35mm · Film photography · Photography

Developing, scanning and remembering a trip in the countryside

I’ve remained mostly housebound today, with the exception of a quick trip to the local shops for some food and other essentials – and as my wife was with me, that was in the car rather than walking it there as I usually do these days. I was amused to see that the car parked beside ours had been converted into an “RV”. I’ve seen plenty of vans that have been converted, but this was a family estate car that had a cooker, cupboard and fridge, along with electrical sockets fitted in the rear. It looked like a fairly professional job had been done, but I can only image the amount of back-twisting maneouvering that would be required to carry out tasks in a space maybe three feet wide by three feet high!

I spent the rest of the day doing some other film-related tasks.

Firstly, developing a roll of Delta 400 that I finished shooting about a week ago. The process went smoothly and the negatives look good (although I haven’t scanned them yet). Some of them do look like they have noticeable dust on them though, which hasn’t happened before, so I might have issues when I do get around to scanning them.

I also scanned a roll of Fomapan 100 that I shot during my trip to Magpie Mine a little while before the country entered lockdown. The shots on that roll look quite nice, and I will post some here later in the week. The camera I used for the roll, my Yashica Mat 124G, has developed some haze on the taking lens and is currently away for a service, but the shots on this roll aren’t, for the most part, showing any signs that they’ve been affected.

Today’s photo was taken on the same day as visiting the mine as I walked back to where I’d parked my car.

A place in the country

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 16 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

The birth of a thought-bubble

The house needed it’s top-to-bottom celan today so the morning was taken up with that uninviting task. After that was done, I needed to mow the grass. Then, as it’s been a nice day today, I decided that I would go on a walk after completion of the morning’s chores. After being in a poor frame of mind when making photos while out on a walk a couple of days ago, I was hopeful that I might feel a little more inspired today. I think that one of the reasons for trying to make more pictures was that I could then develop the roll this weekend – I already have a roll of Delta 400 sat waiting and was thinking about getting them both processed at the same time. I’m not sure if this impatience is necessarily the best reason to try and shoot photographs…

As the weather was nice, and as it’s the weekend, there were quite a lot of people out, so it was a case of playing 2020’s no.1 game – Social Distancing. I kinda feel I’m trapped, Tron-style, in a game of Pac-Man. Except instead of avoiding ghosts, I’m trying to not collide with or get too close to any other humans. I wonder how many extra miles I’m walking as a result of all the times I cross the street to avoid oncoming people? Probably not many…

Anyway, my walk took me on a slightly different route and onto some heathland that I’ve not visited many times in the past. It didn’t offer much in the way of readily-available photographic opportunities unfortunately, but I’ve got some photographs of wildflowers, fenceposts and, er, barbed wire on the roll. Maybe they will look nice when I develop them…

I finished the film on my walk. I was slightly surprised when it ended at around frame #34, so that might be something else to look out for when I see the negatives. I don’t think I mis-loaded it, so I don’t know why it reached the end a couple of frames early.

My route home took me through Rother Valley – somewhere I’ve mostly been avoiding for fear of higher numbers of people enjoying the park. The weather and weekend meant that my fears were confirmed and there were a signigicant number of people there. Not as many as might be expected in normal times, and not so many that it wasn’t easy to avoid close proximity, but I’ll definitely avoid the place in future unless the weather is foul, or I go very early.

Before writing this post, I decided to load my film into the developing tank, ready to sort out tomorrow. My plan had been to develop two rolls of B&W 35mm together but, after getting the first roll (the Delta 400) onto the spiral and into the tank, I had a sudden thought that I best check the times for both rolls. I’d gotten it into my head that Delta and HP5+ have the same dev times, but was now doubting myself so, after making sure the first roll was safely light-sealed in the tank, I removed my arms from the changing bag and checked Massive Dev Chart. This was the right thing to do as HP5+ needs and extra minute over the Delta. Phew!

It’ll now mean two seperate developing sessions (plus all the boring cleaning up that is necessary afterwards – I’m making sure everything is thoroughly washed and dried after I’ve finished to ensure I don’t run into difficultie in future due to badly cared for equipment), but I’m in no great rush. I think I’ll wait until next weekend to develop the second roll now.

