Kinda random

January 11, 2022January 11, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I have to pick one of my sons up from college today, so I won’t have time to write the blog later (well, I will, but I’ll probably want to do other stuff instead :)). So today it’s a quick and somewhat random post with a picture of the back of the bowling green pavillion that featured in testerday’s post. It was the ripples on the water and the birds on the roof that caught my eye but it’s not much of a shot if I’m honest. Look at me, treating you all with such treasures! 😀

The truth is that I’ve still got most of this roll of film still to scan and am limited on shots to pick until I get on with that. The roll also seems to have some sort of marks on a lot of the frames. At first I thought they were drying marks, but they don’t really correspond to other drying marks I’ve seen. I’m now wondering if it’s something else – maybe I didn’t let the film defrost before loading it and caused condensation or something? Or perhaps it’s just an artefact of the film being almost twenty-years past it’s use-by date. Luckily I’ve been able to photoshop out the worst of it, including this photo.

Olympus XA3 & Kodak Tri-X Pan (expired 2003 – shot at box speed and pushed a stop in development). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 18 December 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

No-one bowling

January 10, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The weekend befoe Christmas, we went to visit a Christmas market in the town of Matlock – about a half-hour’s drive away. My eldest and his girlfriend came along and, despite it being a somewhat gloomy day (with heavy fog on the hills), and the market not being as big as we expected, we had a nice few hours wandering around, topped off with some takeaway fish and chips.

I took my XA3 in my coat pocket and managed to grab a number of pictures in the misty winter conditions, including this one of the bowling green in the park where the market was taking place. No-one was out playng bowls on the day.

I remember Crown Green Bowls being a regular fixture on TV when I was younger, although I never had any interest in it, but I’m not sure if it’s still shown these days – maybe on a dedicated sports channel I suppose? I’ve only played the game (which you can find described here) on a few occasions and, as I and my friends were young and foolish at the time, I recall it mainly involved us mischieviously larking about trying to collide with other player’s bowls in the middle of the green than playing it properly.

Olympus XA3 & Kodak Tri-X Pan (expired 2003 – shot at box speed and pushed a stop in development). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 18 December 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Industry and entertainment

January 9, 2022January 10, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Beside the Don Valley Centertainment complex – which houses a multiplex, bowling alley & arcade, kid’s play area, and a selction of restaurants – are industrial streets. This is the east-end of the city where, in it’s industial heyday, the bulk of the steel industry resided. There are still steelworks in the area, and more as you head down river towards Tinsley and Templeborough, but much of it has now become history.

I’m not sure what the building in today’s picture used to house – I’m sure my dad would know, and I’ll ask him next time I see him – but it’s now the home of a scaffolding hire and sales business.

Olympus XA3 & Kodak Tri-X Pan (expired 2003 – shot at box speed and pushed a stop in development). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 15 December 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Cosmos

January 8, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I made this picture back in late November I think – it’s on a roll that was shot over the space of a few weeks with my Olympus XA3, which I’d been keeping in my coat pocket. It was taken from the car-park across the road from these buildings on the day I went into town for one of my attempts to get my laptop rebuilt. I was heading towards the stairwell when I noticed the shot and liked the way the buildings stoof against the sky with the central tower flanked by the smaller buildings on either side.

The film was a roll of expired Tri-X dating back to around 2003. I’ve shot a few rolls of this and found that it likes an extra stop of exposure. For the previous rolls I just exposed it at 200asa and then developed it normally, but as the weather was a little gloomy on the day this roll was loaded, I decided to keep the extra stop of speed and push it a stop in development instead. I’m quite happy with the results. The grain is quite pronounced, but I’m not afraid of a bit of grain.

The worst thing about this film is how much the negatives curl when developed. Not only do they coil up like a spring, there is also heavy bow to the film along its full length. This made cutting and sleeving the negatives troublesome, but this was not nearly as problematic as trying to get them into the negative holder to be scanned. The Plustek holders are pretty good at keeping negatives flat – I doubt I would have gotten anywhere with my Epson holders – but you still need to get them in and aligned before it can be closed to hold them in place. Somehow I managed it though, although I’ve only scanned two strips so far.

Olympus XA3 & Kodak Tri-X Pan (expired 2003 – shot at box speed and pushed a stop in development). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken in November 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Little white house

January 7, 2022January 10, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

This small white building is situated in the small town of Eckington. It’s opposite the road that leads to Chesterfield and often catches my eye when I’m driving back from there. In the right light, it’s white painted walls really light up.

