Tag: gate

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Another gate? Don’t mind if I do…

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Keeping the theme going, here’s another gate shot – this one from my walk in the Moss Valley and shot on expired Shanghai GP3. In contrast with yesterdays photograph, this one was incident metered  and the difference can be seen quite clearly – the gate is well lit, but the shaded area under the tree has fallen mostly to shadow.

In fairness, my simplistic two-reading average method that I used on the shot shown yesterday might not have held up as well here as this gate was in full, bright, sunlight (and the photo has already had some work to drop the highlights), so might have been noticably overexposed had I used the same technique.

Gate in the sunshine

Yashica Mat 124G & Shanghai GP3 (expired). Ilfotec DD-X 1+9 10 mins @ 24°.

Taken on 23 May 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

It’s seen its share of passers by

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Keeping to the theme of gates that I’ve loosely adhered to over the past few days, here’s another one that I made (the photo, not the gate!) during a walk I took on Spring Bank Holiday. It was the first photo I took during the walk and marked the place where the footpath left a field and rose up the embankment of a disused railway line. I’d have made the photo even had the gate been pristine, but I was especially taken by its somewhat tired and well-used appearance.

Normally, when metering for photos with meter-less cameras (the Yashica Mat does have a meter, but I’ve never used it) I take an incident reading. As long as I’m stood in similar light to my subject then it tends to work out well. Today’s photograph is one of the relatively few I’ve made using spot metering. The main reason for this is that I don’t have a proper spot meter. The Sekonic L-208 that I use is fairly basic but accurate in most regards, but the spot meter has an somewhat wide angle of 40° IIRC and no means to aim it precisely unless the subject is right in front of you.

This photo was an occasion where I thought spot metering would give a better overall exposure. The gate and foreground was in full daylight, but the footpath up the embankment was in much deeper shade, so I decided to take a spot meter reading for both and then average it to get an exposure that would give me some details in the shadows without blowing out the brighter parts of the scene. Maybe not Ansel Adams levels of technique, but I think it worked well enough in this case.

Held together with twine

Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford Pan-F Plus. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 25 May 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Gateway to a field

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Following on directly from yesterday’s photograph, both in title (although this one’s a tad less evocative…), subject matter, and in timing – today’s photo being the next frame on the roll.

One of my ambitions this year is to make a book (or more likely a zine) of some of my photography. I’ve thrown my hat in the ring for a zine-swap with a group of other photographers where we each produce a zine and then send a copy on to everyone taking part, so we all get a nice little selection of each others photography in physical form. I’m still at the stage of figuring out both a) what subject to choose, and b) how the hell to make a zine. I have a few months yet though, so still time unless I get to too much procrastinating.

Anyway, what I suppose I’m trying to say is that perhaps a selection of photos of gates, fences. and stiles might make for a nice collection of photographs. Stuff like yesterday and today’s photos.

Gate

Yashica Mat 124G & Shanghai GP3 (expired). Ilfotec DD-X 1+9 10 mins @ 24°.

Taken on 23 May 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Gateway to yonder

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Please excuse the somewhat pretentious title of today’s post, but I think it fits the photo. It was made during the same walk as yesterday’s picture, although this was a few miles further along the route and getting back to where I’d parked my car.

In the same way that I seem to have a fondness for photographs of power lines crossing the landscape, so I also like gates, fences, stiles and signposts it would seem. Gates and stiles especially though, as I find them evocative and good subjects for drawing the eye into a scene.

While I know exactly what was on the other side of this gate, another viewer almost certainly won’t, and I hope the picture triggers thoughts of exploration and curiosity as to what might be on the other side. Where might it lead? What sights might you see?

I have a tendency to use a wide aperture to produce a shallow depth of field on such shots which, for me at least, adds to the feel of such photographs.

Anyway, hope someone else likes it too. 🙂

Gateway to yonder

Yashica Mat 124G & Shanghai GP3 (expired). Ilfotec DD-X 1+9 10 mins @ 24°.

Taken on 23 May 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Pandemic scenes #10

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A slightly larger selection of photographs today made up of most of my remaining pandemic-related pictures. I have a few others, but I’m not sure if they’re worth posting or not.

As retail opens up and the lockdown measures ease, there might be opportunities to make more photographs relating to the situation (and if the whole thing goes belly-up, there might be a whole bunch of new lockdown pictures too!), but for now this is the last of what I have to show.

The photos were made over three seperate outings, using two different cameras (and film stocks). The first three follow on directly from the trig point images I posted yesterday, being made on the same walk. The first shows the KFC restaurant at the local retail park. This place would normally be full of cars at the time I walked past, but on this day is was completely deserted. I think it may have re-opened for drive-through sales now but on this day it was shut. The McDonald’s to the right of the image was similarly closed (although it was part way through renovation as the lockdown took effect, so won’t reopen until that is complete anyway). There’s a Pizza Hut off the edge of the frame to the left too, but that was also closed. Probably good for people’s cardiovascular systems though.

