Farm signs and a farm

April 17, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

One thing I was particularly pleased about with this roll of snowy scenes was that I managed to expose the majority of them well. Snow can often blow out or be rendered an unattractive grey if not given the correct exposure and recommended guidance if to use exposure compensation to over-expose if you’re using a reflective meter, such as the one built into many cameras.

My Bronica doen’t have a meter though (even the one in my metered prism seems to have carked it!), so I rely on a handheld meter instead, and my preferred technique is to use incident readings – the light falling onto the subject, rather than the light reflecting off it. This has a benefit of giving an accurate reading in these sorts of scenes (well, most of the time anyway). I think a couple of my shots were not metered as well as the others, but even those were retrievable in post processing.

The two below look pretty good though.

Bronica ETRSi & Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins 30 secs @ 20°

Taken 11 March 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Over the hedge and behind the gate

March 30, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

More farm stuff today, this time another silo / tank seen from two vantage points. While I was unsure as to the specific use of the silos and equipment in yesterday’s pictures, the one featured today I feel I can be more certain about.

The silo features the branding of “Yara” which, after a quick search on Google, is a company that specialises in providing fertilizers, including liquid fertilizers (which is what I believe is stored in the tank seen in the pictures today).

I promise more exciting (and incredibly undetailed) farm-storage equipment posts to come, but not for a few days. Don’t get too excited. 🙂

Bronica ETRSi & Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins @ 20°

Taken 5 February 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

On a farm

March 29, 2023 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

As a city boy I know little detail about farming beyond the basics – the sort of stuff that I imagine most people will know. I pick up additional knowledge from watching TV shows like Countryfile on BBC One (although I don’t watch that nearly as much these days), or Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime Video which, despite it’s host’s tomfoolery, has a surprising amount to say about the challenges facing farmers in the UK today.

The structures in today’s photos then are slightly mysterious. There are silos in both shots, and I expect that these will hold harvested crops or possibly silage or animal feed. But I don’t know for definite.

The second image shows a structure that wouldn’t look out of place in a chemical plant, and is to my ignorant eye, even more mysterious. There are a whole host of pipes and ducts, some connected to the barn, and a huge vent poking out the side. What is this for? I’m guessing that perhaps it treats harvested crops in some way, perhaps drying them, or perhaps helping to ferment grass into animal feed. Againthough, I really don’t know.

What I do know is that they can make for interesting photographs.

Bronica ETRSi & Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins @ 20°

Taken 5 February 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Beyond the field

March 28, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I was drawing a blank on what to talk about today, so I asked ChatGPT to write a poem about my picture:

Across a small and verdant field,
A farmhouse stands with pride and yield,
With a fence of white tape that’s real,
Where horses roam and sometimes feel.

The fence divides the field in two,
A line that’s clear and pure in hue,
It’s a place where horses gallop through,
With grace and strength they shine anew.

The farmhouse has seen many days,
Where love and life have found their ways,
From spring’s first buds to autumn’s blaze,
The memories linger and never erase.

With windows bright and walls of stone,
The farmhouse feels like home alone,
It’s a place where peace and joy are sown,
And the heart and soul are fully grown.

So let the horses run and play,
In the field with the fence of white tape,
As the farmhouse watches from far away,
A place of beauty, serenity and grace.

Bronica ETRSi & Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins @ 20°

Taken 5 February 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A farm above Miller’s Dale

June 24, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

While most of the photos I made on my walk around the Tideswell area were black and white images shot on HP5+, I also took a couple of colour photographs too. These were courtesy of my Canon Sure Shot Supreme, which I’d tossed into my coat pocket before I’d left the house. I kinda wished I hadn’t taken it along as it continually banged, worryingly and annoyingly, into limestone rocks every time I climbed a stile. Luckily it didn’t seem to take any critical knocks though.

The two photos were shot on a roll of expired Fuji Sensia 100 reversal film. After successfully shooting my previous roll of expired slide film (some Kodak Elite Chrome) with the Sure Shot Supreme, I decided to use it again with the Sensia and shoot it at box speed. As with the Elite Chrome I have some more rolls of this same film so this was essentially a test to see how it fared. Most of the roll was shot over the following couple of days on trips out with my wife, but these two pictures of a farm on the hillside above Miller’s Dale were the first ones I made.

