Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
A couple of edited (and cropped) candid shots that I took while waiting to board our flight home from Barcelona just before Christmas last year.
Sometimes it’s good to sit on pictures for a decent length of time. You see them differently and sometimes find things you like which were previously overlooked.
Ricoh GRIII
Taken on 23 December 2024
I thought I’d lump these two photos together in today’s post. There are two reasons for this.
Firstly, both shots were made while I walked along the towpath beside the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal, heading back towards Victoria Quays, so there is a connection there.
Secondly, there is (to my eye at least) a visual connection in the shape of the piece of sky in the railway bridge picture, and the chimney in the second shot. It almost feels like, if you were to overlay them that they might somehow intersect and fit together. Obviously it wouldn’t be a perfect fit, but compositions definitely have a synchronicity about them, a kind of positive / negative relationship.
Olympus XA-3 & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins 20°.
Taken on 27 March 2022
I have three entries for this year’s FP4Party. All taken with my Holga 120N.
I didn’t hold a lot of hope for the roll I shot – I felt I was shooting stuff for the sake of it, so was very pleased to find I was very happy with some of the photographs. All three here were taken around the house while trying to finish off the roll – ostensibly the previous week should have been “shoot” week, and I did make some pictures on this same roll then, but work and the weather prevailed so I had the defer some of the shots – happily, I got some nice light on the day in question, even if I didn’t step foot out of the house.
I like the low key look I got, and the Holga, with it’s single-speed shutter and very limited aperture control, has once again delivered in spades.
Of the three, I like the first best. The second is nice, but I’m not sure about the composition – I think I should have moved the vase to the left or right to avoid it blocking the lamp standard. The third is nice too.
Holga 120N & Ilford FP4+.
Taken on 10 March 2020
A photo competition I’m taking part in has “Still-Life” at the theme for February. It’s not a form that I’ve much of an affinity for if I’m honest, even though some of my photos undoubtedly fall under the banner by accident. Whatever the case, I’ve found it difficult to drum up much enthusiasm, but nonetheless shot a roll of expired Portra 400 I had lying around. Most of the shots are pretty uninspiring, although there are maybe four or five that are worth a second glance (though probably not much more). The photo below was my favourite, and the one I submitted.
Yashica Mat 124 G & Kodak Portra 400 (expired in 2016).
Taken on 18 February 2018
A bit of a “Ronseal” title today (as was yesterday’s come to think of it), but it fits the bill pretty accurately, I think.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 (with red filter) & Adox Silvermax 100.
Taken on 5 November 2017
Another snap, this time in my house, where I liked the light falling on this elephant-shaped watering can. Shot with my £2 Olympus Superzoom 105 G compact.
Olympus Superzoom 105 G & Fomapan 100
Taken in April 2017 (not sure of the exact date for this one, sorry).
After seeing some lovely low-key film shots on a forum I’m a member of, I decided to go ahead and produce one myself. I’ve done low-key before, but mostly digital, and I tend to chicken out from crushing the blacks too much and end up bringing the detail back up. In the shot below, I went all-in, and a large chunk of the image is pure black.
It was an underexposed shot to begin with – the entire roll, despite being shot at box speed on a camera with a correctly working meter, came out thin, and with lots of speckles of dust-like marks. In fact, this is the second roll of Rollei film that I’ve had this issue with (the first being Rollei Retro 400s), although a roll of Superpan 200 in 120 roll format came out just fine). I don’t have any more at present, but think I will shoot it at half-box speed in future.
Anyway, back to the picture. Despite the flecks of white scattered across the image (I cleaned most of them up, honestly!) I think it works quite well.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Rollei Superpan 200.
Taken on 8 August 2017.
Steel City Snapper photography 