Across the lake

March 16, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A bit of a mystery about today’s photo, which depicts a foggy morning at Rother Valley Country Park. The puzzle is in regards to the graininess of the image. It was shot on Ilford HP5+ rated and develoed for 800asa. I’ve shot HP5+ pushed a stop before (and pushed by much more in fact) and not encountered the amount of grain that is present in this shot (and a few other misty, low-contrast scenes made on the same roll of film). Even more curious is the fact that it’s only a handful of frames affected – most of the images show smooth and unobtrusive grain.

My thoughts are that it could be the way the scanner handles this type of scene (or perhaps my settings). I tried scanning the picture with both Silverfast and Vuescan and received similar results from both. It would be interesting to see if the grain is present on the negative itself, but I don’t have a loupe to use and haven’t bothered trying to use my digital camera and macro lens.

Despite the unexpected and unplanned look of the image, the grain gives it a very pleasing atmosphere, so I’m not disappointed by the result.

Golf ball sized film grain
Appearing out of the fog
It’s a mystery

Olympus OM-2N, E.Zuiko Auto-T 135mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°.

Taken on 1 March 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A distant figure in the snow

February 2, 2021February 5, 2021 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

I think that this is my favourite shot from the roll I put through the Holga on the recent snowy day (although not the most recent lot though. We had another fall this morning that caused chaos for early morning drivers on their way to work – my wife included).

I like the way the birches lean across the path here and the snow adds a special touch. The lone figure further down the path is the icing on the cake.

Footprints and bike tracks
Evidence of exercise
On a winter’s day

Holga & Ilford HP5+ (@800). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°.

Taken on 14 January 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

White lines

February 1, 2021February 5, 2021 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

I’m tempted to start throwing in the lyrics of the Grandmaster Flash classic. 🙂

Today’s photo is one that I’ve made before, from almost exactly the same spot, using the same camera and film. Apart from the fact that I pushed this roll by a stop, the technicalities of the picture are almost identical. The only real difference is the conditions when the images where made. I’ve published the original picture before here, but will add it to this post too so they can both be easily compared.

Two pictures the same
But seperated by time
Such differences

First the new image, made a couple of weeks ago:

And the older image, made in April 2020:

Holga & Ilford HP5+ (@800). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20° – older shot made at 400asa and devved for 9mins.

Taken on 14 January 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

My local lab has re-opened!

July 13, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The local lab that I use for developing has re-opened. Well, in actual fact it opened weeks ago, but I’ve only just spotted that the walk-in reception has now opened again too, meaning I can drop off and collect films without faffing about paying (and waiting) for postage.

Given I’ve been developing my black and white film at home since the lockdown took place, it’s likely that I won’t use them as much as I used to, but today I had a roll of Provia 100F to get developed – I don’t have the chems for E6 film, not do I really want the faff of the temperature control involved. I also had a roll of HP5+ that I was going to develop myself but, as I won’t get the chance until after next weekend, I decided to take the lazy option and pay for it to be devved on this occasion.

I’ve not scanned either roll yet, but the Provia shots look nice and, while I’m not an expert at reading negatives, the HP5 shots look good too – something I’m pleased about as I took a few shots without realising I’d accidentally knocked my light-meter’s ASA setting to 800!. I’ll try scanning both rolls with Vuescan on my Epson this week to see how they compare with my usual Epsonscan process.

Today’s photo is as hot of a building in the city centre. I liked the play of sunlight on the windows. It’s one of a number of photos I made with the 28-70mm Tamron Adaptall lens that came with the OM-2n when I bought it, but it’s quite soft in comparison with my Zuiko lenses, so I think I’ll sell it on. It hasn’t fared too badly with this scene though.

Olympus OM-2n, Tamron Adaptal 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 28 June 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Looking forlorn in the kitty cafe

July 12, 2020 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

In recent years there have been a significant number of cat cafes open in the UK. These are regular cafes, but home to several cats. The idea being that you get to enjoy a coffee and some cake while watching, stroking and (if they’ll let you) cuddling the cats. You usually have to book a place as they’re very popular and entry to the premises is controlled through an airlock-style double door system to prevent mass escapes.