As withe my previous rolls of 35mm expired slide film, I seem to have lucked out with some decent results. Although a little bright in places (the white painted farmhouse was in full sunlight), nothing has been blown out and the colours are pleasing.

More expired slide film
To be well tried and tested
And prove it still works

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Fujichrome Sensia 100 (expired 2003).

Taken on 24 May 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Over the hill

January 4, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

My two week’s leave came to an end and today marked my return to work. The last things I did before the Christmas break seem distant and yet the two weeks seem to have flown by in an instant!

Work resumed today
I now need to remember
What it is I do

Another Christmas Eve walk photo today. I saw this house / farm peeking over the growing crops in this hillside field and thought iw ould be nice picked out with the telphoto lens. The footpath through the fields was a somewhat nerve-wracking experience as it had a thin skein of surface mud that threatened to take my feet out from beneath me! I don’t thinks I would have gotten hurt, but muddy and wet would be unwelcome all the same. Luckily I managed it to the bottom intact.

Pentax P30T, SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.7 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 24 December 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A horse of course

January 3, 2021January 3, 2021 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

I decided to go for a walk on Christmas Eve. I’d received some gifted Pentax (and Pentax mount) cameras a few weeks previously but, sadly, all of them has some fault or other that has dissuaded me from using them so far – The Pentax ME Super looked to be in best condition, but has an annoying issue where the mirror will lock up sometimes, necessitating a firm slap on the base with my hand to get it to return. It also needs new light seals and I haven’ had the inclination to fiddle about cutting and fitting new pieces of foam yet.

The cameras came with a bunch of Pentax K-mount lenses though, so I decided I would try them out on my P30T. On this occasion I took three of them with me: an SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.7; An SMC Pentax 35mm f/3,5, and; a Takumar-F Zoom 70-200mm f/4-5.6.

I shot a number of photos with all three lenses while out (although the zoom probably got more use than the others) and I’ll be posting some of the resulting images here over the next few days. Today though, a couple of frames from the start of the roll where a horse kindly provided its services as a model.

The walk ended on a festive note when a few flakes of snow began to fall. None of them settled, and none fell on Christmas day (although we got a dollop a few days later), but it felt good nontheless.

Before the images though, today’s haiku. Hopefully it speaks for itself as to what I did today…

I need to get fit
My first Couch to Five K run
My knees are aching

And now the horse. 🙂

Pentax P30T, SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.7 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 24 December 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Muddy cow

January 11, 2020 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

This was, I think, the last photograph I took before Christmas. It’s certianly the final shot from the roll of HP5 that I shot on the 23rd December. After making most of the pictures near Meadowhall and the nearby M1, I decided to drive home on a circuitous route to see if there was anything I could use the remaining few frames on. After taking a landscape shot of some haybales, I came across a farm I’ve never driven past before which had a wonderful (and very muddy) farmyard right beside the road, where a herd of cows were feeding and taking shelter. This photo is one of two I took.

The farm has a shop and I bought myself a very tasty black-pudding sausage roll for my lunch while I was there too.

Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 23 December 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Harvest time

September 5, 2019 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

That time of year when the fields become temporarily stacked with bales of hay has come around again.

Most farms seem to produce the big cylindrical bales nowadays which, after a period of drying, are wrapped in plastic to be stored for winter feed. It’s rarer to see the traditional rectangular blocks piled up into stacks.

I did find a few of the older types though and might post a picture or two of those in the coming days, but for now, here’s a combine harvester going about its business.

Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 25 August 2019

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A path through the barley

July 24, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

When thinking of a title for the picture shown today, I was forced to find the answer to that age-old question that has puzzled our species for so long: Is it wheat, or is it barley?

Turns out it’s barley. The main visual differentiator, so I’ve learned today, is that barley has a long beard (the bristles that protect the kernels). So there you have it.

Anyway, here’s a photo of some ~~wheat~~ barley.