Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
Standing on Bramall Lane, just across the road from the Sheffield United stadium, The Railway Hotel caters to fans on match days. Only home fans though, as the sign says.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 24 April 2024
The River Porter is one of several rivers flowing through Sheffield and it’s surrounding area. It’s source is on Burbage Moor and the river descends over one thousand feet as it flows into the city. This descent enabled the construction of water-powered industry in the city’s past.
When the river gets closer to the city centre, so it’s passage is hidden more and more by a series of culverts which take it beneath buildings and roads until it eventually joins the River Sheaf beside Midland Station.
There are plans to reveal Sheffield’s covered rivers, including the Porter, and this has taken place in some areas, such as the section in the photo below where, just beyond the bridge in the picture, a section of the culvert collapsed where it went beneath the car-park of the Decathlon sportswear store. Decathlon were persuaded to keep the newly revealed stretch of the river uncovered.
A little further downstream from this location, a pocket-park has been constructed to allow people to sit and enjoy the riverbank.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 24 April 2024
There’s something interesting about hardware stores, in particular the more traditional variety such as the one pictured here today. They always seem to have busy storefronts, not only with a window packed with tools, fasteners, devices, and gadgets of all kinds, but also with a spillover onto the pavement. They also have that nice earthy smell about them, a distinctive mix of wood, chemicals, and plant fertilizer.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 20 April 2024
Another set of pictures taken while wandering around Huddersfield town centre with my wife back in April. This impressive structure is the library and art gallery. It’s currently closed for redevelopment, with the facilities moved to temporary locations before the building reopens to the public next year.
The grade II listed building was originally opened to the public in 1940.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 20 April 2024
This is one of those times where I wish I’d had my large format camera and it’s range of movements to hand. It’s a building that I think would be well served by the sort of photograph that the format would produce.
However, I doubt my wife would have been quite as understanding had I kept stopping to faff around with tripods, camera movements, and heads beneath dark cloths. So the the Olympus XA3 had to suffice. 🙂
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 20 April 2024
A direct follow on from yesterday’s post. Those photos were taken outside Sheffield Midland station before I set off for a trip to Leeds to visit the Photo North exhibition. The ones posted here today were shot inside Leeds railway station when I arrived.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 13 April 2024
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 13 April 2024
A couple more bridges, to keep the trend going from yesterday (spoiler: there will be no bridges tomorrow).
These two are closer to home, the first is a derelict railway bridge crossing the main road into the village of Killamarsh, which is not too far from where I live. It was taken from another bridge (and another disused railway bridge at that) which carries the Trans Pennine Trail across the same road.
The second is a footbridge crossing the River Rother not far from where the first picture was taken.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 7 April 2024
I posted some other photos of bridges spanning the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal recently – those shot with my Zeiss medium format folding camera. The ones here were shot on the same day with my Olympus XA3 along the same stretch of water in Attercliffe, Sheffield.
I think I said in the earlier post that this is now a pleasant stretch of the can to walk along. It has a high embankment on both sides which shields it from what is otherwise quite an industrial part of the city. The spring foliage also brings a pleasantly arboreal feel to the place.
When I was much younger the canal was horribly polluted. I remember crossing it on the bus route that took me into the city centre and the water was a vivid orange colour, presumably due to pollutants from the steel industry in the area. Now the water is clear and sustains fish and other wildlife.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 7 April 2024
I thought I’d go back to posting film shots again today – although I may drop in the occasional digital picture now and then as I still have loads of decent shots taken with my GRIII on my recent holiday. I have another “Walk With a Camera” post coming soon – perhaps this weekend – as well.
Despite the title of the post, this tree has only the most tenuous connection with brides or weddings. It stands, however, behind a cafe where we got a sandwich after my wife had chosen the dress she will be wearing at out eldest son’s wedding later this summer. Maybe the post should have been titled “Back of the cafe tree” as that would be more geographically apt – the formal wear shop where my wife got her dress was further down the road.
Sometimes it’s hard coming up with post titles…
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 7 April 2024
Steel City Snapper photography 