Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
This is Foss Bridge in York. This particular structure dates to 1812, but it replaced an earlier wooden bridge. I thought it looked nice in the winter light.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 20 December 2023
Another look at The Shambles, that is.
Three more shots of York’s most famous street, this time taken with the convenience of the compact little Olympus XA3. The Yashica Mat 124G can produce great pictures, but there’s something freeing about using a small point-and-shoot camera, and the XA3 has been my constant companion for the past few months, just sat in my coat pocket waiting for a picture to present itself while I’m out..
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 20 December 2023
Clifford’s Tower dates to 1245, although a wooden fortification stood atop the raised earthwork mound before then, but was replaced after it burnt down. Archaeological evidence shows activity on the site dating back to the Romans.
I didn’t visit the tower during this trip to York, nor have I visited it on the several other visits to the city over the past few decades. I did get to climb it on a trip when I was a child when visiting with my parents. I can’t remember how old I was and remember little about the trip apart from walking along the city walls, and going to the National Railway Museum. I guess my dad will have a few photos somewhere, and maybe I’ll try and find those one day.
Both the pictures posted here are a little fuzzy for some reason. No other shots from the roll exhibit the same issue, so I don’t know what’s happened there.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 20 December 2023
This building, standing in the middle of the Shambles market in York, dates back to the 14th century in the oldest part of its structure. It was originally two separate buildings which, over the centuries, have become interconnected and now form a single property.
The building has been in commercial use since 1830 and has been host to a chemist’s shop, a hatters, a cafe, and is now home to Gert and Henry’s restaurant.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 20 December 2023
I took this photograph, of the Christmas-themed play area behind Sheffield’s Meadowhall shopping mall, without much confidence that it would turn out. The light was dark, I only had 400asa film in the camera, and the XA3 only really gives me control of the zone-focus . Everything else is handled by the camera’s small electronic brain.
So colour me impressed by how well this turned out. I have no idea what aperture was selected, but it was good enough to get the important elements in acceptable focus. Likewise the shutter speed – there’s a little motion blur on the figure at left of frame, but it was fast enough to prevent camera shake. The exposure has given me plenty of detail in the shadows, but avoided blowing the highlights. and the sky (which was a muddy, light polluted scud of clouds) also has great definition.
It’s always great when a little camera like this delivers the goods.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 20 December 2023
I was a little curious as to how the XA3 would handle this scene when I saw it. I’ve shot into the sun before, but this scene had both the sun and the bright reflection on the railway tracks to contend with.
The result was much more flare! However, despite the flare, it’s not too obtrusive I don’t think, and perhaps gives a sense of brightness that you would probably expect when witnessing something like this first hand.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 9 January 2024
A few weeks back I decided to go for a walk on the Trans Pennine Trail. I’ve walked the stretch close to where I live before, reaching as far as Renishaw a few miles to the south, but I’ve never followed it any further than that.
So, on the day in question, I decided that I would see what was down there, walking the stretch between Renishaw and Staveley and then following the Cuckoo Way on the return journey.
The Trans-Pennine Trail follows the path of an old railway along this stretch of it’s route and is relatively straight as a result. It’s also flat and doesn’t tend to get muddy at all. The Cuckoo Way, on the other hand, follows the route of the Chesterfield Canal and can be hiked all the way from Chesterfield to the River Trent – about forty five miles away as the route takes you.
The Cuckoo Way is easy to walk in many places, particularly sections where the canal still exists, but this stretch just winds through fields, sometimes with little sign of where the waterway once flowed. This particular stretch was quite muddy. Not wet sloppy mud, but the thick stuff like you find on a playing field after a game of football has been played when the ground isn’t dry. It quickly clogged up the soles of my hiking boots with it’s thick clay-like weight and took quite some time to wash off when I got back home.
Fujica GW690 & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 27 January 2024
Perched inside a leaflet box affixed to a map and information board on the Trans Pennine Trail at Renishaw, there sat a tiny princess.
I’ll leave it to you to complete the story. 🙂
Fujica GW690 & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 27 January 2024
About halfway along Derwent reservoir there is a tributary on it’s western bank where a side valley joins the main. It was across this part of the reservoir from the south that I noticed these trees and the reflections of their trunks in the dark water.
Because of the time of the year the sun was low in the sky and cast a shadow across the water and the foreground trees, while those a little further back caught its light. I liked the layers and contrast that this created.
Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 9 January 2024
I almost forgot to write and post my blog this evening!
I faffed around doing stuff on the computer for a bit after work, then took a shower and headed downstairs to veg out for the evening (“veg out” actually means “be remorselessly harassed by my two self-centred cats for a couple of hours“…). I was about to take my cup of tea into the living room when I remembered.
I’m approaching my two-thousand-consecutive-daily-post milestone this year, so I’d like to try and make it there if I can. Not that it really means anything. But, yet, somehow it does…
Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 9 January 2024
Steel City Snapper photography 