Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
A quick post today as I’m off to the movies with my eldest son in a bit.
Keeping a slight movie theme, here’s a picture of Tom Hanks, who I found sitting patiently beside the wax museum ticket booth in Barcelona.
Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 20 December 2024
This is possibly my favourite film photo I made while in Barcelona in December. I like the way I managed to compose it, the timing, the colours (those splashes of red), and the shallow depth of field.
Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 20 December 2024
So says Diego Maradona, apparently.
Something good that happened today…
It’s that time of year when I take a day off work and watch the Oscars. Because they are broadcast live in the early hours of the morning here in the UK (and as I pretty much always have a need to get up early the next day, even if I have the day off it seems), I resort to recording the show and then watching it the morning after. This requires a careful media blackout when I wake up to avoid spoilers, but I usually manage this successfully, and this year was no exception.
I didn’t start watching it until 9:30am and, because it’s such a long show, it didn’t finish until 1:30pm (taking into consideration my fast-forwarding through some of the breaks, but also pausing it to get drinks, snacks, and lunch).
Of all the main nominated films this year, I’ve only gotten around to seeing two of them – Dune Part 2, and The Substance – so will have to try and catch up on the others when they appear on one of the streaming services. Sadly I don’t get to the movies as much as I once did – before we had kids we’d regularly see two or three films in a week at the cinema – and don’t really get enough time to watch that many at home either (not without sacrificing other activities, at least). Maybe one day, when I’m retired, I’ll have enough time to do all the things I’d like to…
Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 20 December 2024
Today has been split (so far) into four main sections.
Firstly, my dad paid his usual Sunday morning visit. He arrived a little earlier than I expected because he’d walked it (he still walks miles most days – not bad for a guy in his mid-eighties. I hope I might be as fit when I get to that age!) and I was still sorting the cats out when he got here. I didn’t hear him come in, but I’m not sure if this was because I was outside, or if my hearing is getting worse.
The second chunk of the day was spent developing a roll of Ilford HP5+ that I shot recently. This one was deliberately pushed a stop (unlike yesterday’s accidental push) and the negatives look nice. I’ll maybe get to scan them later this week.
After the developing was done and all the gear tidied away I grabbed something to eat and then watched The French Connection on TV. Hearing the sad news of Gene Hackman’s death (along with his wife and dog) made me remember I’d never watched the movie (I’ve seen the car chase scene on clip shows many times though), so I decided to put that right. I enjoyed the movie a lot. It’s interesting to see how film making styles have changed over time.
The fourth part has been scanning some negatives – a roll of Kodak Gold shot with the Kodak H35N half-frame camera I got for Christmas from my Secret Santa. I’ll say more about this camera and the results in a future post, but the 70-something frames seem to be taking forever to scan. As I type this I still have two full strips to go, and I’ve been scanning a strip a day since the middle of the week!
The rest of the evening will be spent watching TV.
I mentioned the circus – Circo Raluy Legacy – that made up part of Barcelona’s Christmas attractions beside the marina in my post a couple of days ago, and here’s a picture of it.
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
It’s been a good day today. Not only did I have the time to take an outing with my camera(s), the weather was also perfect too. This sort of alignment of the fates is a rarity!
I decided to take a day trip to Lincoln. Lincoln is a nice city to wander around with plenty to see and photograph, and it has the added bonus of only being about an hour’s drive away.
The weather forecast had given the impression of clear blue skies which, while better in many regards to flat grey skies, can also be a little uninteresting, but I was blessed with blue skies full of streaks of thin high-altitude cloud, meaning I got the benefit of the good light with the bonus of interesting textures.
I managed to shoot three-and-a-half rolls of film – two-and-a-half colour, and a roll of B&W.
Although it was a great day, there was one small hiccup – I forgot to change the ASA dial on my Olympus OM-10 and shot the entire roll of Agfa APX 100 at 400ASA. This normally wouldn’t be a problem as I’ve pushed film on many occasions before (even if this time it was accidental), but it seems there is very little data out there on pushing Agfa APX 100 beyond 200ASA.
It looks like I can develop it for 25 minutes(!) in Rodinal 1+50, but there are no times for Ilfotec DD-X. There are calculations that can be used to get a rough idea of how long to push films, but I prefer to use tried and tested methods – I think there will be some nice photos on the roll and I don’t want to ruin them with ham-fisted experimentation.
Other alternatives include stand or semi-stand development (but, again, it’s not something I’ve done before, and I’m a bit worried about maintaining the temperature to avoid bromide drag), and splashing out on a bottle of Ilford HC (or HC-110, or one of the other variants) – which also has a recipe for pushing the film two stops. Or rather for pushing Kentmere 100 by two stops (I believe they are the same film stock).
Anyway, I’ll be sure to let my reader know what I decide to do and how I fare. Wish me luck!
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
One of the occasional pictures I post that I’ve used as an entry in the annual film photography competition I’ve taken part in for the past few years. The theme for this one was Games of Chance, and the shot was an emergency backup for another picture that didn’t work out as expected.
Something good that happened today…
I usually restrict the cats to downstairs when I’m working alone at home as they tend to make a nuisance of themselves. Today I decided to give them a chance.
They made nuisances of themselves.
Nonetheless it was nice to have them around. I might do it more often – maybe I’ll bring their beds upstairs so they can sleep in my office while I work.
Olympus OM-10 & Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8. Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken in November 2024
St. Peter’s church stands in Trusthorpe, a village that sits between Mablethorpe and Sutton-on-Sea. The village just merges into the two other locations though with no countryside in between. Much of the land just behind the sea defences is now the home of a large caravan park, which can be seen in the bottom two pictures. If you look very closely at the second caravans photo, you can just see the tower of St. Peter’s poking up out of the treeline.
Something good that happened today…
I had a Jamaican salt fish patty for my lunch today. Never had one before and it was pretty nice.
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 21 September 2024
There is a house behind that tree. You can just about make it out…
Something good that happened today…
I was told today that I’ve been successful in keeping my job, which is a huge relief.
The relief and gratitude is, however, considerably tempered by the fact that lots of my colleagues have not been so fortunate and will be leaving the team (and possibly the business) in the near future, which is horrible. I’ve been in that position myself, and it was awful. I expect that all of them will be able to find new jobs given the line of business we are in and their hands on experience, but it’s still not a happy situation for them to be put in through no fault of their own. They are all good people and I will really miss them.
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 21 September 2024
The last batch of last year’s Mablethorpe / Sutton-on-Sea chalet / beach hut pictures (although I may have a few more worthwhile digital picture that I might pull out of the hat if I need something to post one day).
These four were all shot on Tri-X, rather than the expired Plus-X of the others.
Something good that happened today…
It’s been a bit of a lazy Sunday. My dad visited this morning. Then I developed a roll of film I shot a couple of weeks ago (my first official 2025 film photos). Then I spent the rest of the afternoon doing not much apart from browsing the internet and watching a bit of TV. A roast chicken Sunday Dinner has filled my belly.
Given the uncertainty over what could happen tomorrow, I think this relaxed day is something to be happy about and be thankful for.
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 21 September 2024
Another Lifeguards hut. Never photographed this one before, although given that they all look pretty much the same, it’s not so much the hut as the surroundings. This one overlooks the beach at Sutton-on-Sea.
Something good that happened today…
I’ve done little today other than scan some negatives and watch TV. But it’s been relaxing, and that’s a good thing.
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 21 September 2024
Steel City Snapper photography 