A came across this place while wandering in the Peak District last week. I’ve passed close by before and never realised it was there but, now that I do, I think I’ll pay it further visits. While I’m pretty happy with how this photo turned out, I think that – with the right conditions – there might be much better images to be had. The autumn should be very nice here, I think.
Tumbledown structure Hidden in the old oak woods A nice place to find
With the easing of the lockdown in England it has meant the ability to travel a little further afield for photography has returned, so I’ve taken a couple of trips out into the Peak District – the closest bit, nothing too crazy! On both occasions I set out quite early and the car-park I’ve used has been almost empty, but has been busy when I’ve returned a few hours later. There are lots of places to venture from the car-park though, so it’s easy to keep plenty of distance from other people.
It’s nice to go somewhere different to make photos again and I’ve a big list of destinations for when the rules ease further from next week. It’s quite easy to get caught up in the act of taking pictures now the opportunity is back, so on today’s hike I made sure to take time to take things in through my senses without a viewfinder acting as a window to everything.
Countryside hiking Feeling fresh air on my skin It is wonderful
Back when I got my GW690 it arrived with a roll of Velvia 50 already loaded with a single frame shot by the previous owner. Keen to try out my new camera I hurried out on the first opportunity and shot the remaining seven shots on the roll. They were all disappointing.
Velvia is a beautiful film, but you need to treat it properly. Rushing about on a slightly overcast winter day is not the best way to get quality results. It showed, and I wasn’t happy with what I had made. My next few rolls through the camera were black and white, I took greater care with what I was doing, and the camera started to show me what it was capable of.
The disappointing Velvia photos went in my negatives (or in this case, positives!) binder to be quietly forgotten.
Yesterday, because I’ve just bought some more expired Velvia (and Sensia) reversal film, I was looking through my older E6 images and came across the GW690 set. While I still think most of them are disappointing, one of them looked like it might have some potential, so I decided to see if I could breathe some life into it, and the result is presented here today.
It’s not the best photo, but it has a nice early winter morning feel about it and I like the light on the grass and the hazy sky. I’m not one-hundred percent sure about the yellow sunlight on the bridge supports, but it was catching a warm early morning glow so perhaps they’re not too far off the mark. Anyway, here it is for you to make up your own minds. Was it worth the effort do you think?
Don’t rush with slide film Treat it with care or you’ll risk Fujichrome failure
Edgelands are defined as “the transitional, liminal areas of space to be found on the boundaries of country and town“. I’m not sure that the location in today’s photo is quite true to that description as, while it’s on the edge of an urban area, more recent development means that if merges quite quickly into further, newer, suburban developments long before it can merge into the countryside proper. It seems to be a feature of many industrial cities though that there is no defined boundary between countryside and town. Instead, as you reach closer to the boundaries, so patches of land where perhaps lost industry once stood, or where no development is possible due to natural features such as rivers and their flood-plains, become more commonplace, penned in by industrial estates or suburban housing.
I enjoy getting out into the countryside very much, but I do have an affinity for these semi-industrial / semi-urban areas too. I like the way that I can find relics of the coal-mining that used to be prevalent around here. Disused railway lines, bridges, and brickwork bereft of purpose can be located amongst bugeoning new-growth woodland like the remnants of some past civilisation.
Hidden in the soil Fragments of brick and metal Industry as was
A few days ago I said that there would be another version of the shot posted there to come. And here it is today. This one was made with the GW690 and on a snowy day to boot. I wasn’t sure if the minor parallax difference that would be present from using the rangefinder viewfinder would mess up my alignment of the pylons but it seems to have worked out fine.
Through the winter sky Cables of steel move power Over frozen ground
A familiar scene for anyone who’s followed my blog for a while – the Beighton Station signalbox. I think I’ve mentioned before that the signalbox is scheduled for demolition due to signalling and the level crossing now being controlled remotely. A local effort was made to try and save the signalbox but this appears to have fallen through with the proposed cost to move it to a new location being in the region of a quarter of a million pounds.
At the same time however, I’ve heard that plans to reopen Beighton Station are moving forward, the idea being (I believe) to have a tram-train service that runs between Sheffield and Chesterfield, with Beighton being one of the stops. I don’t expect that it will be much of a station in the traditional sense – most likely a couple of platforms, some bus-stop-style shelters, and a car-park to allow park-and-ride services for commuters. I think it will be a good thing to have though and can imagine it being especially popular in the warmer months if it used as a means for people in other parts of the city to get access to the nearby Rother Valley Country Park.
I’ll be sad to see the signalbox go though.
