Tag: Millstone

4x5 Large Format · Film photography · Photography

A millstone beside a tree

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Another picture taken in close proximity to those posted over the last couple of days.

This is a bit of a “tripod holes” scene, and you can probably fine a large number of alternative (and probably better) photographs of the same location. It sits beside one of the main paths leading through Padley Gorge so, unless you take the path on the other side of the gorge, you can’t really avoid it.

Still, I’m quite happy with how it turned out. I’ve cropped in a little to remove some additional brightness where the grey and overcast sky was visible through the branches at the top of the scene.

Millstone tree

Chamonix 045n-1, Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 5.6/90 & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 30 October 2024

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Outdoor manufacturing

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Today’s post shows an abandoned millstone on the moors near Mother Cap.

These stones were all carved by individual masons who were capable of producing around 16 pairs of stones per year.

The market for these stones collapsed when white bread became popular in the mid 18th century. The gritstone that these are carved from would turn the flour grey, so french millstones that didn’t have this effect began to be used instead.

When their business disappeared, the masons fought back by destroying the French stones until eventually the military were brought in to put a stop to it.

The millstone lives on however as it is now the official symbol of the Peak District National Park.

FILM - Up above the birches

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 22 November 2019

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Millstone Grit

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I had a day off work this week and took a trip out into the nearby Peak District National Park. I was mostly trying my hand (not very successfully) at some landscape stuff using my digital camera, but I still stuck a couple of film cameras in my bag and managed to polish off a roll of 120 Portra 400, plus the remains of some Tmax 400 in my Pentax P30T.

The area I visited is littered with millstones in varying stages of completion, hewn from the local gritstone. The one in this photo must’ve been photographed many, many thousands of times as it lays right next to the footpath leading to Over Owler Tor.

FILM - Millstone Grit

Zeiss Mess-Ikonta & Kodak Portra 400 (expired 2016).

Taken on 7 February 2018