The Riverside pub sits right next to the River Don at Neepsend in Sheffield, and on the river wall is a wonderful piece of work by local artist Phlegm.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 15 February 2020
Ghost riders
On my wander around town on a very wet Saturday morning last weekend I took a number of photos of people sat on buses. The damp weather meant the windows were fogged with condensation making the passengers within dimly rendered – dependant to a greater or lesser effect on whether they’d wiped the glass clear with their hands or not.
These photos are hardly original – I own a copy of Nick Turpin’s lovely book “On the Night Bus” for instance, which does this sort of thing with far greater aplomb and dedication than my half-hour or so spent. And well before Turpin’s work was made, there were other photographers doing much the same – Saul Leiter being a great example.
Nevertheless, most photographic endeavours these days is likely to involve walking in the footsteps of others to some degree, so I don’t feel any shame in my lack of originality – rather that I took their work as inspiration and made some photographs that I like on an otherwise inclement day for taking pictures.
I was using autofocus for all these shots, and it was clearly something of a challenge for the camera. The first shot is a complete miss on all levels (although I was moving at the time I took that one) and the others seem to focus on the window, or perhaps just beyond. Whatever the case, the effect is very nice, rendering the subjects as indistinct apparitions with features hidden by a fog of moisture.
I’ve said it before on here, but once again – bad weather is very often a good time to make photographs. Next time I get similar conditions and a change to get out with a camera, I think I’ll try to make more of these.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 15 February 2020
Passageway
A passageway in a pre-re-devlopment building in Sheffield’s Keham Island area.
Shot through a barred gate – a good thing as the shutter speed was quite low and they gave me something to steady myself upon. 🙂
Nikon F80, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 15 February 2020
A rainy Saturday morning
Although I have a lot of photos in my archive that have never been featured in the blog, and which I can easily delve into if I need to, I always feel slightly unsettled if I don’t have a supply of fresh images to use. There have been time where I’ve had several rolls all lined up to be scanned and chosen from, but at present I feel I’m running a little hand-to-mouth where new images are concerned.
Partly as a result of these feelings, despite the fact it was wet, windy, stormy weather at the weekend, I took a trip up town on Saturday morning to finish off the roll of HP5+ I’d started the day before when I made my competition entries.
I don’t mind wet weather – it’s far preferable to dry but flat overcast days as a rainy day throws up all manner of interesting possibilities (albeit with the side-effect of you having to try and keep your camera dry) – but as it was also windy it meant that, even getting the camera out of the bag for short periods would invariably involve a constant battle to keep (and wipe) water droplets from both the camera and lens. As a result of this several of the shots from the roll are not my best – there are a number of misses where I rushed things, and a couple of almost completely blank frames which I think might be from putting the camera in the bag without turning it off and then accidentally firing the shutter.
Nevertheless, I still have enough shots that I like to keep the blog going until I get the next processed roll back.
Today’s pair of images are taken a stone’s throw from one another (the same building can be seen in each) in Sheffield’s Kelham Island area, a former run-down industrial quarter that is now under the process of upmarket gentrification, and which I’ve photographed on several occasions.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 15 February 2020
Photos for a competition
I’ve mentioned the monthly film photography competition I take part in before, if only briefly, and today’s post contains some shots I’ve taken for this months theme: “Mostly black“.
I think I’m going for the first one as my entry. Although it could maybe have used a touch of exposure compenstion, and it’s more white than black, I like it best and it still fits the theme perfectly.
I could also maybe have done with ducking down when taking the shots as each marble in the second and third shot features a vague selfie.
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM Macro & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 14 February 2020
Joe’s
I’m jumping back in time a little today with a photo from 2017. The main reason being that I decided yesterday to re-scan this roll of negs. My original scans were performed on my Epson V550 flatbed using the Epson Scan software, which is what I used to use for all my scans, but is now only really used for black and white medium format stuff.
All my B&W 35mm negatives are now scanned with my Plustek scanner, which gives far superior results, while I send all my colour films off to a pro lab for dev and scan (mostly because I know the colours will look how I would expect them to). I still scan medium format slides on the V550 though – mostly because it will cost me an arm and a leg to get lab scans (the place that processes and scans my C41 film for a very reasonable price don’t process E6 unfortunately). The Epson doesn’t fare too badly with medium format scans, although that’s only really down to the fact that the larger image size means that any loss in scanning quality is less easy to spot on screen – comparing like-with-like with a 35mm scan shows the quality is exactly the same.
So, while all my C41 film has been lab scanned over the past year, I still have a lot of stuff that has only ever been scanned on the Epson (both colour AND B&W), so every now and then I’ll re-scan those rolls on the Plustek to get better results. Today’s photo is from one such roll – shot during a trip to Camden in London that my wife and I took a couple of years ago. While I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the Portra 160 colours that the Plustek and Silverfast have given me, they’re a whole heap better than the slightly muddy, greenish cast scans that I had from my Epson Scan attempts. The resloution is light-years ahead too, with details now much more finely resolved than before.
Today’s photo is one that has really benefited from the re-scan I think.
Pentax P30T, Rikenon 50mm f/2 & Kodak Portra 160.
Taken on 9 September 2017
Face to face
I think, when I took this picture, I’d intended for there to be some seperation between the two figures. However, as I was using the waist-level finder on the camera when I took this (hey, it’s still a novelty, ok? 🙂 ) I didn’t quite manage it. Nonetheless I quite like the way that it looks like their faces are touching in the shot. The light was gorgeous too – gotta make the most of a sunny day in the wintertime!
Canon Sure Shot Ace & Ilford Delta 400.
Taken on 8 February 2020
Sunlight in the underpass
I’m pretty happy with the way this photo turned out. I noticed the shaft of sunlight in the underpass and decided to wait for a figure to pass through it. I used the Sure Shot Ace’s waist-level finder so I’m very pleased that I managed to time it so the figures are illuminated by the sunshine, but their heads are in shade and framed against the sunlit wall at the far end.
Canon Sure Shot Ace & Ilford Delta 400.
Taken on 8 February 2020
Shadow ads
Eek! I almost forgot to post something today – for some reason I thought I’d uploaded something earlier. I’m clearly losing it! Still, I caught it in the nick of time.
Here’s a photo I took because I liked the way the sun cast shadows of the writing on the windows all across the furniture in the store.
Canon Sure Shot Ace & Ilford Delta 400.
Taken on 8 February 2020
Stained window ledge
This is a photo I’d forgotten I’d taken until I scanned the negatives. I think it was the sunlit buildings reflected in the glass that attracted me and I completely missed the stain on the ledge at the time. I’m not sure why, but I don’t think the photo would work half as well without the stain.
Canon Sure Shot Ace & Ilford Delta 400.
Taken on 8 February 2020
