It’s always a joy to wander around an unfamiliar area with a camera, whether it be somewhere far-flung and exotic, or just a part of your own town or city that you’ve not explored before.

During my wander around Hull last weekend I found a number places that just brought a smile to my face. While probably not drawing a second glance from many local eyes, to me they were heavy with possibility – even in the somewhat flat, grey, overcast light in which I viewed them.

This is one such location – Bishop Lane. I never knew this existed before last Saturday (and why should I? Despite a couple of prior visits to the city, I’ve barely scratched the surface in terms of exploration) but as soon as I saw it I was finding photographs in it’s wonderfully cobbled straightness and shot a few pictures. The first two were of an empty street, but then a couple appeared at the far end of the lane and began to walk in my direction. As they got closer I noticed that the man carried a guitar case and the woman a smaller intrument case – possibly a fiddle – and I knew I had to get them in a photograph of the location.

Before they got too close I checked my focus – the 28mm is fairly forgiving, but I pre-focussed on a spot where I thought the composition would work best as they passed, and then I waited. Looking at the photo it seems evident that one thing I didn’t check was the shutter speed as the couple have some noticable motion blur, so I’m guessing the camera was at 1/125sec (or perhaps even 1/60sec) when I pressed the shutter button. Despite this, I feel the photo works with the blur – it adds a subtle hint of motion in an otherwise motionless scene.

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (pushed to 800asa).

Taken on 19 October 2019