35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
I mentioned in yesterday’s post about my trip out to photograph the saturated fields that have resulted from the recent period of heavy rainfall, and here’s a picture of one of them. I have a number of others that I hope to post soon, but as my job has involved a trip across the country, I’m tired, so it’ll be a somewhat truncated piece today.
Holga 120N and Kodak Tmax 400 (expired).
Taken on 9 November 2019
I posted a little about my odd fascination with electrical transmission lines back in January, and there have been a number of images featuring pylons, power lines, electicity poles and suchlike throughout the time I’ve been posting this blog. Today features another addition to the set.
I went out for a drive last weekend with the aim of photographing some muddy (and flooded – we’ve had a lot of rain recently!) fields and had equipped myself with the Holga and a roll of slightly expired Kodak Tmax 400. While the sub-station in today’s photograph was on my planned route, I didn’t know it was there until I saw it. I spotted it from a nearby road and then realised that the road I had to turn on to went right past it, so I couldn’t resist the opportunity. The small pylons look like they’re approaching the fence to see what I’m up to (I’m not crazy, honest, I just have an odd imagination. :)).
I think the Holga makes a nice job of this sort of image, and it especially seems to like gloomy, atmospheric conditions – it’s simple, vingnetted lens adding a lot to the feel of the resulting pictures.
Holga 120N and Kodak Tmax 400 (expired).
Taken on 9 November 2019
Three shots of the same subject today, all of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London taken from across the river on the South Bank from the end of Millennium Bridge. Two of the photos were taken using the Olympus Zuiko AUTO-Zoom 75-150mm f/4 lens, my second time using it since I bought it back in the late summer (I used it for a few shots on my trip to Hull a few days prior to this). So far I’m quite happy with it’s performance. Like most Zuiko lenses, it’s pretty compact, but it has a decent reach and is able to compress distances nicely.
The first shot was taken with the Zuiko 28mm f/3.5.
This is one of those slightly cliched and overdone photo locations – albeit for obvious reasons – but I’ve never shot it before and as it’s not a place I get to visit often I though I might as well take the opportunity while I had the chance.
Olympus OM-1, Zuiko 28mm f/3.5 & Zuiko AUTO-Zoom 75-150mm f/4 & Fujifilm Acros (pushed to 400asa).
Taken on 23 October 2019
I shot a roll of Fuji Across a couple of weeks ago and, expecting the weather to be a bit on the gloomy side, pushed it to 400asa. As it turned out, the sun decided to come out for at least some of the shots. This resulted in super-hight-contrast images being the outcome. Across is pretty contrasty anyway, but pushing it amplifies this noticeably, such as in today’s photograph of a street corner convenience store in Southwark in London.
The sunlit areas, particularly those with lighter tones stand out vividly, while the shadows have been reduced to deep blacks – the lady on the left of this shot seemingly emerging from a pool of liquid darkness.
I do like a contrasty image, but care needs to be taken when shooting in such conditions of light and shade that it doesn’t become too much. I’m pretty happy with this one – there is still detail in the highlights, and while the shadows are deep, they work nicely withe the brighter details popping out of them.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Fujifilm Acros (pushed to 400asa).
Taken on 22 October 2019
I generally try to ensure that my photos are in focus. It’s kinda important in most cases (for the sort of pictures I make, at least). Sometimes however, despite my best intentions, they are not in focus – perhaps due to missing focus, or sometimes due to camera shake adding some unintended blur.
Sometimes it doesn’t really matter. Sometimes you still like the photograph despite it’s flaws. Sometimes they might even enhance it.
Today’s photo is one such example. It was taken under the railway bridge that passes over Blackfriars Road just north of Soutwark Underground station, carrying the line heading east/west in and out of Waterloo. The light beneath the bridge was quite dim and I had to lower my shutter speed somewhat. I also needed to be quick to try and catch the image while people were placed in a pleasing way and also when no road traffic (of which there was much) was passing through the scene. These factors likely combined to cause a small but noticeable amount of camera shake in the the resulting picture.
Perhaps the photo would have been better had it been perfectly sharp, but the slight fuzziness is pleasing in some way. It gives the picture a slight vintage feel somehow that I’m quite pleased with. I don’t tend to publish photos that I believe are mistakes unless they rise above their shorcomings, and I think that this is one of them (for me, at least).
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Fujifilm Acros (pushed to 400asa).
Taken on 23 October 2019
Yesterday I spoke a little about those photos which, upon later inspection, reveal a person in the scene who is looking right at you (or appears to be). Well here’s another…
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Fujifilm Acros (pushed to 400asa).
Taken on 22 October 2019
People waiting to cross cast their reflections on the wet road surface.
It’s one of those photos where I noticed after scanning the negative that someone appears to have spotted me when I took the photograph (three people in this case!). It’s a little difficult to tell for certain, and some of them might just have been glancing in my direction, but I always get an “I’ve been spotted!” feeling when I notice such things.
I was hardly being covert to be fair – stood on the oposite side of the road with a camera to my eye. 🙂
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (pushed to 800asa).
Taken on 26 October 2019
I managed to miss a picture out of my post yesterday, so here it is, last but not least. It’s captures the sidelight on the mossy tree-trunk quite nicely, I think, although the background is perhaps a little messy with all the undergrowth.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 & Fujifilm Provia 100.
Taken on 3 November 2019
The weather has been typically November-ish of late which, for the UK, means grey, wet and somewhat miserable. I’ve got several rolls of slide film with “Autumn” written all over them, but I’m starting to think that it’s going to be a somwhat lacklustre year for the colour. We’re in a situation (or at least we are in the part of the country where I live) where many of the trees have already turned and lost their leaves, while others are still largely green.
Despite this, there was a short break in the grey weather on Sunday, so I took a trip out to Whitwell Woods to see if there was anything to be seen and photographed. It was my first trip out with the Bronica in a few months (I think only the third time I’ve shot it, for that matter), and the first time shooting it without the metered prism and speed-winder / grip. As I took a tripod and lightmeter with me I didn’t envisage this being an issue, and it wasn’t.
That being said, my slight unfamiliarity with the camera resulted in my wasting three shots at the start of the roll, and for a couple of shots where I decided to open the 75mm lens to it’s widest f/2.8 aperture, largely missed focus. I’m not sure why this was as, although the depth of focus is pretty narrow at this aperture – particularly when the subject is close to the lens – I was confident that it was in focus in the viewfinder (with a split-prism screen). I think I might set up a test shot in a controlled environment to see if it was user error, or something else.
The woods themselves were very pleasant to walk through, although the paths were a bit squishy, and here are a few pictures.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 & Fujifilm Provia 100.
Taken on 3 November 2019
I didn’t spot this noticeable “X” formed by the reflection of the buildings and sky until I looked at the negatives.
The water feature is one of several, variously-sized, artworks near the Winter Gardens in Sheffield. They are, along with the “Cheesegrater” car park – which is a literal stone’s throw from this spot – probaby the most photographed objects in the city.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (pushed to 800asa).
Taken on 26 October 2019
