Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Around the docks at Hull

There’s a public footpath that winds it’s way through some of the western docks at Hull. in parts elevated to run along the top of one of the warehouse buildings, and the following pictures were all taken from that path. A mix of FP4+ and Tri-X as I switched rolls part way through.

A crane waiting to crane
Sand
Cargo
Warehouses and distant Humber Bridge
Further
Rickety
Skylights
More cargo
Up

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Ilford FP4+ / Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins / 9mins.

Taken on 9 August 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Spurn Lightship revisited

It isn’t the first time I’ve posted pictures of the Spurn lightship on the blog – there are a couple more that I posted back in 2019 here and here.

The vessel has been moved to a new mooring now (one that makes it a little more difficult to photograph) so here are two new shots. I have a colour picture to come too at some point.

Spurn Lightship
Spurn Lightship-2

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins

Taken on 9 August 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

The Deep

The Deep is an aquarium and marine research centre in Hull (or Kingston Upon Hull to give it its full title). I’ve been to Hull on a number of occasions and photographed The Deep (whose distinctive architecture was designed by Sir Terence Farrell, who died aged 87 just a couple of weeks ago), but never actually been inside. Perhaps on a future visit…

The Deep
The Deep and the docks

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins

Taken on 9 August 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Beside the Humber Estuary

Beside the Humber Bridge on the southern bank of the Humber Estuary, there is a car park for visitors. The bank of the estuary here has several benches where visitors can sit and enjoy the scenery, whether that be the spectacle of the suspension bridge, or just the water passing by on its way to the North Sea.

Watching the world go by
Suspension

There is also a cafe, The Viking Way Cafe Bar, so named because it stands at the northern end of The Viking Way, a 147-mile hiking trail running from Oakham in Rutland, to the Humber Bridge. As there is evidence that the Vikings excercised control and influence over the lands through which the trail passes, particularly the Lincolnshire Wolds, so the way got its name.

The Viking Way Cafe Bar

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE or Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC, and Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken 28 August 2023.

4x5 Large Format · Film photography · Photography

Under the Humber Bridge

Another photo of the Humber Bridge, and another affected by some unusual out of focus areas (this time the far river bank in the lower right of ther image). The good news is that I may have worked out the cause of these odd defects – I think it might be the yellow filter I’ve been using. The rationale behind this is that I’ve realised that the out-of-focus areas are only present in shots where I used the filter. All the others are either fine, or any OOF bits can be easily put down to camera movements.

The next thing will be to take some photographs without the filter. Hopefully these will be ok and I can move on and put this situation behind me (and also throw the filter in the bin – it was only a cheap one. Which I gues may be from where the problem stems…).

Beneath the Humber Bridge

Chamonix 045N-1. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 28 August 2023.

4x5 Large Format · Film photography · Photography

Humber Bridge

A couple of pictures from a recent trip to the Humber Bridge. For once I actually got nice conditions, with plenty of light and also an interesting sky, helped quite a lot by a yellow filter. I did have to hang around for awhile on occasion when the sun was obscured behind clouds, but I can’t really complain.

I’m happy with these two pictures but, again, there are issues with the focusing, with the far tower of the bridge being out of focus in both images, even though I’m pretty certain I checked it was ok before taking the picture. I’m wondering if it might be the way I use my loupe to focus and so I’ have’ve made some changes to this proces ready for my next 4×5 outing. Fingers crossed.

Humber Bridge
Humber Bridge

Chamonix 045N-1. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 28 August 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Not the best news

Today has been somewhat disconcerting. While I’ve not, as yet, looked at the news at all today to see what’s been happening, I was nonetheless personally reminded of the current pandemic situation when I found out that my wife will be seconded onto a ward containing COVID-19 positive patients from next week. While the secondment is not unexpected, the thought of her coming into close contact with people infected with the virus is not a pleasant one.

I know that, for most people, the symptoms are mild (and even undetected in some cases), and that the percentage of people developing severe symptoms is pretty low, but that doesn’t make me any less concerned knowing how seriously it can affect others.

There isn’t a great deal that can be done to avoid the situation though, beyond taking the greatest care that we can, so it’s important to make sure I don’t worry about this unduly. Worrying about things I can do nothing about isn’t good for anyone. No-one in our family has contracted the virus (thatwe know of) and certainly no-one has become sick, so I shall continue to hope that this will remain the case.

Another photo of the Humber Estuary and bridge from back in 2017 today. Again, this is a photo that’s been sat on my hard-drive unpublished since I took it.

Out into the estuary

Yashica Mat 124 G & Ilford FP4+

Taken on 30 August 2017.