Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
I wonder what used to stand here, beside this (I presume) wharf building? You can see where it once stood, the whitewashed outline of it’s gable tattooed on the structure it shared space with.
I’m sure someone familiar with King’s Lynn would know.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Tri-X. Adox Rodinal 1+50 13mins @ 20°
Taken on 19 September 2024
This attractive old building is the Custom House in King’s Lynn, Norfolk. It dates all the way back to 1683 where it was originally a merchant’s exchange. It took on the role of Custom House in the 1700s and continued to do so through to 1989. The bottom of the building used to be an open arcade serving as a meeting place for merchants, the upper part of the building supported by supported by columns, but the arches have since been filled in, and the columns replaced by masonry.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Tri-X. Adox Rodinal 1+50 13mins @ 20°
Taken on 19 September 2024
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Tri-X. Adox Rodinal 1+50 13mins @ 20°
Taken on 19 September 2024
One of my sons has gone on a trip to Europe with his friends. This is the first time he’s done this (although some of his friends have been away together before), partly because he doesn’t like flying, and partly because, being fair skinned, he’s not a huge fan of sunshine holidays. This trip is a city break though, and it’s November, so hot weather and too much sun are unlikely to be an issue.
Hi mother and I are understandably nervous – it’s one of those “firsts” that you go through with your kids. First night away from home. First time on a bus by themselves. First time driving alone. First trip to a pub. First trip to a nightclub. The list goes on.
He’s a sensible young man and, while I’m sure he’ll avail himself of some drinks while there, he won’t do anything foolhardy, but your children are precious and it’s natural to be concerned for their safety, security, and happiness, even if the likelihood of anything affecting these things is small.
He left the house early this morning to walk to the house of his friend who was driving some of them to the airport. I was asleep when he left, but woke at around four to go to the toilet and realised he had already set off. I was then unable to get back to sleep until I got a message from him saying he was at the airport. I slept off-and-on for the rest of the night and when I did wake properly, kept checking the progress of his flight. I was much happier when I knew he’d arrived safely and, while I’ll be much happier when he’s back home again, I feel less on edge today than I have for the last few. Being a parent can be stressful!
My other son (we have three) had a review meeting today for the internship he’s attending this year. We went along with him and were extremely happy with his progress. He is getting along great and we couldn’t have hoped for better feedback from the staff at the place he is working. We are very proud of him. There are also positive signs that there may be a permanent position for him, which is very good news. Being a parent can also be very rewarding. 🙂
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Tri-X. Adox Rodinal 1+50 13mins @ 20°
Taken on 19 September 2024
Back in September I decided to visit the town of King’s Lynn, in Norfolk. I did this for no other reason than I had never visited the place before and that I thought it might be an interesting place to take some photographs. It was, and I’ll be posting some of the results over the next week or so.
I didn’t get the best weather on the day – it being largely overcast through the morning – although it did brighten up in the afternoon, so the light was a little low for the first part of the day. This didn’t really harm the Tri-X I had loaded, although I was effectively shooting it at 200asa because I had a yellow filter fitted to the camera, but I did wonder how the roll of Delta 100 in the other camera I took would fare. More on that in another post though.
This roll of Tri-X was also the first I’ve ever developed using Rodinal. I’d previously shied away from using this developer with faster films, having heard tales of “golfball”-size grain but, having read some posts by Andy on his S.H.O.U.T photography blog about his experiences with Rodinal, I decided to see how I would get on.
I think the results are, on the whole, pretty good. There’s more grain that I would have seen had I developed it in my usual Ilfotec DDX, but nothing outrageous, and the tonality of the negatives is good.
I’m not sure I would rush to develop 135 Tri-X in Rodinal, but I’m not averse to using it for Tri-X (or perhaps HP5+) again in future. It’s certainly a more cost effective option.
Anyway, the photo today is of a statue of King’s Lynn born George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) a British Royal Navy officer best known for his exploration of the American north-west coast. The city of Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and Mount Vancouver are all named after the man, as is another Mount Vancouver in New Zealand! He also named a number of other locations after his friends, colleagus and fellow officers, including Mount St. Helens, Puget Sound, and Mount Rainier.
That’s the top of the custom’s house behind his head, and not some sort of fancy hat he’s wearing.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Tri-X. Adox Rodinal 1+50 13mins @ 20°
Taken on 19 September 2024
A window in this clothes shop had been broken and then reinforced with plastic film prior to replacement. It made for a cool photo opportunity…
Olympus Trip 35 & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken 15 June 2024.
I took a few pictures in Sheffield city centre to finish off this roll of Fomapan 100 after coming back from holiday. There is quite a lot of development work taking place, with the Heart of the City complex delivering new, and re-purposed buildings. Some of these are built and occupied, some are not quite complete or are awaiting tenants, and some areas are cleared an awaiting work to begin.
The two photos below show scenes on opposite sides of Pinstone Street. I’m not sure what is planned for the cleared area in the second picture. It’ll probably be more retail / dining / residential, but I think it would be quite nice to leave the space open as small park or square.
Olympus Trip 35 & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken 15 June 2024.
My wife and I took a walk around the local country park a few months back and I spotted this unusual scene. It always pays to have a camera with you!
Olympus Trip 35 & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken 16 June 2024.
On the penultimate full day of our holiday in Dubrovnik, we decided to take an excursion to Kotor in the neighbouring country of Montenegro. Kotor is a World Heritage Site set deep in a vast fjord-like tidal bay surrounded by mountains. We had two potential days when we could have made the trip, but chose the second as the weather seemed ok at the time of booking.
The weather was not ok…
There were two stops on the trip (well, four if you also count the toilet break at a service station, and the quite long stop while passing through the border), the first being Perast – a small village beside the bay – where we had a short boat trip to the Church of Our Lady of Škrpjela, which sits on a small man-made island. Unfortunately, as soon as we got off the coach the heavens opened with a torrential downpour that continued throughout the stop. While we had a waterproofs with us, they were jackets and provided no cover whatsoever for our legs and feet and before we even got inside the church our shoes were soaked.
We got wet again after leaving the church, although thankfully the small boat we used for the crossing had a roof. The boat’s roof did not protect us on the walk back from the jetty to the coach however.
Thankfully, by the time we arrived at Kotor itself the rain had stopped, and it stayed dry for the rest of our visit, but the wet feet and damp clothing persisted and took some of the shine off the trip.
We had an affable tour guide inside the walled city, and our group of soggy day-trippers followed him dutifully around the crowded and narrow streets of the town while he pointed out various sights, explained the history, and suggested which restaurants might be good places for lunch.
Kotor is apparently quite famous for the number of cats that live there, and as well as seeing them everywhere you looked, there was a wide range of cat-related merchandise available from almost every shop.
I shot both colour and black and white film during the visit, sometimes of the same subjects.
Kotor is a destination for cruise ships and there were three of them moored when we visited, which probably explained why the place was so busy!
High above the city is a line of walled fortresses. We didn’t even think of climbing this trail with our wet feet, but it looks like quite the climb!
On the whole, while Kotor is certainly an interesting destination, visiting it while soaked through (literally) dampens the enthusiasm somewhat.
Canon Sure Shot Z135 and Kodak Gold.
Olympus Trip 35 & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken 30 May 2024.
A quick spur of the moment shot that didn’t quite work how I wanted, mostly because I wish the car was positioned more to the left to get a better composition on the driver.
I quite like this picture for some reason though. Partly because of the older car the man is driving, partly the interest of the newsstand in the mid ground, and perhaps because of the distinct fore / mid / background layering.
Olympus Trip 35 & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken 31 May 2024.
Steel City Snapper photography 