Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
I spotted this irrigation hose through a gap in the roadside hedge as I drove past. Something about the way the light fell upon the reel made me feel it might be worth photographing, so I turned around, found somewhere to park, and walked back to get the image. There’s a slight, but easy to miss, juxtaposition between the crops in this foreground field, and the solar farm just visible in the middle of the frame.
Fujica GW690 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 5 July 2025
I shot this whole roll of Ilford HP5+ while driving randomly around the countryside. I’d love to do a proper roadtrip where I just set of and explore the country but, alas, it’s not something I have the time or resources to do at present. Maybe when I retire at some point I’ll get more of an opportunity.
But even without an extended trip, it’s still possible to just head out into the unknown, taking random roads with no particular destination in mind, and just stopping and photographing things that catch my eye. Both photos from the last couple of posts were made in this way, as was today’s picture.
The house pictured is painted a pastel pink but I had black and white film loaded, so you’ll have to take my word for it, and it was a combination of the colour, plus the house standing solitary on a bend in a country road (not a quiet country road, but not racing with traffic either at the time I was there) that caught my attention.
I drove past the house and saw a place to park a short distance further on, so stopped and walked back along the verge to take my picture. As I got closer, I noticed a solitary woman just across the road from the house and said hello when I got closer. She was stewarding some sort of fun-run event that was taking place in the area and we chatted for a few minutes as I explained why I’d suddenly appeared from nowhere to take a photograph.
I’m posting these shots out of order for some reason, and this was the penultimate picture from the roll (the final phote being the one of the pylons I posted yesterday. The day before that was the first shot of the roll.)
Another random picture to come tomorrow…
Fujica GW690 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 5 July 2025
Some more pictures from my wander around Tickhill – mostly taken after I visited the church.
I’m fond of the old-style road sign (or “fingerpost” as I believe they are called) and I’ve had it in my mind to maybe do some sort of project on them. I just need to pull my finger out and get on with it. 🙂 There are many of them still dotted about, mostly in rural locations (although there’s one five minutes walk from where I live, in the suburbs).
The second picture shows the market cross (although market temple feels more apt in this case), with the fingerpost hiding in the background.
The light had become a bit drab when I took these pictures, it being after the rain shower that had forced me to take shelter, so the pictures are a little flat (especially the last shot, of the butcher’s shop), I think.
Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 22 June 2025
As I wandered around Tickhill, I walked past the church: St. Marys. The building was open, so I went inside and took a few pictures.
It was quite dim inside and I didn’t have a tripod, so these were the best I could do hand-held (and leaning against things to steady myself where I could). The first shot below was with my Olympus OM-10 and is a little soft (although not too bad if you don’t look closely). The shot after is the same scene, but shot with my Yashica Mat 124G. It’s much sharper, but not as sharp as I know the camera is capable of. Both shots required wide apertures too, which reduces the depth of field.
This final shot is probably the sharpest of the batch as I was able to stand the camera on the back of the pews, but a wide aperture was still required and so the DOF is again reduced.
Olympus OM-10, Zuiko Auto-S 35mm f/2.8 / Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 22 June 2025
Following directly on from yesterday’s post where I had a short wander around Oldcotes, today’s pictures are from the walk I took around Tickhill on the same day.
Tickhill is a small town in Nottinghamshire a few miles north of Oldcotes. It’s quite a pretty little place with what appears to be a busy high street (certainly without the usual array of charity shops, tattoo parlours, vape shops and the like that tend to appear where a place is struggling). I’ve driven through the place on a number of occasions, but have only stopped when we’ve been strawberry picking at a farm just to the northern edge of the town. This was the first time I’ve had a walk around the place.
Tickhill has the remains of a castle, although it’s in private ownership so you can’t see much of the place other than a few sections of the wall and it was close to there that I parked my car. Walking towards the castle led me to a millpond where an ice cream van was parked and it was in this area that I took the first of the three pictures below.
After this I set off to the east following a public footpath, taking the next three images along the route. I was getting close to the end of the roll of film and had planned on finishing the remaining frames, but then a sudden heavy rain shower made its presence felt and I had to seek shelter, at first beneath a tree, and then in a cafe on the high street.
I shot the remaining few frames in the church, along with a bunch of medium format pictures too. Those will appear here soon.
Olympus OM-10, Zuiko Auto-S 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 22 June 2025
Back in June my wife and I went strawberry picking at a farm near Tickhill. It was a hot day so, on the way home, laden with three large tubs of delicious berries, we decided to see if we could find a cafe. Looking on Google Maps, I found a place called Manor Farm (which is the building in the last photo below) in the village of Oldcotes which has a cafe and makes its own ice cream. The ice cream was very nice, as was the cafe which had seating in a lovely courtyard as well as indoors.
In getting to the place, I noticed a few other things in the area that might make for interesting photos. I didn’t have my camera with me at the time so, a few days later, I returned, parked the can and went and took some pictures (I also returned to Tickhill on the same trip, and took a bunch more there, but those are for another day).
As tends to be my thing quite often these days, most of the pictures are of buildings I found interesting (although I snuck a kissing gate in too…).
Olympus OM-10, Zuiko Auto-S 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 22 June 2025
The last few from Newark Air Museum…
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 8 minutes @ 20°
Taken on 24 April 2025
More from Newark Air Museum…
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 8 minutes @ 20°
Taken on 24 April 2025
I’ve already posted about this trip to Newark Air Museum on the day I visited, where I shared a few digital photos I’d taken. I’ll not go over the events again, but I’ll post some of the film photos I also took during the visit today, and over the next day or two.
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 8 minutes @ 20°
Taken on 24 April 2025
As a direct follow-on from yesterday’s post, here are the remaining shots from the roll of Kodak Gold that I finished off during a walk through Retford.
The first two pictures show Trinity hospital, which has served as an alms house since the 17th century, although the current building was constructed between 1832-1834. It’s a beautiful looking place and one that I’ve admired whenever I drive past (usually on trips to Mablethorpe) but this is the first time I’ve taken the opportunity to photograph it.
The next picture is some grand looking house peeking up above a wall across the road from the hospital.
Then some new houses under construction…
A big tree that looked nice in the sunshine.
Some older residential properties.
And finally, another attractive old building that now houses a barbershop and a beauty parlour.
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken 8 June 2024.
Steel City Snapper photography 