Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
Two subjects (which conveniently stand next door to one another) that have featured on the blog a number of times before (here, here and here, for instance). Sometimes subjects just demand further photographs, I find.
Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 16 February 2025
Today, I decided to roll up my sleeves and develop three rolls of black-and-white 120 film which I’ve recently shot. I had two rolls of Kodak Tri-X, and a single roll of expired Kodak Tmax 100 to process.
I have two developing tanks, a small one which will take two rolls of 135 film, or a single roll of 120, and a larger tank that will double the amount of film I can develop, so the Tmax went in the small tank, and the Tri-X in the larger one. My plan was to develop all three rolls using Ilfotec DD-X, but I realised when making up the solution for the two rolls of Tri-X that there would not be enough left for the other roll.
Not to worry, I thought, I’ll develop it in Rodinal instead. I’ve not developed Tmax 100 in Rodinal before, but expected it might look nice given it’s a fine grained 100asa film. So, after completing the Tri-X, I started to get myself prepared to develop the Tmax – the usual stuff: getting the water to the right temperature, making sure I had all the necessary bits and bobs required (including drying stuff I’d just used with the Tri-X). Then I encountered a problem…
I couldn’t get the top off my bottle of Rodinal. It has a safety cap which requires downward pressure while turning in order to remove it but, today, no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t come loose. It just rotated and clicked annoyingly. At one point I was using so much downward force that the bottle started to collapse in on itself! After five minutes of fruitless effort, I gave up on the enterprise, and decided that I would have to force open the bottle and store it in a different bottle. As I don’t have another suitable bottle (I’d assumed the bottle it came in would be fine) I ordered a brown glass medicine bottle from eBay, and I’ll re-home the developer when it arrives.
Later in the afternoon I searched online to see if anyone else had encountered similar problems and I found a recent Reddit thread describing the exact same issue. A few people had managed to remove the stuck cap with pliers or a wrench, so I’ll give that a try. The consensus seems to be that the developer crystalises in the safety mechanism of the cap, causing it to get stuck and no longer function properly.
Anyway, both rolls of Tri-X came out fine (although I did manage to drop one of them on the bathroom floor when taking it off the reel, coating it with bits of dust and a strand of hair, and necessitating me re-washing it).
No Rodinal was used in the development of the two pictures below. Perhaps that was for the best.
Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 16 February 2025
I’ve noticed this cluster of road-signs and various poles (for power lines and lighting) before, but this is the first picture I’ve taken of it, aided by the reach provided by the 28-200mm lens I used.
There’s a lone pedestrian in among the street furniture too.
Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 16 February 2025
Neepsend is a district in Sheffield that lies just to the north of Kelham Island. The River Don forms the border between the two areas.
Neepsend remains a largely industrial area, with numerous small factories and workshops throughout the area, although there is a creep of gentrification occurring and the district now also provides homes to a number of different bars, restaurants and other places of entertainment. Whether the entire area will become largely residential over time, as happened to Kelham Island, remains to be seen (a lot of the industry is still very much active whereas I think most of Kelham’s had been lost (leaving a plentiful array of old factory buildings to be converted into residential spaces, or empty land for new build homes)
Yashica Mat 124G & Lomography Color Negative 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 2 February 2025
This is another one of those pictures that I like, despite its mundane and (some might say) unattractive subject matter.
I quite like it for the fact that, in years to come, it will be a reminder that some people enjoy dipping their fries in a milkshake.
My son had his interview this lunchtime and I’m very proud of him. It’s the first interview he’s had, he’s had literally one day’s notice, plus he is neurodiverse, so these situations pose an added challenge, and the fact he went in and did it by himself is brilliant. I’m not sure if he will get an offer of a job but, having heard what is required, the role is probably not a great fit for him anyway. The experience will be valuable, whatever the outcome.
Yashica Mat 124G & Lomography Color Negative 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 2 February 2025
Today has been taken up with two main things. Firstly a trip to the local supermarket this morning to pick up some cat treats for our two moggies, although also to see if there were any post-Easter chocolate egg bargains to be had. Spoiler Alert: there were. So we now have a bunch more chocolate in the house. Our twin boys will scoff most of it, but there’s still a some for my wife and I to enjoy.