I thought today’s picure befitted the post as, thanks to the positioning of the lights in the store where the strange “Superman in drag” mannequin was stood, it looks like it’s in the process of forming a thought-bubble, with the though about to pop into view. Maybe that thought is “Do Delta 400 and HP5+ have the same dev times?” 🙂

Speech-bubble formation

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 14 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Making photos in the wrong frame of mind

Yesterday evening, after I finished work and had something to eat, I decided to go for a walk. Despite dry weather throughout the day, it had begun raining shortly before and, for a while, I thought I might have to put the walk off for the day. I don’t mind walking in the rain, but this would have soaked me through.

Looking to the west though, from where the clouds aere approaching, the sky was brighter, so I took the decision that the shower would soon abate and so went to put on my coat and walking boots. By the time I was ready to leave the house the rain had all but stopped.

I’ve not walked around the nearby Rother Valley Country Park since before the lock-down took place, mostly because I expect it to act as a magnet for joggers, cyclists and other people taking their allowed exercise. Yesterday, however, I thought the rain might have put people off and that it would be mostly free of people.

I planned out a route in my head that would take me along the main lake, past the smaller lake, then over a footbridge across the river. The path here would follow the river, then cross back over where it met the railway. Frome there I could use the footbridges across the railway tracks and head back into the houses and back home. A distance of around 2.5 miles.

I took my Pentax P30T fitted with a Rikkenon 50mm f/2. This aperture priority SLR is compact and light, and would do the job for any opportunistic photos that might present themselves during the walk. I made a number of pictures while out, but I began to realise that I wasn’t really feeling it and that the images were for the sake of it, rather than from my seeing something that might make a good photo. I may yet surprise myself, but at present I’m expecting these to be lacklustre photos when I finish the roll and develop them. Hopefully my next opportunity to grab a few pictures will see me in a more inspired frame of mind. Nontheless, if any of yesterdays photos have merit, I’ll post them here when I’ve developed the roll.

While I can’t in any honesty say that the lockdown is particulalrly taxing for me and my family at present, five weeks in and I’m really craving the ability to just go somewhere different, or at least to be able to go out for the sheer pleasure of it rather than the focus being primarily on getting some exercise.

Today’s photograph is of some boats and barges moored up on the River Calder close to The Hepworth. It’s a slightly odd composition – mostly because it was the only location and angle I could use to make the shot.

Boats and barges

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 14 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Outside The Hepworth

I think I’m suffering from pandemic-induced weight-gain. I spent the first few months of the year cutting back on what I eat and had lost about 15lbs in weight before the lock-down was enforced. I’ve now seen my weight slowly creep back up and it’s now increased by maybe 4lbs.

My lifestyle hasn’t changed significantly since the introduction of the lock-down and, if anything, I’ve been going out for regular walks more frequently than before (although longer hikes have been curtailed). The problem is that I’m eating more, which I suspect is down to some underlying stress and anxiety about the pandemic.

The Hepworth

This is clearly something I need to get a handle on – the thought of those months of dieting being wasted is not something I really want to deal with, so I think I’m going to have to start being properly strict with myself about it from now on.

The Hepworth #2

Today’s photos are of The Hepworth gallery and were made back in March. Not everyone is a fan of the building’s brutalist architecture, but I like it and it offers a lot of possibilities for making photographs.

The Hepworth #3

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 14 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Look up

Today’s photo is of the West Yorkshire History Centre in Wakefield, UK, which I walked past on my way to The Hepworth gallery when visiting the city back in March.

The building stands next to the busy A61 road. It is clad in a series of perforated metal panels and at ground level there are a number of interesting concrete supports next to the entrance. It makes for an interesting photographic subject but, because of its location, unless you use a wide angle lens, it will probably be difficult to frame it in a way that avoids a busy and cluttered background.

However, take a moment to tilt your gaze upwards and the clutter is removed and a stark geometric shape is instead presented.

 

West Yorkshire History Centre

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 14 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Pandemic scenes #5

Taken about a week-and-a-half before the UK was placed under lock-down, today’s photo is of a local doctor’s sugery. During the winter months this large banner is prominently displayed, encouraging those most vulnerable to seasonal flu to get a vaccination.

