Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
Tower 42 – one more commonly known as the Natwest Tower – was once the tallest building in the UK (until One Canada Square opened in Canary Wharf in 1990). Now it is dwarfed by a cluster of more recent towers, as can be seen by the fact that it is fully reflected by the glass facade of one of its new neighbours in this photograph.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600).
Taken on 19 February 2020
Continuing the street-photography theme from the past few days (most of the shots from this roll fall into the category), here’s another.
My original intent had been to photograph a man in an interesting coat wearing a fedora who I saw approaching, but he turned down the street in the right of the frame. Then I spotted the guy who ended up in the picture – he stood out by being sharply dressed in business atire where most other people were wrapped up against the rain. He was carrying a small case and walking with brisk determination – probably due to the weather.
I pre-focused on the post you can see in the shot and waited for him to get close. Unfortunately I’ve missed focus by a small amount, but I’m still happy with the shot, which I think works because of the stark contrast of his black suit agaibst the lighter background.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600).
Taken on 19 February 2020
This was taken beside St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. It had been raining and this section of floor was highly reflective with the sheen of water that lay upon its surface. I’m not sure exactly what this photographer was taking a picture of but I suspect it was most likely a reflection of some sort.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600).
Taken on 19 February 2020
Another random street shot from London. To try and increase hits to my blog I’ve included some sex. 🙂
I think it said “Sexy” something or other, perhaps “food”, or “deals” or something, but where’s the cheap fun in that, eh?
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600).
Taken on 19 February 2020
A trio of shots taken after getting off the tube at Farrindon Street last week.
You know what they say about checking your frame to make sure (amongst other things) that people don’t have objects sticking out of their heads? Well guess who ignored that…
The guy in the body-warmer in the middle distance looks like he’s staring right at me, but upon closer glance he’s actually looking off to his right.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600).
Taken on 19 February 2020
I shot a roll of HP5+ during a trip to London recently. I knew that my only opportunity for photography would be during the journey from the station to my meeting (and back again) and, as a chunk of this would be on the London Underground, I knew that I’d need a fairly high ASA film to cope with the low light if I took any photos there.
My options were to either use some Kodak Tmax P3200, Ilford Delta 3200, or to push a slower film. As HP5+ is my favourite film anyway, and knowing that it reacts well to push-processing (after all, the canister has 1600asa as one of the choices for processing), I decided to got with the Ilford classic.
I was slightly concerned about the metering on my OM-1 – while the camera has had a voltage conversion carried out so that it can meter correctly with 1.55v batteries, the only cells I have are alkaline, and those tend to lose voltage over their lifespan, throwing the metering gradually out of whack (unlike silver-oxide cells, which keep their voltage constant until they die all at once). Still, HP5+ is a very forgiving film, so I decided to take my chances.
As it turned out I needn’t have been concerned – all the shots (apart from one that was slightly bright and had some shake – probably as a result of a dodgy camera operator!) were nicely exposed and look great. I’ll be posting a selection in the coming days, but for now here’s a guy choosing songs on a jukebox at the station.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600).
Taken on 19 February 2020
Stood right beside the twisty oak woodland that I featured yesterday stands Wellington’s Monument. This stone cross features the dedication: “Wellington, Born 1769, Died 1852. Erected 1866 by E.M. Wrench, late 34th Reg’ment” and commemorates Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Waterloo. The cross is visible atop the hillside from the A621 Sheffield Road which passes to the east at the bottom of the valley. Across the valley on Birchen Edge stands another monument, this one dedicated to Admiral Lord Nelson.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 | Zuiko 28mm f/3.g & Ilford Delta 400.
Taken on 4 January 2020
A maze of beautiful twisted oaks just below Wellington’s Monument on Baslow Edge. I don’t think I’ve got the best composition here – I’m not sure about the grassy area at lower left – but it’s a location not too far away, so plenty of chance for me to get a better shot in future.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford Delta 400.
Taken on 4 January 2020
I present to you today a couple of pictures of the “Anvil Stone” which sits atop Baslow Edge overlooking the Derwent Valley. I’m not sure if it’s name is official, or one of those things that has just fallen into common usage but you can certainly see how it gets the name.
