Tag: Derbyshire

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Mam Tor and a paraglider

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Mam Tor is a large hill that sits at the top of the Hope Valley above Castleton. It translates as “Mother Hill”, and is so named because frequent landslips have resulted in a series of smaller hills on its slopes. Another name for the hill is “The Shivering Mountain”, which I like because it sounds like some place in Middle Earth. Mam Tor is 1,692 feet tall and forms part of a line of hills known as the Great Ridge which separate the Hope Valley from Edale.

I took this photo on my recently acquired Tamron 28-300mm superzoom, which I bought as a useful all-round lens for hikes in the countryside. I’ve found that compact cameras, while being convenient to carry, tend to limit my ability to photograph more distant subjects. This outing to Castleton was a bit of a test outing for the lens, and I’m happy with the results, especially the vibration reduction which works perfectly with my Nikon F80. Any zoom lens with a focal length range as large as this will have some shortcomings, but they’re not too noticeable on 35mm film.

For some reason, this particular shot of Mam Tor has ended up very grainy – much more so than the other frames from the same roll.

Mam Tor and paraglider

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken on 18 May 2024

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Beside Peakshole Water

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Peakshole Water is named after Peak Cavern, which is its source (although other nearby emergence’s of underground streams also contribute greatly to the flow). It flows through Castleton, and then down to Hope where it becomes a tributary of the River Noe flowing from Edale.

Peakshole Water has only one named tributary, the impressively titled Odin Stitch – a stream that emerges from Odin Mine at Mam Tor.

The pictures below show Peakshole Water not far from its source.

In Castleton
Upstream
Duck food

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°

Taken on 18 May 2024

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Quaint little villages here and there

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A decent amount of my photography focuses on subjects that most would probably not find attractive – brutalist architecture, factories, modern office developments, rundown parts of town, even the odd dead pigeon and ashtray have featured.

But I like the picturesque as much as anyone else and will photograph it when it presents itself. We have an abundance of small towns, villages, hamlets and the like throughout the UK and, due to the relatively compact nature of our island, you’re never too far from one. Even the more humdrum of them will have plentiful opportunities for photograph hunting.

The National Parks, in particular, are jam packed with lovely little places to find and explore. The downside is that they can attract crowds of sightseers. While this isn’t a problem for the businesses that cater to them, it can mean that it’s difficult to get a photograph without someone standing in (or suddenly entering, just as you press the shutter!) the frame. For this reason, I prefer to visit such places mid-week if I can, or during the wintertime when tourist numbers are much reduced, but sometimes a crowded sunny weekend is the chance I get, and it’s better to make the most of it than grumble. There’s a certain charm to having tourists in a picture too, I suppose.

The scene below is in Castleton, a village in the Peak District National Park, famous for its castle and also a number of caves and caverns that have public entry and guided tours. Speedwell Cavern even features a subterranean boat ride!

Beauty spot bridge

Yashica Mat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 400H. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 18 May 2024

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Two thousand days

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Back on the 26th September 2021, I wrote a post marking my one thousandth day of consecutive posting. Today, a little under three years later, marks the two thousandth.

I always find milestone posts like this to be difficult. They’re the sort of thing that would normally be celebrated – in that way that we humans seem to like celebrating things that reach a certain, nicely shaped, number. I’m quite a modest person though, so shouting out about my achievements isn’t something I relish or feel particularly comfortable about. I would probably have had greater success in some aspects of my life had I “bigged myself up” a little more, but I’ve always felt that my achievements should speak for themselves, and not be reliant on too much self promotion.

So here I am, having posted without fail for the last two thousand days, and instead of a party, it’s more of an acknowledgement. I reached a big number, and tomorrow I will surpass it (and why will my two-thousand-and-first post be less worthy of celebration anyway?).

It might be nice if I had some sort of special “2,000th post” image that I’ve saved for the occasion, but I don’t, so I’m going to use a picture I took on a trip to Castleton back in May. It shows a gap in a drystone wall part way up Cave Dale. It feels somehow optimistic in tone – a gateway to whatever might come next, I suppose.

Gateway to Cave Dale

Yashica Mat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 400H. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 18 May 2024