I believe the building is a church – St. Luke’s Mission Church – although I think it is closed now – it certainly has a disused air about it, and the billboard beside the path has clearly seen no messages posted for some time. Looking at the Google StreetView historical photos it looks like it might have been disused for a decade or more, although it only looks like the grounds have become more overgrown over the past few years.

Olympus XA3 & Kodak Tri-X Pan (expired 2003 – shot at box speed and pushed a stop in development). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 25 October 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Seaside fire station

November 2, 2021 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

Living in a large city I’m used to large fire stations. All the ones that I’m aware of have facilities to support a number of appliances, as well as the usual accomodation and training areas. As a result, the fire station at Mablethorpe always seems small by comparison. There’s a full size fire engine parked in there – you can just see it peeping out of the doors, and there are certainly enough fire officers around as I saw a video recently where they were dealing with a collapsed wall on top of one of the local stores, and there were several people in attendance.

I bet it dosen’t have a pole to slide down though.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this to be honest, other than to pointlessly note that a small town has a smaller fire station than a large city. Look out for more exciting blog posts to come… 😀

Making pointless posts
On the size of fire stations
In small seaside towns

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Lomography Xpro Chrome 100 (expired 2012)

Taken on 16 September 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A house behind a hedge

November 1, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

And so the “photos of houses” (or a “guest” house in theis case) continues. I expect thwo or three more days of these to go – although a couple of them are not houses, so there’s that…

I did manage to finish and develop a roll of HP5+ yesterday though, so the future of the blog, insofar as having some fresh photos, is assured for another week or so if I can get my finger out and start scanning them. 🙂

White against blue sky
A guesthouse gable-end shines
In September sun

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Lomography Xpro Chrome 100 (expired 2012)

Taken on 16 September 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Eagle Hotel

October 31, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The Eagle Hotel, with it’s eagle stood on a ledge on the side of the building, is a familiar landmark when I visit Mablethorpe, standing perhaps a quarter mile from the town’s main street. The hotel is currently up for sale – the pandemic not having been beneficial to such establisments no doubt a factor.

A grand bird of prey
Perched upon a hotel side
Looking for owners

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Lomography Xpro Chrome 100 (expired 2012)

Taken on 16 September 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Another well lit house (and the increasing cost of film)

October 30, 2021 fishyfisharcade5 Comments

This might be a bit of a theme over the next few days – photos of houses that is. I’m down to my last few frames of scanned, un-posted photos, and all of them are of houses (except for one of a fire station). I have finished a roll of HP5+ today that’s been in my XA3 for a while, so if I can get that developed tomorrow, then that should give me a bit more fuel in the tank before resorting to the archive.

It doesn’t seem that long that I was four or five rolls of un-scanned photos in front!

I was disappointed to see that Kodak have announced further price increases. Kodak’s films are already expensive, with things like Portra and Ektachrome pretty much off my shopping list already, but the proposed rise of “at least” 20% will blow my desire to buy them completely out of the water. This will put a 5-pack of something like Portra 400 at somewhere in the region of £60-80, and I expect that even stuff like Colorplus and Gold will be prohibitive – settling into the price ranges that the professional films were at a few years ago.

I’ve still got a decent stock of color film in the freezer, at least enough to keep me going for the next year or so based on the rate I shoot it at, and I tend to favour B&W photography anyway, and there are still a good number of reasonably priced black-and-white films available at present (here in the UK at least), and my preference is for Ilford’s films for B&W anyway. It’s a shame about these increases though – I want to support Kodak, but I’m not sure my wallet will allow it.

Running out of shots
I need some fuel for the blog
Best get to shooting!

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Lomography Xpro Chrome 100 (expired 2012)

Taken on 16 September 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Corner house

October 29, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The light on this house was gorgeous as I passed by so I made a photograph (and similar pictures of a number of other buildings on the same street). Sometimes nice light is all you need and the photos just present themselves.

It’s a handsome looking house, although I’m unsure as to it’s age – I expect at least a hundred years have passed since it’s construction though. It’s a shame about it’s twin next door which is boarded up and an ashen grey colour. It’s been boarded up for several years as far as I can recall.

Old house in nice light
Better kept than it’s neigbour
Which needs TLC