An old signalbox Its functionality gone To another place
Takeaways, a cafe, a tattoo parlour, and an empty salon make up this row of shops about a mile from home. This is probably a bit of a record shot really, but it’s the sort of thing that will mature with age as the shops change hands and purpose and the cars become old fashioned. I enjoy looking at photos depicting places how they used to be, and perhaps in a decade or two, this one will fit that bill too.
Time moves. Places change So dull contemporary Becomes nostalgic
We’ve had quite a lot of snow so far this winter. I mean that in terms of how much we normally get though, which is generally very little. I can’t remember it snowing at all last year – certainly not to settle on the ground. While other parts of the country see snow more often, and higher elevation areas not too far from us can be seen to be white-capped when everywhere else is bereft of the stuff, we don’t tend to see it often at home. Occasionally, every few years though (maybe a result of ripples of effect from El Nino or some other climate event elsewhere on the globe) we get more snow than usual.
It’s not often more than a couple of inches, but in 2018 we had a good foot of snowfall. Since Christmas, we’ve had three days where enough snow has fallen to coat the ground and roads, and two of those occasions provided enough for snowman building and sledging. I’ve heard rumblings on the news that there may be chance of a cold spell into next week too but, as a photographer, I know that weather forecaster’s predictions should be treat with some caution. Whatever the case, I wonder if 2021 will be a snowy year hereabouts?
We don’t get much snow Some years there’s barely a flake To fall on the ground
Today’s photo was made after the first of the three snow days we’ve had so far.
Christmas is over The decorations are down For another year
My haiku’s have made it to day two! I’m not sure exactly what topics I’ll cover with each – maybe an alignment with the rest of the day’s post but, more likely I suspect, as a kind of poetic journal refelecting something that has happened in my life or the world each day.
As you may guess from today’s, we took down our Christmas decorations this morning. This used to be a pretty depressing activity for me in the past as I would feel pretty down about the holiday period being officially over. In recent years though it seems to be affecting me less. I wonder if it’s because, as my children grow older, Christmas has changed. The magic of Father Christmas delivering presents is a thing of the past (at least until such a point as we become grandparents I suppose), and it doesn’t feel the same as when the boys were little. Plus, the way that time seems to fly by as a get older, it will be Christmas again in about five minutes …
Today’s photo is another made on the moors above Lady Canning’s Plantation next to a small cluster of rock outcrops known as The Ox Stones. I’m not sure where the name comes from, but there used to be an Inn known as Oxdale Lodge nearby, so perhaps livestock were grazed, or moved through the land by drovers?
From this angle, the stone has a face. A rock-face. 🙂
Looking further down the line I’m hoping for at least a partial return to normaility later in the year. As more of the population are vaccinated against Covid-19, so I hope that restrictions will be lifted and more freedom restored. Just the though of being able to hop in the car and drive somewhere without first having to check which tier it is in will be nice. Hell, just going to a restaurant even!
But at this immediate point in time that all still feels like some ways off. The restrictions remain, vaccinations have not really touched the majority of the population yet, and there’s likely to be an increase in cases and fatalities as we move into January. Brexit has happened, but the less said about that sorry state of affairs the better, I think . I’m also back at work next week and have a busy month ahead of me. This is a good thing, but despite a fortnight’s leave over Christmas, the strange circumstances in which we still reside mean that I don’t feel particularly rested.
Apart from some confectionery, the gifts I received for Christmas sit as yet untouched in a small pile on my office desk and, if previous years are anything to go by, it may be months before I actually find the time to enjoy them – mostly because ,when I do have some free time, I feel overwhelmed by all the things I’d like to do and then end up procrastinating about which to choose until I end up doing not much of anything! I feel I need another week of post-holiday leave or something to just do stuff.
As for photography, I still have pictures made in 2020 to develop and scan, but I’m not sure what will be the first thing I do photographically in 2021 as yet. I’m feeling a little uninspired if I’m honest. I’m sure the inspiration will return, and it’s not a winter thing – I know may photographers despair of the dull and, some might say, miserable conditions brought by a British winter, but I really don’t mind them. The conditions suit different types of photos is all. I will be making a second zine in the coming months though, so I need to put on my thinking cap to decide on the contents.
I don’t tend to make New Year’s resolutions as such, as they tend to fail more often than not, but this year I am going to attempt to not only lose some weight (something I know I can do), but also get fitter by doing C25K with one of my sons. Both should be positive activities I think (if not the easiest for me!).
Well, that’s a slightly gloomy post isn’t it? Please don’t let me bring anyone down. In order to lift things a little, I’ve decided that I will try to add a haiku to each day’s post this year. So here’s the first Please don’t judge my verse too harshly. 🙂
A new year is here I hope it’s better than last I’ll cross my fingers
And here’s another (slightly underexposed, but still quite nice) photo of the trees on the edge of Lady Canning’s Plantation. It is a photo blog after all.
Steel City Snapper photography 