Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
A direct follow on from yesterday’s post. Those photos were taken outside Sheffield Midland station before I set off for a trip to Leeds to visit the Photo North exhibition. The ones posted here today were shot inside Leeds railway station when I arrived.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 13 April 2024
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 13 April 2024
A couple more bridges, to keep the trend going from yesterday (spoiler: there will be no bridges tomorrow).
These two are closer to home, the first is a derelict railway bridge crossing the main road into the village of Killamarsh, which is not too far from where I live. It was taken from another bridge (and another disused railway bridge at that) which carries the Trans Pennine Trail across the same road.
The second is a footbridge crossing the River Rother not far from where the first picture was taken.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 7 April 2024
I posted some other photos of bridges spanning the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal recently – those shot with my Zeiss medium format folding camera. The ones here were shot on the same day with my Olympus XA3 along the same stretch of water in Attercliffe, Sheffield.
I think I said in the earlier post that this is now a pleasant stretch of the can to walk along. It has a high embankment on both sides which shields it from what is otherwise quite an industrial part of the city. The spring foliage also brings a pleasantly arboreal feel to the place.
When I was much younger the canal was horribly polluted. I remember crossing it on the bus route that took me into the city centre and the water was a vivid orange colour, presumably due to pollutants from the steel industry in the area. Now the water is clear and sustains fish and other wildlife.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 7 April 2024
I thought I’d go back to posting film shots again today – although I may drop in the occasional digital picture now and then as I still have loads of decent shots taken with my GRIII on my recent holiday. I have another “Walk With a Camera” post coming soon – perhaps this weekend – as well.
Despite the title of the post, this tree has only the most tenuous connection with brides or weddings. It stands, however, behind a cafe where we got a sandwich after my wife had chosen the dress she will be wearing at out eldest son’s wedding later this summer. Maybe the post should have been titled “Back of the cafe tree” as that would be more geographically apt – the formal wear shop where my wife got her dress was further down the road.
Sometimes it’s hard coming up with post titles…
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 7 April 2024
This factory, along with it’s distinctive logo, has been around for as long as I remember. When I was a kid I always thought it was a Roman centurion’s head depicted, but the name of the place – Spartan Works – shows I was wrong.
The building is, I believe, currently subject to a planning order that will involve demolition, erection, and conservation of buildings on the site. I hope the Spartan remains.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 7 April 2024
A couple more shots of the canal today. Despite the slightly industrial quality of some of the bridges, it’s actually quite scenic down there.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 7 April 2024
A couple of photos of the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal in Sheffield.
I publish this while listening to excited chatter on the TV news about a July General Election. About time!
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 7 April 2024
It seems that, whenever a new building is being built in Sheffield, that there’s a good chance that it it will belong to the university (or one of the universities, I should say, as there are two). This part of the formerly industrial district of Attercliffe has not escaped, and there are several new buildings in place, some new development underway, as well as a host of sports facilities (which is perhaps as it should be, as the area used to be the home of the now demolished Don Valley Stadium that was originally erected for the World Student Games that was held in the city in 1991.
The building in the background in the above picture is the English Institute for Sport. Below is another view. I wasn’t sure if the masts are a structural feature, or there for show, but a quick online search reveals that they support the building’s roof.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 7 April 2024
Last month I took my Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 folding camera for it’s first outing in quite some time – about two years, in fact!
It’s quite a nice camera, if a little slow to operate due to its uncoupled rangefinder design which requires focus to be achieved by means of a dial on top of the camera that operates the rangefinder, and then manually transferring the distance on the dial to the lens itself. The lens is quite nice though and gives good results if you set it correctly. Plus, of course, the folding design means it can be slipped into a pocket (ok, a big-ish pocket).
Transferring the focus distance is straightforward enough but, if you’re not paying attention (or haven’t used the camera in a while!) it can be easy to make mistakes where some of the distances have half marks. This is what happened on this outing, and I only realised after I’d taken four or five pictures. I hoped that my use of small apertures might have reduced any focus issues, but on looking at the scans, a few frames are noticeably soft.
The two shots shared here are ok though, as are some others that I’ll share over the next few days. Hopefully I’ll pay closer attention next time I shoot with the camera.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 7 April 2024
Steel City Snapper photography 