This photo was made on our first visit to Bakewell in almost a year. I last visited back in October last year. I’d planned on going out again when the autumn colour kicked in properly but the country was thrust into a series of “tiers” based on Covid-19 infection rates and I was unable to travel beyond our local area.
While it was nice to get out there again on this day the weather wasn’t the best, being dull and rainy while we were there. I shot twenty frames with the XA3 and got a few nice pictured despite the conditions, including this one looking up the River Wye.
I was very busy with work and sorting our cat out after his recent accident, so stumped up to have this and another roll lab developed to save me the time.
A trip to Bakewell On a dull and rainy day Can still be quite nice
An iconic symbol of traditional British seaside resorts, the chair in this photo was nowhere near a beach – it was for sale on a stall with a wide array of memorabilia and brik-a-brak.
I like to look at stalls and shops selling this sort of stuff. Occasionally they’ll have something I’m interested in purchasing (camera gear probably), but they are also a treasure trove of nostalgia and unknown stories. Wher did this deckchair come from for instance? Was it taken from a seaside beach at some point, or was it purposely bought for someone’s garden, or perhaps to take on days out so the cost and hassle of hiring a chair might be avoided? Similarly the Bahamas calendar hung up beside it? Who bought it? When did they travel there? How did it end up on this stall? (although I fear I know the answer in most cases…).
Often you will find children’s toys, whether abandoned as they grow out of them, or perhaps lost, like something from a Toy Story movie. Sometimes things that you might expect no-one would buy, such as the plastic radiotherapy mask that was also on this stall – whoever that belonged to, I hope they discarded it as part of a full recovery.
When I was a child I would watch Bagpuss on TV. For those unfamiliar with the show, it was a children’s programme about an antique shop owned by a girl named Emily. Within the shop were a number of children’s toys including stuffed animals, dolls, carved wooden bookends, a “marvellous, mechanical, mouse organ” and the eponymous Bagpuss himself, a pink and white saggy old cloth cat. In each episode, Emily would bring a lost item to the shop and the inhabitants would awaken (“When Bagpuss wakes up, all his friends wake up”!) and they would examine the item, someone would tell the charming tale of it’s history, and it would be mended (by the mice) and placed back in the shop window so that it’s owner might find it again. It was made by a British animation studion called Smallfilms who made a number of similarly nostalgic and charming shows. The creators of the shows were Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate, both of whom are sadly no longer with us, but whom countless grown-up children carry a small fond part of in their memories.
Stalls such of this always remind me of Bagpuss a little.
A saggy cloth cat Brings back memories of youth Now I’m saggy too
Yashicamat 124G & Shaghai GP3. Lab developed in Xtol.
This is one of those photos that I have high hopes for when I first see the negative but which, on closer examination, is let down by some technical problem. In this case the man in the mirror is slightly out of focus. Now there’s a good reason for this – the photo wasn’t a posed portrait, it was a candid shot which involved me crouching down to get the correct angle on the mirror and then capturing someone’s refelction as they walked past. People would be in the mirror for a fraction of a second, so no time to nail the focus and I just went with what looked right in the brief moments that someone passed through the frame.
I still like the picture a lot, but wish I’d have nailed the focus better. The pose is bang on though and I don’t think I could have gotten anything better.
Man in a mirror Seeing a reflection of A photographer
Yashicamat 124G & Shaghai GP3. Lab developed in Xtol.
Still on the photos of vintage cars and the like made during my recent trips to a couple of traction / vintage rallies.
Today a 1952, series 62 Cadillac Coupe. I know this because it says so on the car’s license plate. 🙂
Once again, some very nice results from the pushed Shanghai GP3. Unfortunately more dust spots than normal, but I always seem to find this when I have lab developed film – the rolls I develop at home have far less dust surprisingly (although they do tend to suffer much more from drying marks).
No pink Cadillac This one was rusty and worn Perhaps on purpose
Yashicamat 124G & Shaghai GP3. Lab developed in Xtol.
The three people in today’s photos caught my eye as I wandered around the collection of classic vehicles at the Smallwood Steam Rally last week. It was the tall stovepipe hats that attracted my attention initially as they could be seen from a couple of rows of cars away.
