35mm · Film photography · Photography

Castle Armoury

This is the Castle Armoury in Bury, Lancashire, a Grade II listed building dating to 1907 and so named because it was built on the site of the former Bury Castle. Originally built to house the 8th Lancashire Rifle Volunteer Corps, which eventually evolved into the Lancashire Fusileers. They remained there until disbandment in 1967. Various other battalions and detachments were then housed in the building, including cadets and air training corps until the building was finally closed in 2022 on safety grounds due to lack of funding for repairs.

It’s quite a commanding structure, and all that stonework really pops with contrast in the right light.

Barracks
Barracks-2

Olympus XA-3 & Fomapan 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken on 25 April 2026

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Hawthorns and a railway viaduct

More pictures from Woodhouse Washlands.

I’ve noticed that WordPress (or possibly Flickr) seem to have altered something this week and I now have to use a different URL to embed my pictures. I used to use the Flickr share URL and paste it straight into my posts, but now I have to use the URL in the browser address bar. Anyone else had anything similar?

Hawthorn washlands
Under the viaduct

Olympus XA-3 & Fomapan 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken on 16 May 2026

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Holgagraphy

I like my Holga. Its lo-fi images have a definite charm, I feel.

This time though, the “fi” is as low as I’ve ever seen it. I really don’t know what has happened with this roll of Fomapan 400.

Grungy lychgate

The white speckles from the faulty batch of which this is a part are present and correct, and the scratches that the camera has started adding to the negs have made an appearance (although I’ve cloned the worst of them out), but as for that blothcy mottling? Well, I really don’t know.

It looks like the film is damaged, or has gotten wet, but it’s been stored in it’s sealed box and wrapper since I got it and kept in the fridge, so that seems unlikely.

Grungy tree

I suppose my development could also be to blame, although I’ve not encountered such issues before. The only thing that I can think of that might possibly have had an effect is that it was quite cold in the room when I developed the film, so it’s possible the chemicals cooled by a couple of degrees over the course of the hour’s semi-stand process, but I’m not sure if this would have been the outcome.

Despite all the problems though, if anything can carry off this distressed look, it’s the Holga, and it still manages to do so with aplomb.

Grungy path

Yashica Mat 124G and Ilford Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 24 January 2026

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A trip to Spurn Point (part 2)

Today’s shots were also taken with my GW690, although on a different roll of film: Some Kentmere 400. Unlike the Fomapan 400, there were no defect on this roll, plus I avoided any potential bromide drag by using standard development with regular inversions. I’ve shot a couple of rolls of Kentmere 400 now and both times I’ve found it gives quite bright results and I have to drop the highlights a little. Not sure if it’s a feature of the film, or the way I’m developing it.

The first four shots were taken around the tip of Spurn Point showing the beach and dunes beside the estuary opening. In the shot of the dunes you can just make out an old sea fort dating back to the first world war in the distance. There are two forts: Bull Sand fort, and Haile Sand fort. I think the one in the picture is the former. The structure in the fourth shot is the sea traffic monitoring station. I’m not sure if it’s still manned at all, but the radar is active and the tubular antenna at the top of the building was constantly rotating.

Driftwood
Distant sea-fort
A long way to Sydney
Vessel Traffic Services building

The next four shots are of groynes and other sea defences, or what remains of them at least. These are no longer maintained, with the land now left to natural forces. You can see the battering that the man made defences have taken from the tides. I particularly like the final shot where pebbles have been jammed between the boards of a groyne by the force of waves and resulted in what reminds me of some sort of aquatic abacus.

Groyne remnants
Falling defences
Coastal erosion
Ocean's abacus

Fujica GW690 & Kentmere 400. Ilfotec DD-X 10.5mins @ 20°.

Taken on 24 August 2025