The Moss flows (appropriately enough) through the Moss Valley, an area of farmland dotted with woodland. Despite it’s close proximity to suburbs of Sheffield, it feels very much like you are in the heart of the countryside when you explore the area, which is threaded with a host of footpaths and lanes.
The two pictures today were taken beside The Moss, the first shot required a little patience while I waited for a couple of dogs to finish their excited leaps into the river (the ripples in the water are evidence of their fun).
I’m not sure what lies across the narrow bridge in the second picture. It might be access to farmland on the opposite bank, but from looking at a map, there is also another pond on that side of the river a little further downstream, so it’s possible it’s access for anglers. Whichever, it looks a little overgrown.
The 27th December 2024 was another misty day, and so I loaded another roll of Tri-X and headed out to the Moss Valley, a location that I’ve shot in similar conditions on previous occasions. However, despite being a valley replete with a river and a series of ponds, the area was almost completely mist free when I arrived. Still, waste not, want not – I took a wander down the valley from where I parked my car in the pub car-park at Ford and shot all twelve frames. The selection in today’s post were taken around a couple of the aforementioned ponds.
The branches of the leafless tree, which stands on the bank of the main lake at Rother Valley Country Park, reminded me of something. At first I thought the curved, whip-like branches looked like tentacles, but then it struck me that it looks like some sort of vascular structure, like a brain with the tissue missing. Repetition in nature.
A further trio of pictures taken on a Boxing Day walk on the Trans Pennine Trail. I was fortunate to enjoy three misty days straight after Christmas, all on days when I wasn’t at work so could take advantage of them.
Jumping back to December for some more B&W Yashica Mat 124G images. I posted a couple of shots from this roll already (including a couple of pictures of woodland shelters), but the two shown today are of part of the bridge system that criss-crosses the Trans Penine Trail near Rother Valley Country Park.
It’s quite interesting to look at historic maps of the area and see the network of railway lines that served the coal mine that used to exist in the area. Wandering through the birch woodland that now covers a lot of the area, it’s quite easy to stumble over old track-beds and entire bridges surrounded by thick overgrowth.
This is probably the last of the Barcelona pictures that I’ll share on the blog (unless I decide to publish some more of the digital shots I took, many of which are sat on my computer largely untouched).
Something different coming tomorrow… (that makes it sound a lot more exciting than it will actually be, lol).
Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
A bit on a picture dump today. These are a bunch of photos I too while wandering around Barcelona with my wife. As I mentioned yesterday, I rarely get my best pictures when out with my another person, so I tend to grab photos when I get the chance but without necessarily spending the time and effort needed to get anything particularly accomplished. This makes it sound like I’m some sort of perfectionist figure the rest of the time, and I’m really not – I shoot a lot of pictures, often quite quickly – but I am able to focus on what I’m doing exclusively, which tends to produce better results.
Something good that happened today…
Speaking of shooting a lot of pictures, I rattled through a full 36 exposure roll of Agfa APX 100 during a walk this morning. I drove out to the village of Whitwell, which is about a 20 minute drive away with the singular reason to get through the full roll so I could test semi-stand development. The last roll of this film, which I shot in Lincoln last weekend, was accidentally underexposed by two stops and there are few available recipes for standard development in this situation with this particular film (at least with the developers I have to hand), so a number of people suggested stand or semi-stand development as the beast option.
As I’ve never attempted this process before, and as I think I might have some nice photographs from the Lincoln trip, I decided to underexpose another roll in the same way and make my first attempt on a slightly less valuable set of pictures (although I think there will probably be some nice shots on this Whitwell roll too – I didn’t just shoot random rubbish).
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I attempted semi-stand development in Rodinal today and the negatives look good. The proof will be when I get to scan them, but they look decent to my eye at this stage at least. I’ll write a proper post about this when I have some of the pictures ready to share.
Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
This location had a lot of potential for interesting pictures, the mirrored tiles on the curved overhang casting all sorts of interesting reflections. It’s a location which, had I been there alone, I would have spent some time working to try and find the best shots.
This sort of activity isn’t really possible when I’m with someone else though, as I quickly become conscious that I’m keeping that person (my wife in this case, with little interest in photography) hanging around and I begin to feel selfish. It’s why I almost always prefer solo photography.
While my wife is not a photographer, she did spot this scene at the same time as me and commented that it would make a good picture. Perhaps I’m rubbing off on her. 🙂
Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Sagrada Família, or to give its full name: Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Designed by fames Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudi, work began on consrtuction one-hundred-and-forty-three years ago, on 19 March 1882. Gaudi himself died in 1926 and was buried in the church’s crypt when just twenty-five percent of the building was complete. Work is currently expected to complete in 2026, marking the anniversary of Gaudi’s death.
I’ve visited the church on two occasions now, and on both was unable to go inside. On the first occasion I didn’t want to wait for an entrance slot – visitors must book tickets to enter – and on the second visit there were no tickets available whatsoever on the day. Had I planned in advance, I’m sure I’d have been ok but, if I’m honest, I don’t think I was really that concerned. While I’m sure the church interiors are breathtaking, the thought of being in there with hundreds of other tourists isn’t something that appeals, and ideally it’s the sort of place the deserves time to experience all it has to offer – something I wouldn’t have had as my wife had little interest in going inside, and I would have felt guilty leaving her sat outside while I took my time to explore.
Maybe one day I’ll visit properly, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
Olympus OM-10, E-Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Steel City Snapper photography 