Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
One evening on our holiday we walked to the nearby lighthouse (pictures coming tomorrow!). It had rained heavily earlier and the sky was still full of impressive clouds. On the edge of this road lay a large scimitar, or crescent shaped puddle, and I grabbed a quick photo of this couple reflected in its surface.
Olympus 35 RC & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 29 September 2025
Last year my wife and I spent a week in Menorca at the resort of Cala n Bosch, right on the south-western tip of the island and I shot a couple of rolls of film (my, still reliable, expired Superia 100) during the holiday.
This first set were taken on the first day or two as we wandered around the place – while the biggest “resort” on the island (not counting the two main cities, and other inland towns) – Cala n Bosch is still a relatively small place and easy to wander around (it’s actually two areas, if you count the adjoining Cap d’Artrutx). There’s a marina area with a bunch of restaurants, bars, and shops, but the rest of the resort consists of hotels, apartment complexes, and villas. Oh, and a lighthouse.
There will be more pictures to come, both from the resort, and also shots I took when exploring other parts of Menorca.
Olympus 35 RC & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 27 & 28 September 2025
And so we reach the final set of pictures from my trip to Spurn Point.
The first three pictures are of the lifeboatmen’s (lifeboatpersons?) houses that were visible in my picture from the top of the lighthouse in yesterday’s post. They were built in 1975 and replaced the original cottages that dated to 1819. There are now no lifeboat crews based at Spurn with the service being covered from Grimsby and the new inshore lifeboat station at Cleethorpes.
And then a final set of pictures featuring the lighthouse. The first shot is probably my favourite of the whole trip. The Ultramax has produced some subtle but nice colours. The window at the top of the lighthouse is tinted and opens into the upper floor of the building (below the light) where there is a display on view.
So that’s the final post in this set. Spurn (and the Holderness coast) is somewhere I’d wanted to visit for a long time, and it’s somewhere I’d like to return to. There are lots more pictures to be had. Maybe I’ll get another chance next year.
Olympus 35 RC and Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 24 August 2025
I thought I’d finished posting my pictures from the day-trip I took to Hull a few months back but then I remembered this lone medium-format picture I took.
I’d planned on shooting more pictures with this camera – my 1950s Zeiss folder – but when I retrieved it from my bag after I took this shot I noticed that the film advance knob had fallen off! Luckily the bits were in the bottom of the bag but, without a screwdriver, I was unable to make a repair. Later, when I got home I put it together again, but something wasn’t right – the dial was wobbly in a way it hadn’t been before, so I feared that I might have lost some of the mechanism after all.
Then, a few days later, I decided to take another look in the camera bag and there, squeezed right under the padding at its base. was the final missing piece of camera. After fixing it back together properly I then shot the rest of the film on a couple of further outings – although there were further problems to come… I’ll reveal those in a future post.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 on Fujifilm Pro 400H. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 9 August 2025
Olympus 35 RC on Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 24 August 2025
Photojournalism isn’t something I tend to do. It’s not that often that I’m at the scene of something interesting enough to be classified as such.
However, on this occasion, I was. I posted about the events of this day way back on the 16th August (the day I witnessed the events), and here’s a recap of the bit in question (it happened after I’d been shooting some medium format pictures around the old mills in Halifax)…
After shooting a couple of rolls of film I decided to go find a cafe and get a drink and, as I was walking through the town centre, I noticed a police car besides which an agitated looking man and woman were speaking to an officer and gesturing to the building behind them – a jewelry shop occupied the ground floor, and above were another three floors of unknown use. I heard to woman talk about a fire, and what sounded like there being a gas cylinder in the room. Within a minute smoke had begun to emerge from a first floor window. More police arrived and started to make people retreat from the scene, saying there was a danger of explosion. Some people were still approaching the scene and were told in no uncertain terms to “get back!”.
Soon a huge amount of smoke began to emerge from the windows, reeking of whatever was burning in there, for a short period reducing visibility down the entire street, and the orange glow of flickering flames could be seen behind the smoky glass. Shortly afterwards a fire-engine turned up and soon a fireman was spraying water through the first floor windows. After a few minutes of this, the smoke started to diminish and more fire-officers entered the jewelry shop on the ground floor, having to rip open a security shutter to gain access. After watching for a while longer (and having taken a few photographs) it seemed like everything was under control and I decided to move on and find the cafe I was looking for.
