Gainsborough Old Hall

March 23, 2026 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Gainsborough Old Hall began as a 15th‑century manor built by Sir Thomas Burgh II before later passing to the Hickman family, who modernised. Over the following centuries it fragmented into workshops, tenements, civic spaces and even a theatre, before falling into decline. Restoration efforts in the mid‑20th century ultimately saved it, and it now survives as one of England’s best‑preserved medieval manor houses, owned by English Heritage.

I’ve been inside on a previous visit, back when I had a one year English Heritage membership, but this time I just took a few pictures of the exterior.

Again, these are Lomography Color Negative 800 images that I’ve converted to black and white.

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC / Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC & Lomography Color Negative 800. Lab developed, home scanned & converted with Negative Lab Pro. Converted to B&W in Lightroom.

Taken 30 November 2025.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Old phone

September 1, 2017 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I might not get the chance to post anything tomorrow, so here’s a quickie post to make up for it in advance.

This was taken in Gainsborough Old Hall (although I’m relatively sure it’s not a relic of the Tudor times in which the building was constructed 🙂 ).

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Rollei Superpan 200.

Taken on 31 July 2017.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Something low key

August 25, 2017 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

After seeing some lovely low-key film shots on a forum I’m a member of, I decided to go ahead and produce one myself. I’ve done low-key before, but mostly digital, and I tend to chicken out from crushing the blacks too much and end up bringing the detail back up. In the shot below, I went all-in, and a large chunk of the image is pure black.

It was an underexposed shot to begin with – the entire roll, despite being shot at box speed on a camera with a correctly working meter, came out thin, and with lots of speckles of dust-like marks. In fact, this is the second roll of Rollei film that I’ve had this issue with (the first being Rollei Retro 400s), although a roll of Superpan 200 in 120 roll format came out just fine). I don’t have any more at present, but think I will shoot it at half-box speed in future.

Anyway, back to the picture. Despite the flecks of white scattered across the image (I cleaned most of them up, honestly!) I think it works quite well.

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Rollei Superpan 200.

Taken on 8 August 2017.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Something strange

August 24, 2017 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

On a visit to Gainsborough Old Hall recently, I came across a small art exhibition running through some of the rooms. One of the objects was a vintage pocket watch with a small plastic doll squashed up inside it and entitled “Watch Case Infant”. Sadly, I can’t remember the meaning of the piece (and I’ve thoughtfully missed of the bit of the white card containing the text), but it makes for a pretty nice picture, I think.

Olympus OM-1, F. Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Rollei Superpan 200.

Taken on 8 August 2017.