The sign has since been removed. I’m not sure if this is because the surgery are no longer offering vaccinations on-premises during the lockdown; if the time for these seasonal flu vaccinations has now passed; or if it’s just to avoid confusion for people who may believe that the vaccine is for Covid-19.

I wonder how long it will be before a sign advertising Covid-19 vaccinations appears?

Pandemic scenes - Pre-pandemic flu shots

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford Delta 400

Taken on 12 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Not thinking things through

I was paid today, so decided to combine my exercise with a trip to the cash machine at the local shopping mall. Knowing that cash machines are a pretty high-risk vector for transmitable viruses like COVID-19, I decided to protect myself by wearing a plastic glove. I bought the gloves recently as a means of avoiding physical contact on surfaces that others are likely to have touched – they’re just the thin plastic type that you sometimes find at petrol-stations to avoid getting fuel on your hands, or in sandwich-shops to allow the person preparing the food to avoid touching the ingredients. I would have felt uncomfortable buying surgical-style gloves (even had I been able to find any) given the recent shortages in PPE that have been encountered by frontline healthcare staff.

Sadly, I didn’t think through the process of withdrawing the money in a contactless fashion, and it quickly became apparent that next time some greater consideration of the process will be required.

I decided to wear a single glove, thinking that I’d only be touching the buttons with a single hand, and removed my card from my wallet, entered it in the machine, and then replaced my wallet in my right pocket (as I had nowhere else to put it). I could then enter my pin, select the amount I wanted to withdraw, and remove the cash with the gloved hand. All good so far.

However, I now realised that I would have to reach over into my right pocket with my left hand to get my wallet back out. I also realised that I couldn’t open my wallet with just my left hand and insert the cash without risking scattering it all over the floor. Also, and possibly key – I was holding the cash in the gloved hand that had touched the potentially compromised buttons on the machine, thus transferring any contamination onto the money I had to put in my wallet anyway! In the end I touched the outside of my wallet with the “gloved hand of contamination” in order to complete the task too.

Short of (literally!) laundering the money to clean it of anything harmful, I’m kinda stuck with the situation. Thankfully I can avoid touching the money again (at least until any pesky viruses might have been rendered harmless) and will certainly refrain from rubbing it all over my face or anything, so I think I’ll be ok (plus it’s probably absolutely fine and uncontaminated anyway).

Given that many places are dictating card-only transactions at present, it might have been better left in the account…

Unrelated to all this, here’s todays picture, a bingo hall in Sheffield city centre – somewhere else (along with the cinemas, theatres, gigs, bars, retaurants etc.) that’s likely to remain dormant for the next few months.

Bingo

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Lomography Color Negative 400.

Taken on 1 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Luggage

Taken back at the start of the month, it’s hard to think how quickly the scene portrayed here would change. It’s now very unlikely that you will see people trundling luggage through the streets given the large scale reduction in public and private transportation. only today, Easyjet, a UK-based budget airline, announced that it would be grounding its entire fleet until further notice.

While the curtailment of my own photography due to the pandemic continues, I did take several photographs in the house today. A few weeks before this whole situation unfolded I bought a small, cheap, but effective collapsible mini-studio. While it’s quite small, it will be useful for taking macro shots of items. Today, however, I used my Minolta SRT 101b and 50mm f/1.7. Getting as close as the camera would allow, I was able to take photographs of some fruit and vegetables. While I don’t think I’ll be troubling the works of Edward Weston any time soon, it’ll be interesting to see how they turn out nonetheless. Also, each photo I take gets me a little closer to the point where I can have my first bash at home development, which (although still making me slightly nervous) I’m eager to try now I have most of the necessary equipment.

Luggage

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Lomography Color Negative 400.

Taken on 1 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Eleven flights

As I briefly mentioned the other day, the skies are currently almost empty of aircraft, something noticeable on clear days. Today not so much as it’s mostly cloudy (and considerably chillier!) so the sight has been lessened somewhat. To mark the lack of flights, today I post a picture of eleven flights.

Of stairs.

As I type this I’ve not checked the news for today’s pandemic updates. I’m not planning on burying my head in the sand over the situation, but dwelling on a constant 24-hour news-cycle of reports on the pandemic are probably not great for mental health, so I’m going to try and get on with things as normally as possible, dipping into the news only when appropriate.