The other thing has been looking for employment opportunities for our son. He is about to finish an internship where we had been given some hope that there might be a job for him, but it now looks like that won’t be the case (nothing to do with his performance, which has been exemplary). So we are now moving to the next stage of his working life, which is slightly uncertain at present as it’s the first time he’ll be outside of educational support.
We spotted a vacancy at a new store that is opening not far from where we live which might have suitable roles, and dropped his CV in this morning, which led to a phone call this afternoon with an offer of an interview. This is great news on one hand, but having looked at staff reviews of the employer, I’m a bit concerned that it might not be a good place to work. Those parental worries kicking in again…
Whatever the case, the interview will be a good thing for him to experience, even if he doesn’t get the job, or decides against taking it. We’re fortunate to be in a position where he can live with us for as long as he needs to, which is comforting.
Apropos of nothing, a photograph of some modern housing at Kelham Island.
Yashica Mat 124G & Lomography Color Negative 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 2 February 2025
This is probably the last of the Barcelona pictures that I’ll share on the blog (unless I decide to publish some more of the digital shots I took, many of which are sat on my computer largely untouched).
Something different coming tomorrow… (that makes it sound a lot more exciting than it will actually be, lol).
Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 22 December 2024
A bit on a picture dump today. These are a bunch of photos I too while wandering around Barcelona with my wife. As I mentioned yesterday, I rarely get my best pictures when out with my another person, so I tend to grab photos when I get the chance but without necessarily spending the time and effort needed to get anything particularly accomplished. This makes it sound like I’m some sort of perfectionist figure the rest of the time, and I’m really not – I shoot a lot of pictures, often quite quickly – but I am able to focus on what I’m doing exclusively, which tends to produce better results.
Something good that happened today…
Speaking of shooting a lot of pictures, I rattled through a full 36 exposure roll of Agfa APX 100 during a walk this morning. I drove out to the village of Whitwell, which is about a 20 minute drive away with the singular reason to get through the full roll so I could test semi-stand development. The last roll of this film, which I shot in Lincoln last weekend, was accidentally underexposed by two stops and there are few available recipes for standard development in this situation with this particular film (at least with the developers I have to hand), so a number of people suggested stand or semi-stand development as the beast option.
As I’ve never attempted this process before, and as I think I might have some nice photographs from the Lincoln trip, I decided to underexpose another roll in the same way and make my first attempt on a slightly less valuable set of pictures (although I think there will probably be some nice shots on this Whitwell roll too – I didn’t just shoot random rubbish).
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I attempted semi-stand development in Rodinal today and the negatives look good. The proof will be when I get to scan them, but they look decent to my eye at this stage at least. I’ll write a proper post about this when I have some of the pictures ready to share.
Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 22 December 2024
This location had a lot of potential for interesting pictures, the mirrored tiles on the curved overhang casting all sorts of interesting reflections. It’s a location which, had I been there alone, I would have spent some time working to try and find the best shots.
This sort of activity isn’t really possible when I’m with someone else though, as I quickly become conscious that I’m keeping that person (my wife in this case, with little interest in photography) hanging around and I begin to feel selfish. It’s why I almost always prefer solo photography.
While my wife is not a photographer, she did spot this scene at the same time as me and commented that it would make a good picture. Perhaps I’m rubbing off on her. 🙂
Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 22 December 2024
Sagrada Família, or to give its full name: Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Designed by fames Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudi, work began on consrtuction one-hundred-and-forty-three years ago, on 19 March 1882. Gaudi himself died in 1926 and was buried in the church’s crypt when just twenty-five percent of the building was complete. Work is currently expected to complete in 2026, marking the anniversary of Gaudi’s death.
I’ve visited the church on two occasions now, and on both was unable to go inside. On the first occasion I didn’t want to wait for an entrance slot – visitors must book tickets to enter – and on the second visit there were no tickets available whatsoever on the day. Had I planned in advance, I’m sure I’d have been ok but, if I’m honest, I don’t think I was really that concerned. While I’m sure the church interiors are breathtaking, the thought of being in there with hundreds of other tourists isn’t something that appeals, and ideally it’s the sort of place the deserves time to experience all it has to offer – something I wouldn’t have had as my wife had little interest in going inside, and I would have felt guilty leaving her sat outside while I took my time to explore.
Maybe one day I’ll visit properly, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 22 December 2024
Steel City Snapper photography 