As with so many other things however, the cat cafes have been hit by the pandemic and lockdown. While some may be starting to re-open now, when I passed this one a few weeks ago it was still closed for business and this little lady was looking forlornly from the window.

Olympus OM-2n, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 21 June 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

It’s too hot and my PC seemingly hates me.

June 26, 2020 fishyfisharcade7 Comments

As Lightroom and Photoshop have decided that this extremely hot and humid day would be the perfect time to test my patience by stealing all my PC resources thus making even the simplest copy-and-paste action into a chore, this will be a short post (it took nearly 40mins to back up the catalog! Why! Why do this to me today!!!). If you don’t see any more for a while it’s because my PC has met with an unfortunate accident and fallen out of the window!

Olympus OM-1, F-Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 14 June 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Trafalgar Warehouse

June 25, 2020 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

It’s extremely hot anf muggy here today. Despite having a fan blowing air all day, working hasn’t been much fun. As a result, I’m going to keep it short today so I can enjoy the bliss of a cool shower!

A couple of photographs of Trafalgar Warehouse near Sheffield city centre, a former warehouse building dating to the1930s which now serves as an events venue (presumably closed at present due to the pandemic).

There are 136 glass blocks visible in this next picture, in case anyone is remotely interested. 🙂

Olympus OM-1, F-Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 14 June 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Pandemic scenes #12

June 24, 2020June 24, 2020 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

14 June was the day before the reopening of non-essential retail stores in the UK. Signs were apparent in windows, both those of retailers re-opening on the 15th, and also those who would remain closed for now. Debenhams, a UK department store, was one of those re-opening it’s doors and there was a sign in the window of it’s cafe area (although I don’t think that this part of the store will resume business just yet).

Elsewhere, there are still signs of the contruction project to renovate and re-develop part of the town centre into a new “retail quarter”. I wonder how the impact of the pandemic will affect the plan, particularly if retail is slow to return to previous levels (if it ever fully recovers)?

Olympus OM-1, F-Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 14 June 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A door for disinfectants

June 23, 2020 fishyfisharcade7 Comments

While walking around the eerily empty town centre a couple of weeks back, my route took me behing the town hall building. There I noticed a door which looked like it might make for an interesting photograph. The door itself is labled “Town Hall” via a plaque afixed to the wood, but carved into the masonery on the lintel above the entrance is the word “Disinfectants”. In all my years of living here in Sheffield, I’ve never noticed this before.

A quick bit of searching online reveals that this dates back to the Victorian period and formed part of a strategy to rid the city of the disease and vermin which would have been rife in some of the slum conditions that existed at the time in industrial cities. As the poorest members of society would not be able to afford the cost of purchasing disinfectants themselves, these would be given out by the local authority via this entrance to the town hall building.

Olympus OM-1, F-Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 14 June 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Pandemic scenes #11

June 22, 2020June 23, 2020 fishyfisharcade6 Comments

I had wondered if I might have come to the end of this series of pandemic-related photographs given the relaxing of the lockdown here in the UK, but I’ve got a few new images of scenes in the new, post-lockdown world.

The weekend before last was the final one before non-essential retail was allowed to re-open on the 15 June, so I took a trip up town to see how things looked before the shops returned to life.

The town centre was largely empty, with the largest groups of people I noticed being construction workers and homeless folks. It was a little eerie and the weather – dank and grey – felt more akin to a winter’s morning than one approaching the summer solstice. There were pigeons in the Peace Gardens and I wondered if they’ve been forced to work harder for their dinners given the lack of humans feeding them or dropping scraps?

The city has been given new signage outside some shops (although it seemed somewhat hit and miss as to which shops did – it certainly wasn’t all of them), and benches and the like feature signs requesting they not be used, or to keep your distance from others.

I’ve made a couple more trips since this one (and still have more pandemic-related photos from this roll yet to upload), so I guess this series will continue for a while yet.

Olympus OM-1, F-Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 14 June 2020