Today’s previously mundane, but now suddenly “interesting” activity was to go to the local supermarket for some things we needed. I only posted the other day about only going to get provisions once a week, and that seems to have fallen through straight away as my wife was unable to get all the things we needed yesterday. So, this morning, I drove to the local Sainsbury’s to get the things we were missing.

The branch of Sainsburys is attached to a shopping-mall close to where we live and there were plenty of car-parking spaces as most of the other shops in the mall are closed at present. The supermarket has implemented a queueing system that allows twenty people in the store at a time, which requires people to stand in the car-park outside in a zig-zag queue. The parking spaces make handy markers for keeping apart, and the was a gap of three or four metres between each person (or family). Everyone was behaving and, despite it being colder today, seemed in good spirits – chatting with their fellow shoppers and sharing news of what was open, where the treasured items (pasta and toilet rolls) might be acquired, and being generally good-natured. Despite the queue seeming quite long, I got into the store in the third block of people.

Stock on the shelves was pretty plentiful apart than a few items I noticed (pasta and dried rice), and I was able to get the things we needed, plus a few other items that we were running short on.

Eleven flights

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Lomography Color Negative 400.

Taken on 1 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Bright colours for dark times

It’ll not be too long before my (more) usual posting of black and white photos resumes, but for a while at least I’ll post more of these colourful and saturated Lomography Color Negative shots. It suits the lovely weather we currently have here in the UK and maybe some sunny photos will lift people’s spirits in some small way. Today’s photo is of the gable-end of a row of shops just down the road from Harrison Cameras in Sheffield. I took if from the base of a block of flats just behind – and raised a little above – the building and the light was being reflected back on the scene in an attractive way. I like how the hedge on the left is illuminated such that it mirroes the green bins at the opposite side of the frame.

In today’s COVID-19 update, it would seem that both our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock have tested positive for coronavirus infection. While i don’t wish serious illness upon either of them, it might be a situation that helps to convince some in the country of the seriousness of the situation. At present, while the lock-down is noticeable in the quietness of the streets – particularly at night – there still seems to be a decent amount of activity on the streets.

We’ve been told by the government that we should stay indoors for all but essential reasons: to buy essential shopping; for medical reasons (including provision of care for someone we’re responsible for); to travel to work (but only where this is essential and working from home isn’t an option); and for one period of exercise (such as a walk, run or cycle).

I think some people are using this as an excuse to carry out other pastimes under the guise of exercise – I saw a post from someone on Facebook who had gone into the countryside with not only a camera, but also a drone. While the person may have been safely able to avoid other people, there is always the small chance that something could go wrong – even a simple flat-tyre – which would then require the assistance of others. Taking a local walk with a camera in your pocket would seem a reasonable thing to do (as long as the exercise is the primary goal and you can avoid close contact with others), but driving out to beauty-spots feels a little like taking liberties.

As for us, we will only shop for food on a single occasion each week (although I guess it could be necessary to visit more than a single retailer) – we can manage without certain items if needed, so a single trip to the shops reduces our contact with others. We, thankfully, don’t have any medical requirements that we need to leave home for. My dad is elderly, but fit and active, and my sister still lives at home with him anyway. I work from home, so no need to travel for that, although my wife works in a key role that requires her to travel to her place of work each day still. She drives, so isn’t at risk from others on public transport at least. As for exercise, I have been going out for a walk, but haven’t the past couple of days. We’ve got an exercise bike in the garage (that can now be used again following yesterdays garage tidying activities!), so I’ll use that if required. Whle I can go out for a walk while easily avoiding others, I feel like maybe I shouldn’t unless absolutely necessary, so I’ll see how that goes.

I’ve tidied and cleaned my home-office today. I work in there, but it also houses my PC and scanner that U use for my photos. Hopefully my next scans will not feature constellations of stars across them from all the dust spots! 🙂

Somewhat to my surprise, most of the home-developing stuff I ordered yesterday has already arrived (although I still don’t have a developing tank yet, which is kinda important) so, once I get the final bits and pieces I’ll be in a position to ruin develop my own film. Or at least I will when I’ve finished a roll – my shooting rate seems to have declined a bit this week…

Pink gable

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Lomography Color Negative 400.

Taken on 1 March 2020