Tag: Ilford HP5+

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Beneath the pier (with a spot meter)

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

After yesterdays picture of Cleethorpes pier, here’s a picture showing what it looks like underneath.

This is one of the first photos I’ve ever spot metered handheld. I have a Reveni Labs spotmeter that I bought from someone second-hand. I’ve only used it at a basic level so far – looking for a Zone 3 area (dark, but with detail) to take a single reading and place it on middle-grey (Zone 5), and then underexposing a couple of stops from what it tells me (I don’t think I’ve explained that very well…).

It’s worked pretty well on the handful of shots I’ve used it for so far. I’ll likely continue to use an incident meter where possible, but it’s good to have the option to be more precise when I can’t get into the same light as the subject.

The upper part of this picture is pretty dark, but that’s what it was like (and there’s no way I could capture setail there without blowing out the brighter parts of the scene). My intent was to retain detail in the vertical struts, which I’ve managed to do.

Beneath the pier

Fujica GW690 & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°

Taken on 28 December 2023

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Footbridge and football ground

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Just behind the Cleethorpes sea defences, not far from the section of beach where the wooden post that featured in yesterday’s post stands, the railway line to Grimsby passes by. On the other side of the tracks stand streets of houses and, a little beyond, the stadium of Grimsby Town Football Club.

The railway line can be crossed by a pedestrian footbridge, as seen in the first photo of today’s blog post.

Footbridge

Climbing the steps to the top of the bridge presents a much better view of the football ground, with the terraces of houses in the foreground. The winter sunshine was playing ball too on this day, so the scene is lit with nice low light which casts great, contrasty shadows over the scene.

Football houses

Fujica GW690 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken on 28 December 2023

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

An old stick in the mud

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

This wooden post protrudes from the sand at the northern end of Cleethorpes beach, just beyond a stone breakwater. The water comes right up to the sea defences at this part of the beach, as evidenced by the treacherously slippery concrete I had to navigate, but at low tide a large expanse of sand is exposed. I say ‘sand’, but because Cleethorpes sits at the mouth of the Humber estuary, it’s a brown, silty, almost muddy sand, quite different to the golden grains you normally imagine a beach to be made of.

Further south towards the other end of the resort, the sand becomes “beachier” (if that’s a word), with the high tide not reaching as far, and more conducive to typical seaside beach activities. However, this wooden post doesn’t stand on that part of the beach.

After spotting it from the shore, I decided to walk across the beach to take the picture you see here. This was mostly uneventful – the sand was wet, with waterlogged ripples present, and mostly firm underfoot. However, in a couple of places, it felt somewhat less secure and I felt my foot instantly sink a few inches when I placed it in certain spots. As I’d reached the post I took the picture, but I was regretting having done so. While there were no signs in evidence indicating quicksand, that didn’t mean that there might not be treacherous sections present and, even if I wouldn’t sink completely, the thought of getting stuck in a foot or so of cold muddy sand didn’t appeal, so I quickly (and carefully – following my footsteps) retreated to the safety of the more solid sand closer to the sea defences.

I’m not sure of the purpose of the wooden post – there are no signs affixed, and it doesn’t have the marker atop it in the same way that the posts at the end of wooden groynes do. Maybe it’s to warn idiot photographers away?

Beach post

Fujica GW690 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken on 28 December 2023

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

The Shambles

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The Shambles is probably the most famous street in York. It’s buildings date in some cases back to the 14th century and it’s a big draw for tourists. There’s something undeniably attractive about it’s narrow, canyon-like passage, with an almost enclosed feeling due to the overhanging buildings.

The street gets its name from the fact that it used to be home to a significant number of butcher’s shops (“shambles” being an old name for such, apparently). I’m not sure that there are any butchers shops present any longer, but there is a shop that sells ghosts, and another full of Harry Potter paraphernalia.

This shot was taken quite early on a Sunday morning before the crowds of tourists began to fill it to capacity.

There are some more photos of The Shambles in this post I published back in 2017.

The Shambles

Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+ @800asa. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 16 December 2023

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Mulled wine and music reviews

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

It feels a little odd to be posting Christmas photos when we’re fast approaching the end of January (already! How did that happen?!), but such is the delay with my working my way through my pictures. There might be a couple more to come yet too.

So far I’m keeping up with my plan to listen to unheard (by me) albums. My list of selections has swollen to a laughably unmanageable collection of over eight hundred titles meaning, if I stick to one per week, it’ll take me over fifteen years to get through them all (not accounting for me adding more!). We’ll see how it goes, eh? However I get on, I’ve started blogging my thoughts on each selection. Should you be interested, you can find those here on a new and imaginatively titled blog I started ;).

Mulled wine

Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+ @800asa. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 16 December 2023

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

The looming face

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Of the photographs I made during our visit to York in December, the one posted here today is probably the one I like most. Technically it’s good, being sharp, well exposed and, thankfully, not showing any real sign of the low contrast that affected many of the other pictures on the two rolls I shot.

But really I just like the picture. The western side of York Minster looks enormous, looming above the streets. There’s a power to the scale of the building and it’s really quite amazing to consider the architecture, engineering, craftsmanship, and sheer art that went into the construction of these buildings.

At Minster Gate

Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+ @800asa. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 16 December 2023

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Hot roasted chestnuts

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

This shot (and several others on the rolls I shot in York) showed notable loss of contrast due to the haze in my Yashicamat’s lens (hence the reason I’ve been seeking a replacement). Some work in Lightroom has done a relatively good job of bringing back a bit of punch to the image.

https://flic.kr/p/2pscD5p

Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+ @800asa. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 16 December 2023