Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
I’d planned to come up with a longer piece for today’s blog but then my eldest son and his girlfriend came to visit for a few hours, so I’ve not got the time now. Maybe I’ll farebetter tomorrow.
This picture was taken pretty much adjacent to the one that featured yesterday, this time looking up the path beside the river rather than down into the water.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 15 January 2021
The same buildings that could be seen in yesterday’s post, but this time focused on the reflection.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 15 January 2021
When I visited Kelham Island the other week I decided to follow the river downstream to where it skirts the edge of the town centre and shot a number of black and white photos on that leg of the walk. The photo in today’s post shows the scene just upstream from Lady’s Bridge (which you can see peeking into the shot at the lower right).
I received a new film camera in the mail today. An actual, bona-fide brand-new film camera to boot and, no, it’s not a Leica. Quite the opposite infact – it’s a RETO Ultrawide and Slim, which is a copy of the Vivitar Ultrawide & Slim. It’s a toy camera made almost completely out of plastic, including the lens, with the distinctive feature that the lens is a 22mm focal length, hence the “ultrawide” in the name. There have been a number of copies of the original Vivitar version, of which this is the latest.
I’ve not had chance to try it out yet, but the lens is supposedly quite sharp (although what that means in real terms, I’m unsure), but with a dropoff in quality to the edges of the frame, and with a vignette too. I’m a fan of my Holga and the images it produces, so thought this might be fun to try out. It cost me £30, which is probably more than it is worth (especially considering some other cameras I could buy for the same or less) but, well, I’ve spent money on worse things.
When I get around to shooting with it I’ll post some results and maybe a review.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 15 January 2021
Today’s photo is of The Fat Cat pub in Kelham Island. It’s a place I’ve photographed on a number of occasions as it always seems to catch my eye, especially if the conditions are nice, as they were on this day.
I think that, because I tend to choose Kelham Island for photography outings quite often – it’s close and easy to get to and I can usually find free parking. Plus it’s undergoing gentrification so change is taking place all the time – that an element of over-familiarity might have set in and that I’m drawn to the same compositions that attracted me on previous visits – the more obvious ones at least.
There will be countless other pictures to be made, but I need to look more carefully and draw them out I think.
A couple of earlier posts featuring The Fat Cat can be seen here and here.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 15 January 2021
The City Life church sits on a back street in the Kelham Island / Shalesmoor area of Sheffield. It’s a multi-cultural church although, not being a religious person, I know little about the place other than what I’ve read online before typing this post. What I do know is that it is housed in an attractive building, more akin to a mock castle than a church in some ways. On the morning I made this picture, the low sun was casting some lovely shadows across the masonry and features of the building, setting it into sharp relief.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 15 January 2021
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.
Yashica Mat 124 G & Ilford FP4+
Taken on 30 August 2017.
Today’s photograph is of the signalbox that sits beside the railway crossing in Beighton village. The box still holds the title of Beighton Station, although the station was closed back in 1954 and the Great Central Railway signalbox and crossing are now all that remain. The station opened back in 1893 and originall formed part of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. The line is still in regular use.
Being not too far from home, I’ve photographed this scene on a number of occasions, and it featured in the blog before back in 2017 in the post “Twelve frames an hour“.
Someone commented that the signalbox really “pops” in the frame in this shot, and that it reminded them of an old box camera, meniscus lens image. This is fitting, given the Holga also sports a simple meniscus lens. The vignetting and soft edge-focus of the Holga gives an effect not totally dissimilar to the shallow depth of field that might be generated bys a wide aperture on a larger format camera.
Holga 120N & Ilford FP4+.
Taken on 10 March 2020
I have three entries for this year’s FP4Party. All taken with my Holga 120N.
I didn’t hold a lot of hope for the roll I shot – I felt I was shooting stuff for the sake of it, so was very pleased to find I was very happy with some of the photographs. All three here were taken around the house while trying to finish off the roll – ostensibly the previous week should have been “shoot” week, and I did make some pictures on this same roll then, but work and the weather prevailed so I had the defer some of the shots – happily, I got some nice light on the day in question, even if I didn’t step foot out of the house.
I like the low key look I got, and the Holga, with it’s single-speed shutter and very limited aperture control, has once again delivered in spades.
Of the three, I like the first best. The second is nice, but I’m not sure about the composition – I think I should have moved the vase to the left or right to avoid it blocking the lamp standard. The third is nice too.
Holga 120N & Ilford FP4+.
Taken on 10 March 2020
A group of cows recline in the grass beside the footpath atop Curbar Edge.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Ilford FP4+.
Taken on 12 May 2019
Climbers ascend the crags at Curbar Edge, Peak District National Park.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Ilford FP4+.
Taken on 12 May 2019
Steel City Snapper photography 