Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 8 minutes @ 20°
Taken on 2 January 2025
Flooded road
Tag: Fields
I finally photographed this derelict farm building
I’ve seen this building on numerous occasions when driving through the area and on this day I finally found myself well placed (and equipped) to photograph it.
It might look like it’s out on the open plains somewhere remote, but is right on the edge of Whitwell and it’s only the gentle curve of the land that allows this illusion of space.
I took a number of pictures of the building (and the tree to the right of frame – which featured in yesterday’s post) using different focal lengths and am happy with all of them. I did have another shot which is zoomed out a little further than the third shot below which I think I liked best of all, but I managed to beat the lens’ vibration compensation and introduce some camera shake. A shame.
One thing I didn’t notice until I processed the scans is that there is a solitary figure sat on the corner of the wall of the structure. You can make them out better if you click on the images and view them larger in Flickr. They were some distance away, so I wonder if they noticed they were being (unknowingly) photographed?
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Agfa APX 100. Rodinal 1+100 (+2ml) semi-stand 1 hour @ 20°
Taken on 8 March 2025
Yonder tree
Two photographs of the same tree.
The first is my favourite of the pair. I like the simplicity of the lone tree, but more than that, I like the layered tones created by the fields which neatly divides the picture into thirds. I’m not sure what focal length I used for this one, but expect it was somewhere between 150mm-200mm.
I like the second image too, but I had an ulterior motive when composing the shot to see what it would look like if I utilised the Tamron’s full 300mm range. The image falls apart a little when viewed larger, although I’m not sure how much of that is weakness in the lens at 300mm, and how much is atmospheric effects from zooming in through what was quite hazy air.
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Agfa APX 100. Rodinal 1+100 (+2ml) semi-stand 1 hour @ 20°
Taken on 8 March 2025
Cow parsley
One of the trees form the picture in yesterday’s post can be seen again in today’s picture, lthough it has been relegated to a supporting role in this shot. Instead, the star of the show today is the head of some dried cow parsley which was growing (or had been growing) at the edge of the country lane I was walking down.
As I already mentioned yesterday, I’m very happy with a lot of the pictures that I got from, what was in effect, a test roll.
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Agfa APX 100. Rodinal 1+100 (+2ml) semi-stand 1 hour @ 20°
Taken on 8 March 2025
Two trees
Considering this outing was primarily to shoot a roll of film to test my semi-stand developing process, I managed to get quite a lot of pictures I really like. Including this one.
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Agfa APX 100. Rodinal 1+100 (+2ml) semi-stand 1 hour @ 20°
Taken on 8 March 2025
Through hazy lands
This is the type of scene that I would miss without a telephoto lens. It was a bright, sunny day, but as well as whisps of high-altitude cloud, there was a haze in the air which meant the landscape became layered as it fell to the distance. This is a relatively mundane scene, but the layering provided by the mist makes it into something much more interesting, and the farm is placed so it doesn’t become too obscured, I think.
I did wonder about cropping out a lot of the sky and going for a more panoramic frame, but in the end decided against it – I quite like the way the distant wind turbine protrudes into the emptiness.
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Agfa APX 100. Rodinal 1+100 (+2ml) semi-stand 1 hour @ 20°
Taken on 8 March 2025
Corringham windmill
The corringham windmill is, let’s face it, not a windmill any longer. Originally built in the early 19th century it functioned as a working mill for around a hundred years, ceasing operation in 1908. It attained Grade II listing status in 1985 and in 1993 was converted to an owl house. It has looked pretty much like it does in the picture below for as long as I have known it, and I’ve passed it on many an occasion.
It sits just to the east of the village of Corringham in Lincolnshire, standing close to the A631 road which runs between Gainsborough and Market Rasen (indeed, it runs all the way from the east end of Sheffield, passing through Wickersley, Maltby, Tickhill, and Bawtry before it reaches Gainsborough) and was one of the stretches of road I would travel when visiting Mablethorpe with my grandparents when I was younger. It’s still the route I take when I visit Mablethorpe now – it feels a bit like a pilgrimage of some sort where I follow the route my grandad drove, even though there are alternate routes that are faster.
The windmill at Corringham was one of many landmarks on the journey to Mablethorpe and it fills me with happiness, nostalgia and a touch of melancholy when I see it appear alongside the road. It’s a part of a beloved journey, one that evokes wonderful memories, but also a little sadness that my grandparents are no longer here. I don’t think I ever took the trips to Mablethorpe with my grandparents for granted, but I sometimes wish I could tell them just how much they meant to me.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 D & Kodak Portra 160. Lab developed, home scanned, & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 17 September 2022
Down a lane and up to the wind farm
A couple of weeks ago I went for a walk along a previously unexplored path. The route took me from Aston, a village / district on the easternmost edge of Sheffield, north over the fields towards Penny Hill Wind Farm, then cuting to the east to cross the M1 motorway on a farm bridge. From there, back towards the south, across the M1 at the busy Junction 31 roundabout, and through Aston again to where I began.
There will be a number of photos to come from this walk in the next few days and I shot both black-and-white and colour images. Today’s post features a quartet of photos from the first half of the walk.
This first image is the lane from Aston down to a farm at the bottom of the dip. In the distance, at middle-left, one of the large wind turbines at Penny Hill can be seen peeking above the trees.
Climbing the hill past the farm up to the top of the ridge brings the turbines into more prominence, as well as a mobile transmitter and another antenna of some sort over on the left of the frame – at night this one can be seen lit with red aircraft warning lights.
Approaching the mobile tower, the turbines now take prominence along the top of the ridge, although they are still quite some distance away.
Heading east across the fields towards the nearby motorway, I turn and make a photo of the path along which I have walked.
Out across the fields
Feeling the bite of the air
Crisp and cold and bright
Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 | G-Zuiko Auto-W 28,, f/3.5 + orange filter & Ilford Delta 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°.
Taken on 5 April 2021
The gates where the cows get in
These gates sit at the north-western end of this field where the path leads beneath the arches of the railway viaduct. It allows passage for the herd of cows who roam the fields on either side of the railway line. It also allows passage for walkers.
On this morning the gate was lit by the low, rising sun that was burning through the ground mist. It makes for a semi-rural scene, but the area is surrounded on all sides by human activity, whether the houses and businesses on the hillside to the east, the river and remains of the old marshalling yars to the west, and the flyover to the south, just about visible through the gap in the gates. I don’t mind any of this, plus great light makes the opportunity for good photography regardless of location.
Olympus OM-2n, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 18 September 2020
Abandoned hay
Taken shortly before the photo of the cow that I posted a few days ago, this is farmland near Whiston, South Yorkshire, UK.
I liked the muddy field entrance leading into the shot and the brow of the hill giving the impression that the land goes on for miles (Spoiler alert! It doesn’t – there’s a motorway not far beyond the ridge – sorry to spoil the illusion :)).
There are a lot of farms with haystacks and haybales still in the fields this year, slowly rotting away through the autumn and winter. I can only assume that they were caught in rain before the farmers had chance to wrap them or get them into dry barns. I’ve seen some that have actually grown a fresh green grassy hairstyle!
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 23 December 2019
Steel City Snapper photography 