Today has been a nice day. I started off with a bit of a lie in (nothing to extravagant – the days of laying in bed all morning are a thing of the past, my free time is too precious these days – but staying in bed till 8:30 is still a joy).

Later in the morning my wife and I went to view a bungalow (as we are planning on moving house). The property had a lot of potential, but would no be somewhere we could move straight into as it has too many things that would need to be done to make it liveable. It would cost quite a lot of money to carry out the necessary work too. The house was vacant and we were told that the lady who originally owned it had moved into care and the council was now selling the house to pay for this. While all the furniture had been removed, there were still a few small signs of the person who had lived there before, including a certificate of her husband’s retirement from his job on one of the walls, beside which was stuck a sheet of paper listing names and birthdays of people the owner had once known. It was quite sad to see these small reminders of lives now moved on.

Then, this afternoon, we went strawberry picking. The weather had forecast rain showers, but this changed and it was a lovely warm day with blue skies scattered with fluffy lumps of cumulus. We got three large punnets of strawberries, most for us, but also for my day, my sister-in-law, and our niece. I snuck a few berries while picking them and they were delicious. I’ll enjoy more of them this evening with a bit of cream.

It’s very nice to have a day like this.

Olympus OM-10, Zuiko Auto-S 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Pro Image. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted using Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 1 March 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Shadow drop off

June 13, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

One thing I noticed with this first roll of Kodak Pro Image is that a few shots seemed to lose a lot of shadow detail, including the one below. I actually cropped this one as the lower bottom left of the image fell to mush, although you can still see some of the effect in the hedge. I had another shot from the roll that looked similar too.

I’m not sure if my camera just metered badly in these cases as all other images on the roll are well exposed. It’ll be interesting to see if I spot any similar issues when I scan the next roll.

Olympus OM-10, Zuiko Auto-S 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Pro Image. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted using Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 1 March 2025

Digital · Photography

Uncovering a hidden river

May 10, 2025 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

Sheffield has several rivers. The main river is the Don, but there are a number of smaller rivers that join it along it’s course, including the Loxley, the Rivelin, the Porter, and the Sheaf. The latter is where Sheffield derives it’s name: Sheaf Field.

For much of it’s length through the city centre, the Sheaf is subteranean, flowing through a series of man-made culverts and tunnels. One of these, named the Megatron, sometimes has guided tours!

The section of the Sheaf just above where it joins the Don is being uncovered as part of a new park on the site of the old castle site, and it can be seen in the photograph today beneath the ladder-like series of supports in the lower part of the image. The area to the left of the picture will form the park when the work is complete, and the river will act as a border and feature of the landscape.

Ricoh GRIII

Taken on 10 May 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Clifford’s Tower

February 20, 2024 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

Clifford’s Tower dates to 1245, although a wooden fortification stood atop the raised earthwork mound before then, but was replaced after it burnt down. Archaeological evidence shows activity on the site dating back to the Romans.

I didn’t visit the tower during this trip to York, nor have I visited it on the several other visits to the city over the past few decades. I did get to climb it on a trip when I was a child when visiting with my parents. I can’t remember how old I was and remember little about the trip apart from walking along the city walls, and going to the National Railway Museum. I guess my dad will have a few photos somewhere, and maybe I’ll try and find those one day.

Both the pictures posted here are a little fuzzy for some reason. No other shots from the roll exhibit the same issue, so I don’t know what’s happened there.

Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken on 20 December 2023