Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
Another GW690 photo from my recent walk around Wentworth. I’m posting early today as I have a dentist appointment later which might (probably will!) involve a tooth extraction, and I’m not sure whether I’ll feel like writing anything after that.
Fujica GW690 & Fomapan 400. Shot at 200asa and developed at box speed by lab (in Xtol).
Taken on 20 February 2022
There is a rabbit lurking in this picture of a cottage.
The photo was taken on a visit to the picturesque village of Wentworth, South Yorkshire, which I visited a couple of weeks ago. I got quite a few photos I’m happy with. This is a good thing as I was shooting my GW690 which only gives 8 shots per roll of 120 film, and I shot three rolls. It probably costs the best part of £1 per shot, maybe even more in this case as I had a couple of rolls lab developed as I didn’t have time to do them myself.
I bought the GW690 over a year ago and I haven’t used it all that much – probably due to the limitations of only having 8 shots per roll rather than the cost, as it means I need to take a few rolls with me in the event that I find lots of things to photograph. It does take very nice pictures when used correctly though, and I hope to use it more this year.
Fujica GW690 & Fomapan 400. Shot at 200asa and developed at box speed by lab (in Xtol).
Taken on 20 February 2022
Papa’s has been featured on the blog before, back in 2019. It’s one of those subjects that presents itself as a great photo opportunity, with lots of detail and interest, set against the backdrop of the beach and sea beyond. I had fish and chips the day I visited when making the previous post. I had fish and chips again on this occasion, but it was much colder this time around so instead of eating them on the pier, I walked back to my car parked a short distance away on the promenade and ate them while I sat and looked out at the incoming tide.
There is something comforting about eating in the car like this. It reminds me of when, as a child, we would sometimes drive to a place named Sandilands not far from Mablethorpe in my grandparent’s car. My grandma would always stay in the car, but grandad would come down on the beach with us (us being some variant of my sister, my cousins, and myself) where we would collect the big white pebbles that were scattered around, and which my grandad placed on the ground around the base of their caravan as decoration. When it got cold, we would go back to the car and eat snacks and watch as the sea came in.
Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-S 0mm f/1.8 & Ilford Delta 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°. / Olympus XA3 and Kodak Colorplus (expired 2012 and shot at 100asa)
Taken on 31 January 2022
Along the promenade at Cleethorpes I passed these two rubbish “bins”. One, south of the pier, jauntily named “Hammy the Haddock” (although Hammy sounds more like a pig’s name). The other, to the north of the pier didn’t have a name that I noticed, but as it’s a repressentation of our planet, I assume it’s called “Earth”.
It’s possible that there may be more of these designs further down the promenade to the south, but I didn’t walk much beyond Hammy on this visit. They are nicely designed pieces of functional street furniture and I can easily imaging children (and even adults) being excited to put their rubbish into either one rather than dropping it on the ground.
Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-S 0mm f/1.8 & Ilford Delta 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°.
Taken on 31 January 2022
It’s contents might not be as edible as Pizza Hut’s… But who knows? Has anywone done a comparison. I mean, wooden frames and cloth seats might not sound as good as a hawaian or a meat-feast, but perhaps it’s a yet-to-be-discovered delicacy?
Enough of this nonsense!
It’s quite a simple picture, just a shed stood in the sunshine, it’s deckchair innards waiting patiently for the warmer weather and the visitors it will bring. I like it’s simplicity though, just an angular block of white painted planks with the winter sunshine adding some nice contrast. Of the three photos I loaded to Flickr today, this one got the least likes so far, but it’s the one I like best. There’s no accounting for my taste I guess…
Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-S 0mm f/1.8 & Ilford Delta 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°.
Taken on 31 January 2022
The big wheel that stands on Cleethorpes beach has features in a number of photos on the blog recently, often in the distance. Today there a couple of closer shots.
The obvious thing to note about the structure is that the seats have been removed while the ride is closed over the winter months. Without these though it presents a cleaner profile against the blank backdrop of the blue sky day.
Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-S 0mm f/1.8 & Ilford Delta 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°.
Taken on 31 January 2022
Cleethorpes has a fairly long, straight run of beach with the pier stood maybe about halfway along its length. The pier, and the big wheel and helter-skelter that stand not too far away are prominent landmarks wherever you stand on the shore.
Being situated at the end of the Humber estuary, the beach at Cleethorpes is aluvial in texture, the sand being a dark muddy brown as it’s probably made up in a significant part by deposits from the estuary. The upper parts of the beach are sandy in a more traditional way and I wonder if this sand has not been artificially placed there for tourists. On the day I visited there was an excavator spreading sand around the upper part of the beach down past the pier. I have a photograph of that too, so I might post it on here at some point.
Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-S 0mm f/1.8 & Ilford Delta 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°.
Taken on 31 January 2022
A super-quick post today as we’ve had visitors and I don’t have much time to write anything.
The photo shows the concrete water tower at Cleethorpes and a lone campervan in a mostly empty car park.
Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-S 0mm f/1.8 & Ilford Delta 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°.
Taken on 31 January 2022
Well the weekend seems to have flown by as swiftly as usual. Much like the gull in today’s photo.
I don’t tend to photograph wildlife generally, but there were a bunch of thse gulls flying around so I made the effort to catch one on film. It was a single attempt on 100asa film using a slow-ish manual focus telephoto zoom (although I think I had it opened to it’s max aperture of f/4), so I’m pleasantly surprised at the result!
Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-Zoom 75-150mm f/4 & Ilford Delta 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°.
Taken on 31 January 2022
I thought I’d sneak this random photo of as fence into the blog today. It was taken last Monday and is my entry for this months photo competition, with the subject being “broken”. It’s not the best shot ever, but it fits the theme. My planned idea of broken eggs was foiled by my not having enough spare time to set it up and take the photos. Ah well.
I went out for the day to Leeds today. My wife and her sisted hit the shops while I wandered around with my camera. I expected to get through a couple of rolls of film at least with the Yashicamat 124G but in the end only finished one – a roll of Fomapan Retropan 320 which has been sat in the freezer a while. I’ve never shot this film before and, based on a bit of research, overexposed it by metering at 125asa. I’ll get it developed in the next week and see how it looks. It’s not a film that seems to get a lot of love, so I’m interested in how it turns out.
Fujica GW690 & Fomapan 400 (lab developed in Xtol)
Taken on 21 February 2021