Empty at the chicken place

After walking past the KFC I dropped down to the shopping mall to get some items from Sainsbury’s. The usual socially-distanced queue was in effect and took me past these signs on the store window close to the entrance. The rightmost sign is for the Big Night In, a television special made by the BBC where the majority of the performances came from the act’s own homes. You can just make out the ghostly reflections of other socially-distanced shoppers in the window too.

Pandemic scenes - Please queue here

Walking home I passed by a local pub restaurant, closed up since before the lockdown started. Like many similar venues, the noticeboard features a thank you message to NHS and other key workers.

Pandemic scenes - Thank you

This next photo was taken from practically the same spot as the second picture in this sequence, but on a different day. It shows the supermarket’s promotion of technology to make it easier for people to avoid contact with others while in the store.

Pandemic scenes - Stop the spread

And finally, this is one of the children’s play areas at Rother Valley Country Park, the gates taped up, warning notices applied, and fastened shut with plastic cable ties.

Pandemic scenes - No dogs, no children, no-one

Shots 1-3. Canon Sure Shot Telemax & Ilford Delta 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 25 April 2020

Shots 4-5. Pentax P30T, Rikenon 50mm f/2 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 29 April & 2 May 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Pandemic scenes #4

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One of the things I’ve heard mentioned on more than one occasion since this whole thing started – and particularly since the lock-down began – is that this feels like something from an apocalyptic movie.

In many regards though, things are much the same as normal – especially for someone like myself, who worked from home before this started anyway – the spring weather is nice, the air is clear and, if you venture outside, every day feels like you’ve gotten up early before anyone else is out and about, such is the reduction in traffic and pedestrains. It’s quite pleasant really.

And then you see the signs.

Affixed to cemetery gates, and on the noticeboard at the local park.

“STAY AT HOME” they proclaim. Adherence is a requirement to “protect the NHS and save lives”.

And the seriousness of the situation is re-cemented in the forefront of your mind.

Pandemic scenes - Playgrounds closed

Pandemic scenes - STAY AT HOME

Stay safe and keep well everyone.

Canon Sure Shot Telemax & Ilford Delta 400 – Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins

Taken on 11 & 12 April 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Looking down towards Sheffield

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This is the view from the edge of Lady Canning’s Plantation looking back towards Sheffield city centre, which lies around 4.5 miles away. It’s a nice illustration of how close you are to rolling countryside just a hop and a skip from town. The large block of a building that sits to the left of the image is the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.

I think I botched the exposure somewhat as the shadowy area of the wall is showing significant grain. I love my OM-1, but it’s relatively simple metering can sometimes fool me into picking the wrong shutter speed / aperture combo.

FILM - From the hills, the city

Olympus OM-1, Zuiko 28mm f/3.5 & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 30 December 2019

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Testing out the Bronica

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As a treat for my birthday this year, I decided to get myself a Bronica ETRSi. I’d been thinking about a different aspect-ratio medium format camera for some time (and almost bought one a few months back), so my birthday seemed a good time to take the plunge. The camera I got is in nice condition and came with the 75mm Zenzanon f/2.8 lens, the speed-grip, and the AEII prism finder. The camera is very heavy in comparison with any others I own and, especially when the lens hood is fitted, looks like I’m carrying a movie camera around with me!

The camera came fitted with the standard, plain ground-glass focussing screen. While this is in pristine condition, I found that it was very difficult to finesse my focusing – especially when using wider apertures at closer distances. However, I managed to find a split-prism finder that someone had advertised as faulty and scratched, so I took the plunge and took a chance on it. The new focusing screen works fine and, while it’s certainly seen some action and gained a number of battle scars in its time, it’s still nice and bright and the focussing is much, much easier with the split prism.

I took a few family shots last week and decided to finsh off my test roll this lunchtime so headed out to the nearby village of Ridgeway for a short walk and to shoot the remaining six frames.  While the camera is very weighty, the speed-grip makes it pretty comfortable to handle in both landscape and portrait orientations, and I had no problems controlling it.

I dropped the film off on my way back to work and was very fortunate when the lab were able to process it before they closed this afternoon, so a big thanks and shout-out to the great people at Peak Imaging.

Here are three of the shots that I’ve scanned and uploaded.

FILM - Little landscapes

FILM - Church gate

FILM - Resting places

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Kodak Tri-X (expired).

Taken on 4 July 2019

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

6 x 4.5 Gate

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This picture was originally a much nicer (in my opinion, at least) square composition with the wall arcing up through the shot. Or it would have been had I not gottem my finger in the way of the lens, resulting in my having to reduce it to a 6 x 4.5 ratio crop.

It’s kinda frustrating as I almost never get my fingers in the frame – occasionally I’ve had shots where an errant gust of wind has blown the camera strap into the shot just as I pressed the shutter, but my fingers are generally immune to the breeze. Oh well, I still like the result, even if it could have been better.

FILM - Gate

Yashica Mat 124 G & Fomapan 100.

Taken on 26 April 2019