When I reached them they had all sat down for a breather beside a large trailer / RV. Rather than attempt a candid shot, I asked if they would allow me to make a portrait, to which they kindly agreed. I think the Yashicamat helped in this – TLRs are quite the attention grabbers in a way that a regular SLR or rangefinder probably wouldn’t be.
The photo is on Shanghai GP3, but shot at 200asa and push-processed. One of the other people at the rally with us that day had said it was his favourite film shot this way, and the results are pretty nice. Almost with a Fuji Acros look to them.
It was difficult to find developing times to push the film (at least with the developers I had to hand). While I found some suggested times, there was some variance depending upon where I looked. The other option would have been to use the standard 1.5x normal developing time for pushing a single stop. In the end I decided to take them to my local lab rather than risk messing things up – I thought I might have some nice pictures on the roll, plus it had been a 3-hour round trip to get to the rally, and I didn’t want to lose the photos.
The negs were a little on the thin side, but scanned really nicely.
Once upon a time Engineers would wear these hats When building marvels
Yashicamat 124G & Shaghai GP3. Lab developed in Xtol.
I think it’s the balloon that does it but there’s a definite cheerful look about this Fiat 600. The front of the car itself (something which resembles a face in pretty much all vehicles to a greater or lesser extent) also has a somwhat feline aspect, the chrome bars and logo resembling a nose and whiskers. Or is it just me?
A car has a face Anthropomorphisation Is what it’s called
More vintage rally photos, this time a couple of vintage Chevy pickup trucks. I’m no expert on such things (as I’ve pointed out more than once on this blog), and I’m British and these are American trucks to boot, but a bit of Googling has given me the models. At least I think it has. As always any expert opinions correcting my errors are gratefully received.
Anyay, the first is, I believe, A Chevrolet AK, which were produced between 1941 and 1947, placing this particular vehicle near the end of that production run.
The second truck is around three decades younger being (again, I believe) a Chevrolet Blazer. I’m tentatively dating this one to the late 70s – 1977 onwards – due to the 5×3 grid on the radiator grille. Again I could be talking out of my backside though!
Maybe I hould have asked the truck, although it has a slightly worried looking expression… 🙂
American trucks Gas guzzling automation Moving the masses
Last weekend I visited another vintage rally, this time the Smallwood Vintage Rally in Cheshire. It was a little smaller than the Astle Park event I visited a few weeks earlier and missed on some exhibits like the persiod funfair rides – there was still a funfair but it was mostly modern attractions. I doubt I would travel across the country to visit it again (hopefully the more local events will be back next year), but it was good to meet up with some fellow photographers I know via an online photography forum. As we all shoot film cameras, and as a few of us had proposed bringing folding cameras along, an informal competition was devised where we would each attempt to photograph something from the same decade as the camera.
I still had just over half-a-roll of HP5+ in my 1950s era Zeiss Mess-Ikonta, so would use that for the challenge. I also took my Yashicamat 124G on the day. As the Yashicamat if much easier to use than the Zeiss, I endeavoured to use up the partial roll in the folding camera first and completely forgot about the competition. Luckily though, one of the pictures I made was of a bubble-car that, upon later research, turned out to be an Isetta 300 manufactured and first registered in 1959, just squeaking through the competition rules. There’s no prize, and probably not even any judging, so I didn’t have anything to lose, but I’m glad I got something that fit the bill anyway.
50s bubble-car Fifties made, like my camera Here to save the day
Excuse for a short post no. 374: I’m off to see Shang Chi at the cinema in a few minutes, so don’t have much time to type up a longer entry. Sorry! 🙂
To protect your head From the sunshine or the rain A hat made of leather
Well the photographs from the Astle Traction Engine Rally continue to appear, and still several more likely to make a showing too. I hope I’m not boring anyone with these.
I don’t really have any great interest in the machines for their own sakes. They’re impressive, to be sure, and interesting to look upon, and I’m very grateful for the fact that they’re still being maintained and made available to see for the general public. But my interest almost ends there. They make beautiful subjects for photographs though, don’t they?
And so I visit steam rallies, classic car shows, and other similar events where old machines and other artefacts of days gone by might be found. I might not know much about the things on show but I know a worthwhile picture when I see one I think.
I know what these are Not at an expert level I just make pictures
