On my trip to Cleethorpes I made a number of pictures around the railway station. While I’m not a railway enthusiast in the sense of being interested in trains especially, I do find that the locomotives, carriages, rolling stock and the infrastructure that surrounds them makes for evocative photographs.
I like how this picture came out. It reminds me of something that might turn up in a set of old mounted slides or something, despite being a contemporary scene and being shot on colour negative film. It wouldn’t have worked anywhere near as nicely without the great light though
Olympus XA3 and Kodak Colorplus (expired 2012 and shot at 100asa)
At the end of January I took myself off for a day at the seaside town of Cleethorpes. It was a nice day with vivid blue skies and plenty of bright winter sunshine. There wasn’t much in the way of warmth however, not helped by the fact that we still had the tail-end of Storm Malik creating blustery conditions. However, this being the UK in wintertime, I was glad enough for the bright day and wore enough clothes to keep the chill at bay.
I didn’t have any particular plans for the day other than to take a bunch of photographs at an off-season seaside town. I knew that most of the attractions would be shuttered up for the winter, but that was kinda the point – to see it in the times when it isn’t full of holidaymakers and day-trippers.
I’d parked up right on the promenade. Unsurprisingly there were plenty of spaces to choose from – almost all of them in fact, and after buying a ticket I decided to head north to the end of the promenade where the beach heads on up to Grimsby. The wind was bitingly cold, but my jacket kept me warm, and I kept on my gloves unless I wanted to make a picture. Despite the fact that most things were shuttered, the big amusement arcade was open and I went in for a bit of warmth and a quick game on an old Galaga machine that I found lurking in a corner.
I had three cameras with me, which might sound like overkill, but two of them (the Olympus XA3 with which today’s photos were shot, and my digital Ricoh) are both tiny and easily pocketable. Only the OM-2n required a bag to carry it and a couple of extra lenses.
The photos in todays blog are of the small funfair on the beach. It’s not much of a funfair – just three rides – but I think it’s pretty much all that is left in terms of these sorts of things at the resort. There used to be a small theme park to the south of the town with some actual thrill rides, but that closed years ago. There were also larger rides including dodgems and a waltzer inside one of the buildings on the promenade, but I believe that it’s now an indoor market. This small cluster of beach attractions consists of a big-wheel (sans carriages at this time of year), a helter-skelter (all locked up), and a kiddies rollercoaster (missing its train, again because no children are around to ride on it in January). Despite their inactivity, they still made for colourful pictures in the bright sunshine though.
The old expired roll of Colorplus (which came with the XA3 when I bought it early last summer) has come out a treat.
Olympus XA3 and Kodak Colorplus (expired 2012 and shot at 100asa)
As I might not have full access to my PC to post for a few days while we’re having some decorating done, I’ve pre-written a few posts with older pictures that I haven’t posted before (I hope!). As I’m a little stuck for time to write them, they’ll each have this same boilerplate text. If I get back on my PC earlier than usual I’ll probably put the remaining ones back into the drafts folder for emergencies.
You’re not going to escape the crappy haiku’s though…
Estuarial beach A feeding ground for the gulls As strangers pass by
As I might not have full access to my PC to post for a few days while we’re having some decorating done, I’ve pre-written a few posts with older pictures that I haven’t posted before (I hope!). As I’m a little stuck for time to write them, they’ll each have this same boilerplate text. If I get back on my PC earlier than usual I’ll probably put the remaining ones back into the drafts folder for emergencies.
You’re not going to escape the crappy haiku’s though…
Although it looks cold It was very warm this day Ice creams in winter!
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF & Fomapan 400.
As I might not have full access to my PC to post for a few days while we’re having some decorating done, I’ve pre-written a few posts with older pictures that I haven’t posted before (I hope!). As I’m a little stuck for time to write them, they’ll each have this same boilerplate text. If I get back on my PC earlier than usual I’ll probably put the remaining ones back into the drafts folder for emergencies.
You’re not going to escape the crappy haiku’s though…
Hey crappy haiku Why assault my senses With your rubbish verse?
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF & Fomapan 400.
As I type this Flickr is still undergoing its site maintenance involving the moving of everyone’s accounts, pictures etc. (billions of photos and videos, and over 100 million accounts!) across to a new hosting platform. I think it was scheduled to take 12 hours, but like many IT projects, is taking a little while longer than originally planned. As such I can’t get at my photos to add them in the normal way so, instead, here’s one I’ve uploaded directly.
Note: This isn’t meant to be a metaphor for Flickr’s account migration project. 🙂
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF & Fomapan 400.
“Bracing”, that’s the word we use to describe those seaside walks in bitterly cold wind.
This day however was far from bracing – it was taken back in February during an unseasonably warm period. Good old climate change, eh? At least we’ll get some nice warm days at the seaside in the middle of the winter before the sea swamps the place altogether so we can never visit it again.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF & Fomapan 400.
This was taken back in February, when we had a mini heat wave in the UK, resulting in record-breaking temperatures. I’ve re-scanned the image today as I’ve just picked up a Plustek 8100 35mm film scanner. I’m keeping the Epson V550 fot medium format scans and other flatbed related stuff, but the Plustek produces notably better scans on 135 format negatives (not tried slides yet). I’ll scan most frames at 2400dpi to save on file space, but the shots I like that contain plenty of detail will be scanned at 3600dpi (which is supposedly the scanner’s actual max resolution – although it will scan at higher dpi rates than that).
Another photo from the Canon Sure Shot Telemax, although this time I do recall taking the shot. A good job really, given that I only took it a few weeks ago.
I thought the composition was a good one when I made the photograph, but again I’m very pleased with the way the little compact has handled the scene. I’d used up the roll of film in my F80 when I took this, and would have missed the shot if I’d not had the Telemax in my pocket.
On the coastal footpath just south of Cleethorpes at Humberston, a metal rail is inlaid into the path and a globe and signpost stand (giving distances to various global destinations). This is the prime meridian line, which was established in 1851 by Sir George Airy at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. From this point it travels north across the Humber estuary and into the East Riding of Yorkshire where it travels across country for a number of miles before entering the North Sea near the village of Tunstall. From there it continues across the sea until it reaches the pole.
The rail denoting the meridian line can be seen just below the shadow of the signpost in my photograph.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF & Fomapan 400.
Steel City Snapper photography 