Back before Christmas

February 23, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Early November in Sheffield, and the Christmas stalls were already present but not yet quite ready for the public, so they were still locked away by fences (in a festive shade of red, at least).

I like how the girl in the first picture is, at first glance, dressed in what looks like a Santa coat.

Something good that happened today…

I watched the second episode of the new period drama, A Thousand Blows, which started airing on Disney+ this afternoon. I watched the first episode last night and it quickly caught my attention and drew me in. It’s a fictional period drama that is based on actual characters in the underworld of Victorian London, following two new migrants, Hezekiah and Alec from Jamaica and how they become embroiled up in the escapades of The Forty Elephants, a real-life female criminal gang, and also bare-fist boxing (with a muscular Stephen Graham portraying boxer “Sugar” Goodson. It’s from Steven Knight, the man behind Peaky Blinders, and is similarly violent, but the characters are interesting, they are portrayed well by the cast, and the story has its hooks in me. Hopefully it will keep it up through the full six episodes.

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 10 November 2024

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Remembrance

February 22, 2025 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

In a perfect demonstration of the finger-on-the-pulse, timely nature of my blog, today’s pictures are of last year’s Remembrance event at Barker’s Pool in Sheffield which I photographed while I was in town on the 10th November. It was very busy and not really possible to get a good viewpoint amongst the crowds, but I particularly like the picture of the poppy seller, and the Kodak Ultramax has produced some nicely vibrant colours.

Something good that happened today…

I had planned to drive to Lincoln today but a poor night’s sleep meant I didn’t get up in time. Instead I drove into Sheffield city centre and then took a long hike up towards the Woodseats area before dropping down to Abbeydale Road and back into town again, where I wandered around further.

My plan was to try and finish off the remaining frames from the roll of Ilford HP5+ that I started shooting last weekend, but also (if possible) to finish the Kodak Gold that was loaded in the Kodak H35N half-frame camera that I received at Christmas from my generous Secret Santa. In the end, I achieved both goals and now have the HP5+ to develop, while the Gold has been posted off (along with a previously exposed roll of Lomo CN400) for processing at a lab. I’m not sure if there are any prize winners from the H35N as it was the first roll I’ve shot with it, so it was a bit of a test, but fingers crossed.

The walk was a good one and I recorded over 13,000 steps, so I treated myself to a latte and a (rather large) cinnamon bun in a cafe. I felt I’d earned the treat so it was very pleasant to take the weight off my feet for a while and enjoy the coffee and bun.

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 10 November 2024

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Tacos

February 21, 2025February 21, 2025 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

Something good that happened today…

I’m feeling pretty down today and was going to post this with no words at all, but that felt petty and childish. So the fact I’m making myself do so is a good thing, I guess, and better than being completely deflated.

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 10 November 2024

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Almost time for my year in review, but in the meantime…

December 28, 2023 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

It’s this time of year that I post my retrospective of the last twelve months, showing my favourite picture from each. I have the post written and almost ready to publish, but with one small obstacle – December.

While I’ve taken some pictures in December, I’ve only just developed them and not published any online yet. To compound matters, I also shot a few rolls with the Fujica GW690 today and I suspect my favourite December picture may be amongst those. So, what I think I need to do is upload my favourite December picture so far tomorrow, and then use that. And then maybe sneakily update the post at a later date. 🙂

So, hopefully, my end-of-year post should arrive tomorrow.

I picked up a few rolls of expired Velvia 50 slide film recently for a decent price. Some of it is only a few years past date and had been fridge stored, so hopefully that will be good. The other rolls are about 15 years expired but, on past experience, should also hopefully be ok. Included with the Velvia were three bonus rolls of 120 format Ektachrome 64 – these are considerably older, with an expiry date of 1987. I’m not expecting them to give anything close to accurate colour reproduction, but they might still produce something worthwhile. Having three rolls of it means I at least get a few chances to nail the settings.

The pictures shared here today are the remainder of the Kodak Ultramax pictures from my Leeds trip back in October. I thought I’d get them out of the way as I’m still running a backlog of several rolls of film yet unpublished!

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted using Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 14 October 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Leeds Kirkgate Market inside and out

December 26, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A quartet of pictures shot inside and outside of Leeds Kirkgate Market. Again, some nice tones from the Ultramax.

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted using Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 14 October 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Sweetcorn and ice cream

December 24, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A quick post for Christmas Eve (and not a very festive one).

There are a lot of these sweetcorn vendors in Leeds. I’m not a particularly well-travelled person, but I’ve been to quite a few places in the UK and overseas, and Leeds is the only place I’ve seen these sweetcorn stands.

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted using Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 14 October 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Ultramax red

December 23, 2023 fishyfisharcade6 Comments

The roll of Kodak Ultramax from which these photos (and those of recent and coming days) have been taken was the first I’ve ever shot of this particular film stock. I’ve been quite surprised at the strong, vivid colour in the pictures. I’m not sure if this is just how the film looks, or if my Negative Lab Pro settings have enhanced the saturation in some way (I’ve not purposely boosted the saturation).

The reds, in particular, really jump out at me, especially in these two pictures of the street-food vendor, Falafel Guys, and the traditional red British phone boxes. There’s even a hint, daresay it, of Kodachrome in those reds and blues.

Some of the effect comes, I think, from the vignetting that the Z135 has a tendency to add to pictures, but that’s not all of it. Whatever the case, I have another three rolls of Ultramax waiting to be shot. I’ll not hesitate to use it again.

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted using Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 14 October 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Blue

December 22, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted using Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 14 October 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Campervan coffee and Secret Santa

December 21, 2023December 21, 2023 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

I received my gift from this year’s Emulsive Secret Santa exchange today.

Normally this would remain a surprise for Christmas day, but this year when I opened the package, instead of a wrapped pressie being contained inside, the gifts were there in plain sight (along with a note apologising for the packaging 🙂 ), so I know exactly what my Santa has gifted to me.

This year I received a couple of rolls of film, one a short roll of unknown 400asa colour film in 135 format, the other a roll of Fomapan 400 in 120 format. Also tucked away in the box though was a camera, an Ilford Sporti. At first glance I thought that this was going to be a 35mm camera, but I was pleased to discover that it’s actually a zone-focus, fixed shutter medium format camera. It’s quite a basic camera in terms of features – more Holga than Hasselblad, but it feels solid (it was made in Germany) and, if it’s akin to a Holga in terms of it’s use then that’s no bad thing as I really enjoy the sort of simplicity which that brings sometimes.

I’ll provide more thoughts (and, who knows, maybe even a review) when I get chance to put it to good use.

Another picture for the Leeds set today. Who can resist a VW camper, eh?

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted using Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 14 October 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A couple of colourful buildings

December 20, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Another couple of pictures from Leeds, linked by the theme of brightly coloured buildings. Or, in the case of both, brightly coloured reflections or coverings.

The orangey red tones in the windows of the first building are actually reflections of the bright orange netting covering the second, so they’re linked by proximity too (and, I think, they are consecutive frames on the roll of film).

It was my first day of Christmas leave today, and I spent it doing some Christmas shopping (I think I’m all done now), and then a trip to the cinema to watch Godzilla Minus One, which was really good. Considering it was made on a relative shoestring budget of, IIRC, $12 million, it looks outstandingly good. I found out when I got home that there’s a special black-and-white version being released in Japan which has been carefully put together (rather than just being de-saturated) which also looks awesome. You can see the trailer for that here.

Tomorrow, depending on the weather, I’ll either be wrapping presents and maybe developing a roll of film, or possibly heading out to make more photos somewhere. I also need to visit my dad, so maybe that as well.