Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
Today’s photo is from a hike I took back in March. There will be a post or two about the full hike coming soon, but before then I’ll share some medium format pictures I made with my Yashica Mat 124G alongside the bulk that I shot with my Olympus XA3.
This farm sits in the hilly Peak District countryside between Elton to the south and Youlgreave to the north.
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 26 March 2024
The first two boats in this scene – Willow and Trisantona – look best suited to the adjacent River Trent, although I suppose they can also traverse the River Idle. I’m not sure if boats like this venture onto the Chesterfield Canal, and I expect that their wakes would cause quite a commotion if they did. That journey is probably left to narrowboats, like the ones moored in the background.
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 24 March 2024
Occasionally on this blog I will post a photograph without saying anything about it. I could try and bluff my way through this and claim that “the picture speaks for itself“, or something similar, but that would be – pardon my French – bullshit.
What it actually means is, usually, one of two things:
Option 2 is the usual culprit. I’ve either been doing something that has kept me from the computer, or I’ve been doing something else on the computer (or PlayStation…) and the time has gotten away from me. Either way, the result is the same, a picture without words.
Today was going to be a similar thing, but then I wrote this.
So here’s a picture that has words, they’re just not connected to its contents whatsoever…
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 24 March 2024
Over the last few weeks I’ve posted a whole bunch of photos taken with my Olympus XA3 on Ilford HP5+, which I pushed a stop to 800asa.
Or so I thought…
After receiving a comment about one of my posts using this setup, where I was asked if there was a reason I was shooting the film at 800ASA, I replied that it was to aid me during the low light conditions that are prevalent during the UK winter. Given that the camera has no manual control of shutter speed or aperture, this is a logical thing to do to get faster speeds and avoid camera shake.
But after replying, a small exclamation mark began to flash above my head. So I took a look at the camera manual and, lo and behold, it turns out I’ve not actually been shooting at 800ASA at all, but at 400ASA – HP5+’s box speed. Although the XA3 allows the ASA setting to be changed, it turns out that it will automatically override this if a DX code is present on the film being used. The manual control is just for non-DX coded films!
So in actual fact, I’ve been overdeveloping my film by push processing it!
Fortunately for me, the shots are all perfectly usable, and it’s a testament to Ilford’s HP5+’s resilience to these sort of damn fool mistakes that this is the case.
Anyway, here’s a random shot of one of the impacted frames, proving that if you ever accidentally push your HP5+ by a stop in DD-X, you will likely be forgiven your mistake…
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 20 January 2024
This is the same house that I shared a picture of yesterday. It definitely needs some TLC, but I imagine it will be worth a fortune when renovated.
Those two black specks at the top of the picture are birds. I ummed and aahed about painting them out, but decided they were there when the picture was shot, so there they can remain.
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 24 March 2024
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 24 March 2024
The last picture I have to share for the day I walked between West Stockwith and Misterton, is this shot or a bicycle in front of a barge at the marina where the Chesterfield Canal joins the River Trent.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 24 March 2024
Between Misterton and West Stockwith to be (a bit) more precise. The still water was making some lovely reflections.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 24 March 2024
This is my favourite photograph from my walk between West Stockwith and Misterton. I presume this particular bridge is for farm traffic as there is no road atop it, just grass when viewed from Google Maps.
I spotted the composition as I approached the bridge, and then moved around a bit until it looked just right in the viewfinder. I was expecting the arch of the bridge to render more darkly, assuming the camera would meter on the brighter area in centre of frame, but it captured the reflected light from the ripples on the canal beautifully.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 24 March 2024
A queue of bullrushes stand reflected in the still waters of the Chesterfield Canal.
Today feels like the first proper spring day we’ve had this year. A pleasant 15 degrees, with blue skies and light cloud. Blossoms are plentiful on trees, and the grass looks fresh and well quenched. It will no doubt rain the next chance I have to go out. 🙂
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 24 March 2024
Steel City Snapper photography 