a landmark, and there are campaigns looking to try and save it.
More photos of the signal box can be found in my blog posts here, here, here, and here.
In direct continuation from yesterday’s post, the four images today were made while crossing Renishaw golf course. The golf course borders the farmland where yesterday’s photographs were made, the two areas split by the River Rother, and a metal-framed footbridge spans it’s flow.
The golf course was, as you might expect, shrouded in the same fog as the farmland. As golf courses have been closed due to the lockdown, no-one was playing – although fog might not be the best conditions for golf anyway I suppose, pandemic or not – and the course was empty of all but the occasionl individuals and small groups out walking in the murk. If you look carefully, you might be able to see some of them in the trees at the other side of the fairway.
As I followed the footpath through the course I noticed these neat rows of fallen leaves, presumably raked by the groundskeeper.
My final shot beore leaving the golf course was this signpost.
More misty morning photographs. All made on the same day (and walk) as the black and white images I’ve posted over the past few days, but this time on a roll of expired Fuji Superia 100. I probably wouldn’t shoot colour film in these conditions as they can tend to feel bereft of colour, but it was all I had to hand after finishing the HP5+. Anyway, although there’s a muted quality to them, there’s still plenty of colour there – especially green.
While the blank grey of the foggy skies is somewhat bland, it’s also very atmospheric. It captures the stillness of these conditions. Quiet that is only broken by the occasional caw of a crow and your footsteps across the ground.
It’s quite easy to imagine that I was in the middle of the countryside, such is the adeptness of fog when it comes to removing distance and detail. In reality I was just a stone’s throw from Renishaw golf course and, beyond that, the town of Eckington. There are plenty of fields and signs of the countryside here, but in reality it’s just a few minutes from busy roads, supermarkets, and local industries. You could easily imagine being out on some lonely heath though.
I hope nobody is getting bored of mist yet? There are still more to come – some of them in colour! 🙂
I think the lone tussock of grass in this helps the shot a lot. It would still have had a pleasant abstract nature without, but it being there in the foreground anchors the image.
Apologies for the somewhat short posts this week. I’ve had some other things to keep me occupied so not enough time unfortunately.
A companion shot to yesterdays trees in the mist. You can see that same copse of trees on the other side of the footbridge, but this shot was made before the ones posted yesterday. I collapsed the tripod down to get the low point of view.
I’ve undoubtedly said this before on here somewhere, but I’ll say it again: Fog and mist are a gift to photography. The diffused light; the sense of calm; the way they hide and obscure distracting detail; and – most of all – the sheer atmosphere (quite literally) that they bring to bear is a wonderful thing to behold.
I do admit to saying this as someone for whom fog and mist are relatively uncommon – at least at the times I’m usually out of bed! I can fully understand the “grass is always greener” sentiment that this bears, and that for those who live in places with regular foggy conditions that this might all be a bit business-as-usual. But for me, well, I love these conditions.
So, when I saw the weather forecast showing this day as having fog, I was up early and out with my camera. I went somewhere I’ve been a number of times before – a walk that takes me across the River Rother, through a copse of trees (it’s probably a plantation as the tress – Poplars I think – are in somewhat orderly rows), and then either up to the Trans-Pennine Trail, or looping alongside the river, then down to Renishaw golf-course, and back around to the starting point.
I’ve photographed these trees on a number of occasions and know that the look their best in a veil of mist. It’s not a large area and on clear days it’s easy to find a distracting background element creeping into the frame. In fog, however, the trees feel like they go on forever.
This was just a grabbed shot made when I noticed the way the buildings at the top of the street were lit by the sunshine. I like how the buildings to either side cast the foreground into shadow, taking us out of the darkness and into the light. The car is nicely placed and is mirrored to an extent by the lone person across the road. And, while I didn’t notice it at the time of making the picture, I’m quite happy about the letting sign that says “Sun Casa”, which also feels like it fits.
I’ve picked up some new cameras this week. Today I collected a box very kindly gifted to me containing a Pentax ME Super, with 50mm, 35mm, 70-200mm and 70-150mm (Tamron adaptall) lenses. Oh, and a teleconverter. There was also a Topcon RM300 with 55mm Topcor lens and a faulty Pentax MG. The ME Super appears to work ok (although I’ve not done much other than dry fire it so far, and the previous owner had not used it at all, so we’ll see). The Topcon appears to work, but the film-advance lever is loose with a long stoke, so will have to see with that one too. It’s also missing it’s battery cover, so it can probably only be used with manual metering of some sort. The MG is in pretty tatty condition so I doubt I’ll do much with that.
Even if the other two cameras turn out to be faulty, the lenses are all hopefully in good working order, so I can use them with my Pentax P30T.
The other camera I got this week was a purchase – one that I’ve been mulling over since the summer when I put some money I’d saved aside. After watching the prices gradually increase, I decided to finally take the plunge and hit the buy button before they went above what I was willing to pay. So I’m now the proud owner of a Fujica GW690. I’m hoping to get time (and weather!) to try it out this weekend. It came with a roll of Velvia already loaded with one shot taken, so I’ll finish that off and hopefully get it developed next week. After seeing what this camera is capable of, I’m looking forward to it. While I was expecting the size – it’s not nicknamed the Texas Leica for nothing – the weight was a little unexpected. Someone else I know had described theirs as a “big plastic box”. I’m assuming that they must’ve had one of the more recent models because the one I have is built like a tank, and weighs about as much too!
Photos will appear here in due course.
All the photos in today’s blog were made back at the start of the month while walking past the cathedral on a day of lovely sunshine, which granted me some great contrast and shadows to work with.
The Pennine Centre is Sheffield’s largest office complex. Construction completed in 1975, having taken two years.
For many years, the structure was the home of the HSBC bank (or Midland Bank in its earlier years), but they have recently cacated the premises to move to new office space in the city centre. The service centre where I used to work did so much business with the bank that some members of staff were permanently on-site.
The building is currently vacant, but expecting new tennants. I spoke briefly with a security guard before making this photo and was impressed to hear that there are several floors of underground parking beneath the structure.
