Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
This point of view almost suggests that the bridge will carry pedestrians right across the Thames and directly into St. Paul’s Cathedral.
SPOILER: It doesn’t.
Apologies for another short post. I’m still feeling ill – although maybe a little improved over yesterday. Hopefully I’ll feel better still by tomorrow.
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°
Taken on 29 November 2022.
An image of the London record shop, Sounds of the Universe.
My cold is no better – I don’t think the walk I took yesterday to get some fresh air helped, and may have made things worse. I had to take a sick day from work today and have spent most of my time laid on (or in) the bed just staring into space as I didn’t even have the inclination to read or watch TV. I think I’ll take a covid test tomorrow, just in case.
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°
Taken on 29 November 2022.
An artist begins work on their picture while stood just in front of the National Gallery in London (which is offf to the right in this viewpoint).
I went out today and shot the remaining frames on a roll of HP5+ that has been in my Olympus Trip 35 for a while. I’m not sure if this was a good idea given I have a cold at the moment (although the general concensus is that light to moderate exercise can be beneficial as long as it isn’t a chest infection – which I don’t think mine is. At this stage at least). Whatever the case, I shot the ten-or-so remaining images and can now get the roll developed sometime this week. I’m getting close to running out of fresh images for the blog and, even though I have loads of unpublished stuff from older rolls I can use, I always feel the compulsion to keep the fresh stuff coming. Hopefully this 36exposure roll will keep the lights on for a while. 🙂
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°
Taken on 29 November 2022.
Here I am again, beginning a fifth year of daily posting on my blog. This will be the one thousand, four-hundred and sixty second consecutive post (I now fearfully await someone telling me I missed a day somewhere. Eek!). I don’t have any real plans to switch things up from the current format – a mixture of stuff about making photos, to random, usually brief, journal posts of my life and experiences – but who knows what this year will bring?
I’ve got a new camera to post about soon, but I need to figure it out and – importantly – take and develop some photographs with it first. Hopefully something to come on that in the next week or two.
For my first post of the year, here’s a picture from the Photographer’s Gallery in London. The gallery is split across a number of floors and the usual route it to take the lift to the top floor and then work your way back down to the bottom. The quickest way to do this is via the stairwell and, between two of the floors, there is a window that opens into a small offshot of one of the galleries where photobooks and other documentation about the current exhibition is available to be viewed by visitors. When I visited, the work of British photographer Chris Killip was being exhibited and my photo depicts two people perusing books of his work.
The exhibition was excellent, by the way.
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°
Taken on 29 November 2022.
The north-western plinth in Trafalgar Square, London was originaly intended to be topped by a statue of William IV on horseback but, due to insufficient funds, the piece was not completed. The plinth then remained empty while its use was debated for the next 150 years until, in 1998, three temporary sculptures were commissioned by Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Shortly after this, consultations were carried out to decide the future use of the plinth. It was decided that a rolling programme of artworks would continue to make use of the plinth, and this has been the case since.
To date there have been fourteen artworks displayed atop the plinth since 1998. The latest is called Antelope by Samson Kambalu. It depicts Baptist preacher and pan-Africanist John Chilembwe and European missionary John Chorley. Chilembwe wears a hat in an act of defiance, as this was illegal at the time. The statue of Chilembwe is larger than that of Chorley to elevate his act of defiance.
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°
Taken on 29 November 2022.
Following yesterday’s post, here are three more gallery photographs from the Tate Modern. All three here were taken in the Turbine Hall, a huge space named after it’s previous use when the building was the home of Bankside power station. It really is an impresive venue and can be viewed from several different levels. Looking down upong the other visitors gave views of scatterings of tiny, Lowry-like figures below moving this way and that.
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°
Taken on 29 November 2022.
HMS Belfast is a Tow class light cruiser that was built and launched just prior to Britain entering the Second World War. Shortly afer her launch she was struck by a magnetic mine resulting in severe damage (although, thankfully, relatively few casualties – very sadly, one crewman Painter 2nd Class Henry Stanton, died later from the injuries he sustained). The vessel did not return to active service until 1942 but went on to take part in various campaigns (including the Korean War) and was eventually retired in 1963.
In 1971 the ship was opened as a floating museum managed by the HMS Belfast Trust, situated on the River Thames in London just above Tower Bridge. In 1978 the trust and ship ship became part of the Imperial War Museum.
In this photograph, the ship can be seen from the South Bank of the Thames with the towers of the City of London in the background. It was pointed out to me that the ship’s camouflage is still doing a sterling job.
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°
Taken on 29 November 2022.
I’ve posted photographs shot inside galleries her on the blog on a number of occasions before (e.g. here, here, here, and here). They are not always the easiest places to make pictures as they can be quite dimly lit, necessitating slow shutter speeds, wide apertures, and the chance of motion blur and camera shake becoming present in the photos. They are, nonetheless, quite appealing locations, I find.
The photos today were shot in the Tate Modern gallery in London.
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°
Taken on 29 November 2022.
When I took this picture it was the reflection that attracted me. It was only later, when I scanned the photo, that I realised it looked like a window into the world beneath the ground where the tree’s roots spread otherwise unseen.
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°
Taken on 29 November 2022.
I generally try to find a Christmassy photo to publish on the big day. The only recent picture I have that fits the bill is this one of the Christmas Tree being erected in Trafalgar Square in London. It didn’t have any lights or decorations affixed when I took the shot.
Each year a tree is gifted to the people of Britain by Norway in thanks for British support during the Second World War. The tree would feature in the British childrens television programme Blue Peter quite frequently at Christmas, when the presenters would assist in it’s felling and transportation from Norway, and it’s erection in Trafalgar Square. Blue Peter is still being shown – it first aired in 1958 – and is the longest running TV show in the world. In 2008 presenter Andy Akinwolere presented the feature on the Christmas Tree and accidentally dropped the star when attempting to fit it to the top of the tree.
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°
Taken on 29 November 2022.
Steel City Snapper photography 