More woodland mist

December 12, 2020 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

These shots were take on the same day as the ones made with the Bronica which I posted about here. These were a bit of an afterthought really – I had the Fuji in my coat pocket and decided to make a few photos. I wasn’t really expecting much for a number of reasons: I had no idea of the provenance of the film; the camera had not been tested by myself; and because the lens is somewhat slow (starting at f/5.6 at the wide end I think), so I doubted I’d have much joy on a dimly lit morning with 200asa film. As it happened, they turned out very well. They maybe don’t stand up to close , pixel-peepy, scrutiny, but otherwise they are nice pictures. The colours from this roll, as I think I mentioned yesterday, are really nice.

Fuji DL-270 Zoom Super & Kodak Colorplus. Grain2Pixel conversion.

Taken on 7 November 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Beighton Signalbox (while it’s still here)

December 6, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

This is the signal box at Beighton Station, not far from where I live. Although it’s named Beighton Station, no station has been present since the 1950s when passenger services ceased. There have been recent rumblings about building a new terminal suitable for tram-train services however.

The signal-box is currently scheduled for demolition in 2021, much to the displeasure of locals who see it as a landmark, and there are campaigns looking to try and save it.

More photos of the signal box can be found in my blog posts here, here, here, and here.

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 50mm f/2.8 MC & Fujifilm Superia 100 (expired 2008).

Taken on 8 November 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Crossing a golf course

December 5, 2020 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

In direct continuation from yesterday’s post, the four images today were made while crossing Renishaw golf course. The golf course borders the farmland where yesterday’s photographs were made, the two areas split by the River Rother, and a metal-framed footbridge spans it’s flow.

The golf course was, as you might expect, shrouded in the same fog as the farmland. As golf courses have been closed due to the lockdown, no-one was playing – although fog might not be the best conditions for golf anyway I suppose, pandemic or not – and the course was empty of all but the occasionl individuals and small groups out walking in the murk. If you look carefully, you might be able to see some of them in the trees at the other side of the fairway.

As I followed the footpath through the course I noticed these neat rows of fallen leaves, presumably raked by the groundskeeper.

My final shot beore leaving the golf course was this signpost.

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 50mm f/2.8 MC & Fujifilm Superia 100 (expired 2008).

Taken on 7 November 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Subdued colours on a misty morning walk

December 4, 2020 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

More misty morning photographs. All made on the same day (and walk) as the black and white images I’ve posted over the past few days, but this time on a roll of expired Fuji Superia 100. I probably wouldn’t shoot colour film in these conditions as they can tend to feel bereft of colour, but it was all I had to hand after finishing the HP5+. Anyway, although there’s a muted quality to them, there’s still plenty of colour there – especially green.

While the blank grey of the foggy skies is somewhat bland, it’s also very atmospheric. It captures the stillness of these conditions. Quiet that is only broken by the occasional caw of a crow and your footsteps across the ground.

It’s quite easy to imagine that I was in the middle of the countryside, such is the adeptness of fog when it comes to removing distance and detail. In reality I was just a stone’s throw from Renishaw golf course and, beyond that, the town of Eckington. There are plenty of fields and signs of the countryside here, but in reality it’s just a few minutes from busy roads, supermarkets, and local industries. You could easily imagine being out on some lonely heath though.

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 50mm f/2.8 MC & Fujifilm Superia 100 (expired 2008).

Taken on 7 November 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Endless fence

December 3, 2020 fishyfisharcade6 Comments

I hope nobody is getting bored of mist yet? There are still more to come – some of them in colour! 🙂

I think the lone tussock of grass in this helps the shot a lot. It would still have had a pleasant abstract nature without, but it being there in the foreground anchors the image.

Apologies for the somewhat short posts this week. I’ve had some other things to keep me occupied so not enough time unfortunately.

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 50mm f/2.8 MC & Ilford HP5+ (@1600). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 13mins @ 20°.

Taken on 7 November 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

In the misty wood

December 1, 2020 fishyfisharcade6 Comments

I’ve undoubtedly said this before on here somewhere, but I’ll say it again: Fog and mist are a gift to photography. The diffused light; the sense of calm; the way they hide and obscure distracting detail; and – most of all – the sheer atmosphere (quite literally) that they bring to bear is a wonderful thing to behold.

I do admit to saying this as someone for whom fog and mist are relatively uncommon – at least at the times I’m usually out of bed! I can fully understand the “grass is always greener” sentiment that this bears, and that for those who live in places with regular foggy conditions that this might all be a bit business-as-usual. But for me, well, I love these conditions.

So, when I saw the weather forecast showing this day as having fog, I was up early and out with my camera. I went somewhere I’ve been a number of times before – a walk that takes me across the River Rother, through a copse of trees (it’s probably a plantation as the tress – Poplars I think – are in somewhat orderly rows), and then either up to the Trans-Pennine Trail, or looping alongside the river, then down to Renishaw golf-course, and back around to the starting point.

I’ve photographed these trees on a number of occasions and know that the look their best in a veil of mist. It’s not a large area and on clear days it’s easy to find a distracting background element creeping into the frame. In fog, however, the trees feel like they go on forever.

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 50mm f/2.8 MC & Ilford HP5+ (@1600). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 13mins @ 20°.

Taken on 7 November 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Misty river

November 30, 2020 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

The River Rother on a foggy autumn morning a few weeks ago.

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 50mm f/2.8 MC & Ilford HP5+ (@1600). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 13mins @ 20°.

Taken on 7 November 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A bit more autumn

November 21, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Just a few days ago I said that I was at the end of my autumn colour images for this year. Well. turns out I’m not – I forgot about this roll of Velvia 50 that I shot on a walk along the Chesterfield Canal near Thorpe Salvin a few weeks ago.

The roll was tricky to meter with confidence. Given that I don’t have a spot meter (just a reflective setting that’s has a pretty wide angle and no meand to accurately point it) I almost always use incident readings instead. Incident metering usually serves me very well, but a canal withich has irregular tree cover along it’s banks makes it difficult to match the light falling on the meter with the subject unless it’s pretty close by, or you’re sure it’s in the same levels of light.

As a result, quite a few of the images on this roll are poorly exposed, and the ones here are probably the best from the canal-side walk.

Of the four, the sycamore leaf below is the best I think (even if it did keep attempting to blow away in the light but irregular breeze!).

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Fujichrome Velvia 50.

Taken on 24 October 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

An end to autumn’s colour

November 16, 2020November 17, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Ok, maybe not the most autumnal shades here – more a yellow green than fiery shades of red and orange – but it’s probably the last shot from this year’s clutch of seasonal images where the trees still bear foliage. Today, as I type this, most of the leaves have fallen, littering the pavements and roadsides where they’ll release that rich scent of autumn so evokative of this time of year. There are still some late straggling leaves on the limbs of silver birches – some still green in fact – but most trees have revealed the skeletal form of their branches now.

I still have autumnal images yet to come, but they are of the misty, damp, almost monochromatic feel of late autumn as it rolls over into winter.

Yashica Mat 124G & Lomography Color Negative 100. Grain2Pixel conversion.

Taken on 10 October 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Drama from religion

November 15, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The two photographs today show the former Glossop Road Baptist Church, the first with its steeple rising from between autumnal trees in the back gardens of the stone houses (now mostly owned by the University and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals) on Claremont Place.

The church is now owned by Performance Venues, a small group who run this and two other venues (the Octagon and Firth Hall) in conjunction with the University of Sheffield. It is now known as t he Drama Studio.