Tag: Elmton

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Flooded field

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A couple more shots of the flooded field at Elmton, although without any sign of the church this time.

Appropriately enough, the road that runs past the field is called Spring Lane. The spring itself is a little further up the road to the south east, but I’m not sure if it’s this which feeds the flooded area at the bottom of the field.

There’s something I find fascinating about water courses that takes me back to being a child where I would read Ladybird books or similar, and watch children’s educational programmes about the water cycle. There’s something in me that wants to trace the journey from source to destination. From that tiny bubbling spring all the way to the ocean.

I enjoyed making “boats” out of a twig or a branch and then watching as they navigated the straights, eddies, and rapids of a stream until they would eventually reach a place where I could follow them no longer, but from where I would imagine them making a grand voyage all the way to the sea.

Corner pond reflections
Corner pond

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 16 February 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Church submerged

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The bottom corner of this field at Elmton floods in wet weather and makes for some interesting picture opportunities, including reflections of St. Peter’s Church.

I guess the shots also continue this week’s molehill theme. 🙂

St. Peters and reflection
St. Peters and reflection-2

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 16 February 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A bush, a bench, and evidence of a mole

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

This little scene caught my eye as I passed. The interplay of all the elements – the wall, the poles, the cables, plus the large bush and the bench – all came together in a way I found pleasing. The mole hills are just a little bonus extra.

Hedge pole

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 16 February 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

St. Peter’s at Elmton (once more)

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Following the barn and schoolhouse pictures that I posted a few days back, here’s another subject that’s featured on the blog on multiple occasions (possibly because it stands right next to said schoolhouse and barn…). In fact, one of the pictures I’ve posted before is very similar to the lat one in today’s set. But, again, what the heck. It’s a nice subject, so who wouldn’t photograph it again? 🙂

My son had another job interview today, this one a little less impromptu and with support from his job coach. I don’t know what the outcome will be (apparently one of the other people being interviewed – for a job in a clothes store – was a marine biologist!), but he looked very smart and even if it doesn’t work out, every interview is more experience for him to draw upon.

St. Peter's Church, Elmton
A church across the field
Above wall worship
Around the back
Angular

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 16 February 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

House beyond a gate

fishyfisharcade4 Comments

I’ve been attempting to scan some medium format Provia 100 this evening and I’m not sure I’m happy with the results. Slide film can be a PITA to scan sometimes and it’s hard to get the results to look like the actual image on the film.

This has resulted in less time than anticipated to update the blog, so this is a bit of a quick post, although it does feature a picture that I really like.

The house beyond the gate

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 16 February 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Tucked around the back of the church

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I’ve photographed St Peter’s church at Elmton on a number of occasions before, and posted the results on the blog here, here, and here.

I decided to drive past again to finish off this roll of film, with a plan to shoot the church building with its low, squat tower, from a different angle. Ala, it wasn’t to be – the light wasn’t great and the fixed prime lens on the GW690 introduced limitations on how I could frame a shot, essentially meaning I’d have had excessive converging verticals, or the tips of gravestones poking into the bottom of the frame. In the end, I decided to take a picture of this small outhouse affixed to the rear of the building. The weathered door, and caretaker’s paraphernalia served to add a little interest.

Around the back of a church

Fujica GW690 on Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 9mins.

Taken on 17 August 2024

4x5 Large Format · Digital · Film photography · Photography

The School Room at Elmton

fishyfisharcade1 Comment

I can’t say that I know very much about this building beyond that it was renovated in recent years for community use and that, in the past, it was almost certainly and actual school building.

It’s an attractive structure though.

Although this picture below was shot on 4×5 sheet film, I have a very similar picture that I shot on a Ricoh GR III back in the summer of 2021. While the large format film photo is sharper and has more detail, there’s not a lot in it considering the GR III is an APS-C crop-sensor camera. This should all be balanced out by the fact that my large format negatives are scanned at home using an Epson V700 flatbed scanner at 2400dpi. It produces scans that meet my needs admirably, but I doubt it really compares to something like a Nikon Coolscan or, at the top end of the scale something like a Flextight or a proper wet-mounted drum scan.

I don’t shoot film for it’s sharpness though. I like nice sharp images, and 4×5 certainly provides that over and above medium format, and certainly 135 format, but it’s really about the experience, how I feel when using and shooting film, and the pleasure I get when I see the results. So, while I like the pictures my GR III makes, and it’s a very convenient camera to carry, it’s not usually the one I reach for when I want to go and make photos.

School Room

Chroma 4×5. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+9 12 mins @ 20°

Taken 2 April 2023.

And here’s the digital picture:

School Room
Ricoh GR III. August 2021.
4x5 Large Format · Film photography · Photography

Working with the limitations of a prime lens

fishyfisharcade1 Comment

The picture today is of St. Peter’s church at Elmton. The church (including a similar photo on 35mm film) has featured on the blog before (here, here, here, and here).

On this occasion I had my 4×5 large format camera with me. I only have one lens for this camera at present – a Fujinon 135mm f/5.6. The lens is roughly equivalent to a 40mm focal length on a 35mm or full-frame digital camera. It’s a nice focal length and one I use a lot – many of my compact cameras have focal ranges that are similar, so the field of view it affords is one that I am used to, and I’m a regular proponent of the “zoom with your feet” school of thought.

Sometimes though, a fixed prime lens has it’s downsides – noteably when the ol’ zooming with your feet option doesn’t work. I’ve yet to find a way of zooming backwards through walls, or floating up and over unavoidable obstacles obstructing my field of view. I’d an idea of getting a picture of the church incorporating the low tower, either side on, or from the fron of the building but, alas, the 135mm wasn’t wide enough for this and the church is a little awkwardly positioned in terms of available longer vantagepoints.

And so the composition you see below was the best I could get on the day. I might have gotten something different from the other side of the church, but that would have meant most of the visible part of the building would have been in shadow. I think this composition still works though. You can just see the tower peeping up at the left of the structure, and the rear of the church has plenty of interest, including the weathered gravestones. The angle also means I got some nice contrast and relief shadows that I wouldn’t have had from a side-on view of the church.

St. Peter's Church, Elmton, UK

Chroma 4×5. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+9 12 mins @ 20°

Taken 2 April 2023.