Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
The last of the Magpie Mine pictures, and one I took as I headed towards the nearby village of Sheldon, a way marker showing the path on which I’d just traveled, and the one I was about to take.
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 27 December 2025
Most of the Magpie Mine site in view (shot from near the horse gin). It looks almost like a miniature here.
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 27 December 2025
This was my third visit to Magpie Mine, a former lead mine in the Peak District national park. You can see some other posts from previous visits (where I shot 30-year-expired film, and large format) here, here, and here.
This time I was shooting my Nikon F80 with my Tamron 28-300mm zoom lens. As I mentioned the other day, I haven’t been impressed by the sharpness of the lens, and while it’s not too evident in these images, there are others from the roll that I wish had been sharper.
Magpie mine is described here as:
[Magpie Mine] was the last working lead mine in the Derbyshire orefield and is one of the best surviving examples in the UK of a 19th century lead mine. The mine has a fascinating history spanning more than 200 years of bonanzas and failures, of bitter disputes and fights resulting in the “murder” of three miners, and a Widows’ Curse that is said to remain to this day.
Thankfully there were no murders while I was there, and no sign of the widow’s curse. I did however witness another visitor’s dog race off across the fields next to the mine when a hare appeared. The hare made it’s escape hopefully none the worse for wear.
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 27 December 2025
Today’s pictures show a replica horse gin that stands at Magpie Mine in the Derbyshire Peak District. It is located at the same spot as the original which was used to raise lead ore from the mine workings.
More pictures from Magpie Mine incoming…
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 27 December 2025
Although, I think those building might not be a farm and actually house holiday rentals… But it looks like a farm, what with all the fields and animals and whatnot.
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 27 December 2025
Right at the limit of the 28-300mm Tamron lens I was using.
I bought this lens as a good walkabout lens. It’s compact, quite light, has a good range of focal lengths, and the vibration reduction means handholding it is very easy. Unfortunately, despite the reviews, I found it to be a bit soft, particularly at the edges of the frame.
I wondered about putting up with it for the convenience but, after some umming and aahing, decided that image quality was important to me and so traded it in against a used Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 VR lens. This lens is considerably less convenient in a number of ways (weight and size, certainly), but I’m hoping it will live up to its reputation for being very sharp. If I pair it with my cheap, but very good 28-80mm lens, then I still have most of the focal length range (it was quite rare for me to go beyond 200mm with the Tamron).
I’m hoping to finish off a roll shot with the 70-200mm this weekend, and am keen to see the results.
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 27 December 2025
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 27 December 2025
On to the final set of black and white photos I made at Spurn Point. Following directly on from yesterday the first two images are of the views from the top of the lighthouse. It’s not possible to go outside and you have to stand on the platform where the light itself once stood in order to see out of the windows properly, but the views are good. I actually quite like the effect of the “leading” on the glass.
This first shot is the view looking back up the spit towards the Holderness coast (where the land disappears off the left middle edge of the frame). You can see the road, plus the sandy eastern beach, and the tidal mud flats to the west.
Looking the other way (roughly south east) gives a view of the tip of the point with the Humber estuary and the Lincolnshire coat beyond. The road is clearly visible as it makes it’s way to the former lifeboatmen’s houses. The sea traffic tower stands in the middle of the scene, and one of the Humber sea forts can be found at upper right.
Looking to the west give a view of the old lighthouse with its water tank cap. Some people were digging for bait on the mudflats and their electric bike can be seen.
After descending the steep steps of the lighthouse (not easy with a heavy backpack and a tripod!), I treated myself to an ice-cream and then set of towards the tip of the point, first following the road towards the sea traffic tower..
Beyond the tower the land gives way to dunes and a series of sandy footpaths. There are numerous ex-military buildings in various states of repair in this area.
As I reached the beach at the end of the point I turned round and took this photo looking back the way I’d come.
The beach at the end of the point shows clear signs of the tidal forces that come into play when the water is high, the sand sculpted into channels and craters. The fisherman who I’#’d earlier seen digging bait can also be seen putting it to use.
And the final shot from this roll shows a freighter heading up the estuary past the end of the point. This is a relatively small vessel and much larger ships pass through this channel.
The final set of Spurn Point photos to come tomorrow, this time in exciting colour! 🙂
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Fujifilm Acros. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 24 August 2025
Other than a couple of electric bikes, the only mode of vehicular transport I saw while walking to the end of Spurn Point was this Unimog all-terrain truck, which carries passengers from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust centre to the lighthouse.. It has to traverse the soft sands of the beach at the neck of the point until it can rejoin the remaining road that hasn’t been washed away by the sea. Here it is heading back north.
There are a number of trails leading from the beach, up over the dunes, and to the road. This one looks a little overgrown.
After crossing the road I stuck to the western side of the spit which is mostly flat, grassy terrain with a scattering of gorse and some bird-watching shelters overlooking the tidal mud flats of the estuary.
Given the length of the walk to the end of the point, it’s good to see a bench along the way. My telephoto lens has compressed the distance a little and it’s further to the lighthouse from the bench than it might appear in this shot.
Also present are the reamains of some WW2-era tank traps.
IAs I got closer to the lighthouse I made a number of photographs.
More to come tomorrow, including views from the top of the lighthouse!
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Fujifilm Acros. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 24 August 2025
Switching cameras and film for the next bunch of photos from this trip…
You can just see the north sea in the shot, but I took this one because I liked the weather-vane goat.
A view north from the top of Spurn with rough conditions (although they didn’t seem so bad further down the point). The “promontory” jutting out to sea is actually the remnants or concrete wartime structures that have fallen as the cliffs recede due to coastal erosion.
A few miles out to sea stands a large offshore wind farm, something that has become a common sight from the North Sea coastline.
I wasn’t the only photographer on Spurn Point that day…
I wonder how much time has passed since this section of brick wall fell into the sea? I’m quite impressed at how well it is maintaining its structural integrity. Perhaps it will become a large and intricately patterned pebble some day.
More groyne remnants…
And another view of the remains of man’s efforts to hold back the tides…
Among the other debris, there were a number of lobster pots washed up on shore (or shortly about to)…
There are lots of pieces of chalk scattered across the seaward beaches of Spurn Point. These have most likely been transported south from the exposed chalk cliffs at Flamborough, almost fifty miles up the coast (although the entire Holderness coast is under laid with a bedrock of Cretaceous chalk, this is mostly covered by glacial till).
Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Fujifilm Acros. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 24 August 2025