There’s a short video of the blaze here and a story on the fire here. Thankfully no one was hurt.
Olympus 35 RC on Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 16 August 2025
I’ve driven past this garage / petrol station loads of times and always think it will make a nice picture. I know that “gas stations” are a massive cliche in photography, but this one has a certain charm. It’s an old-fashioned looking place, with its window full of spares, and slightly dated-looking fuel pumps (although they could be the latest spec for all I know – I didn’t look at them closely, and my knowledge on such things is limited). And on this morning I got the chance to take a photograph.
I still think it deserves a better picture though, maybe on 6×9 medium format, or even on large format. It’s a case of choosing the right time when the light is nice and in the best position.
Olympus 35 RC on Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 8 August 2025
I’m getting quite a large backlog of photos again, so I’m going to post my remaining Hull photographs here in a single post. It’s a mixed bag of subjects, illustrative of the way I tend to photograph things, which is to pick a location, and then just explore, making pictures of the things I find interesting along the way.
These shots are posted in chronological order, so maybe with some filling in of the gaps, someone might be able to work out the approximate route taken.
The first shot is of the back of the Princes Quay shopping centre (in the background is the car park where we left the car for the day). I liked the light and the slightly futuristic architecture, like someones re-imagining of the old TV show and movie, Logan’s Run.
The next shot is of a house I walked past. Again, the sunlight falling on it made it look nice, but it has an interesting architecture, with balconies and verandahs. The green hedge, black metal fence, and splashes of colourful flowers also drew my eye.
Next, a couple of pictures taken around the marina. In the first, I think it’s was the boats name that made me smile, and I thought it worth a picture. The second it was the green boat that caught my attention. A working vessel that stood out among the sleek white pleasure craft.
Later in my wanders, I walked through Hepworth’s Arcade which dates back to the Victorian time, being opened in 1897. It retains it’s old-time charm and has a number of interesting shops (including an amazing jokes and novelties store).
Then we have a picture of the steps to the top of a curving bridge across the River Hull, and a view up the river from the top. If you follow the line of the river with your eye, you can just about make out the bridge that features further down this post next to the more prominent tall Gamebore building. We’ll see those again in a minute…
But before that, here’s an unusually large frog in front of the Streetlife Museum, and then some old but attractive brickwork in the garden at the rear of the Wilberforce Museum, with a looming wharf building behind.
And here’s the bridge and Gamebore building again. It’s the Drypool Bridge which I shared more pictures of a few days ago.
Bob Carver’s chippy is next. I’d hoped toget my lunch here, having visited before on past visits, but was disappointed to find it was closed down, so I couldn’t have a “pattie”. It’s not all bad news though as they now have new premises in a different part of the town centre, which I’ll bear in mind for any future trips.
And the final of my colour shots from Hull, here’s a picture of the beautiful 1936 art deco Burton’s building, which was recently restored. I’m not sure if it’s accommodating any new businesses yet, but it’s a gorgeous looking structure.
And that’s that. More shots from this roll of Ultramax still to come though, although maybe not just yet.
Olympus 35 RC on Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 9 August 2025
I’m not going to claim that this is a good photo from any compositional point of view, but it’s kinda interesting because of its subject. A relatively ordinary Ford Ka in a car-park, but I do wonder what the story is behind all those parking tickets?
By my count there are eleven of them. I’m not sure how frequently a ticket is added, or if there is some sort of escalation procedure that occurs when it becomes clear that no-one is seemingly coming to collect the car. What does the traffic warden / car park attendant think when they stick yet another notice to the growing set already there?
Is the car stolen perhaps? But if that’s the case, would it have been carefully parked in a public place upon abandonment? Maybe the owner is indisposed in some way and unable to reclaim their vehicle, or perhaps even alert someone to its location?
I wonder if it’s still there?
Olympus 35 RC on Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 9 August 2025
I posted a couple of black and white pictures of the Spurn Lightship earlier this month, and mentioned that I had a colour picture too. Well, here it is.
Olympus 35 RC on Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 9 August 2025
Steel City Snapper photography 