It was blowing a gale when I first arrived, the wind swooping up the valley sides and buffeting anything close to the edge, so I took care where I stood atop the crags. It’s not a sheer drop along most of the edge (although surely high enough to be potentially fatal in a number of places), but it wouldn’t take that big a fall to sprain an ankle or break a limb or two (or smash delicate cameras!) if you were not to take care.
I entitled this second shot “Jawas” on Flickr as I found the shape of the rock form this angle to be evocative of the Sandcrawler vehicles they use on Tattooine. 🙂
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford Delta 400.
Taken on 4 January 2020
A few months ago, a friend on the photography forum I’m a member of offered some rolls of bulk-loaded Polypan F to other members. Apart from generosity, he was interested to see what sort of results a variety of other people would be able to achieve with the film. Several people volunteered to take part and a box full of film was circulated (each person taking a roll and then posting the remainder to the next person, and so on).
I received the box back at the start of November, but didn’t shoot my roll untill the end of December. The main reason for the delay is the nature of the film. Polypan F is a motion picture copy film. It has very little anti-halation and so can make bright light sources bloom and glow in the right conditions. As November in the UK is not known for it’s bright conditions, I decided to wait for a sunny day. The 30th of December wasn’t the first sunny day to come around, but as I work full time, it was the first one where I was off work and could get out and shoot the film.
There was a loose theme attached to the film – the subject matter should be related to the letter “P”. Based on this, I decided to shoot my roll in a plantation of pine trees in the Peak District national park.
Polypan F has a native speed of 50asa so, even given the bright conditions, I would probably need to shoot accordingly. As a result I took along my tripod and a shutter-release cable. Alas though, even these measures were not to be sufficient.
Shooting in relatively well lit areas of the woodland didn’t pose much of a problem, especially with the 50mm lens, but the 75-150mm was another matter. I was using mid-range apertures to try and maximise my depth of field while shooting at focal lengths over 100mm. When in shaded conditions, this was dropping my shutter speed right down to little over 1sec in many instances. While the camera was firmly held on the tripod, and I was using the cable-release, I still ended up with a lot of shots displaying noticeable camera shake. I believe that the long lens, coupled with the slow shutter speed, was subject to vibrations from the cameras mirror when I took the shots. This was a shame as I lost a number of photos that I think were otherwise pretty nice, Still, I’ll take it on the chin and chalk it up to experience. I’ve never used the OM-1’s mirror lock-up before, but am now fully conversant with how it operates!
Here are some of the better shots from the day.
1 – This is the southerly path I took when entering the plantation (Lady Canning’s Plantation, to the south-west of Sheffield at Ringinglow). The plantation is commercially operated but has public access, including a number of mountain bike trails that were in heavy use on the day of my visit. The light blooming is quite apparent in this shot, particularly where the sun is peeking through the trees.
2 – I ventured off the main footpath to take the next two photos. This was perhaps a mistake as the ground was very uneven (from the wheels of heavy plantation machinery that must have worked there some time in the past) and with a notable quantity of prickly, clothes-snagging, skin-scratching brambles to fight through. Even though I was only 20 or 30 metres from the path, I did wonder if anyone would ever notice me where I to collapse or something. Me and my cheerful thoughts, eh?
3 – This wide avenue bisects the plantation and is the route of an underground pipeline, hence the lack of tree cover.
4 – The southern boundary of the plantation opens onto Burbage Moor.
5 – A couple of hundred metres or so from the southern edge of the plantation stand the Ox Stones, a gritstone tor. Also nearby is a triangulation (trig) point.
6 – And finally, here’s a detail shot of one of the Ox Stones.
It was interesting to use the Polypan F. I’m not sure it’s a film I’ll rush to use again, but I wouldn’t say no if some more came my way. I wish I’d not had the issues with camera shake though as I might have had more images to share.
All photographs taken with my Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 / Zuiko 75-150mm f/4 lenses & Polypan F.
Taken on 30 December 2019
Steel City Snapper photography 