Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
This was taken beside St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. It had been raining and this section of floor was highly reflective with the sheen of water that lay upon its surface. I’m not sure exactly what this photographer was taking a picture of but I suspect it was most likely a reflection of some sort.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600).
Taken on 19 February 2020
Another random street shot from London. To try and increase hits to my blog I’ve included some sex. 🙂
I think it said “Sexy” something or other, perhaps “food”, or “deals” or something, but where’s the cheap fun in that, eh?
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600).
Taken on 19 February 2020
A trio of shots taken after getting off the tube at Farrindon Street last week.
You know what they say about checking your frame to make sure (amongst other things) that people don’t have objects sticking out of their heads? Well guess who ignored that…
The guy in the body-warmer in the middle distance looks like he’s staring right at me, but upon closer glance he’s actually looking off to his right.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600).
Taken on 19 February 2020
I shot a roll of HP5+ during a trip to London recently. I knew that my only opportunity for photography would be during the journey from the station to my meeting (and back again) and, as a chunk of this would be on the London Underground, I knew that I’d need a fairly high ASA film to cope with the low light if I took any photos there.
My options were to either use some Kodak Tmax P3200, Ilford Delta 3200, or to push a slower film. As HP5+ is my favourite film anyway, and knowing that it reacts well to push-processing (after all, the canister has 1600asa as one of the choices for processing), I decided to got with the Ilford classic.
I was slightly concerned about the metering on my OM-1 – while the camera has had a voltage conversion carried out so that it can meter correctly with 1.55v batteries, the only cells I have are alkaline, and those tend to lose voltage over their lifespan, throwing the metering gradually out of whack (unlike silver-oxide cells, which keep their voltage constant until they die all at once). Still, HP5+ is a very forgiving film, so I decided to take my chances.
As it turned out I needn’t have been concerned – all the shots (apart from one that was slightly bright and had some shake – probably as a result of a dodgy camera operator!) were nicely exposed and look great. I’ll be posting a selection in the coming days, but for now here’s a guy choosing songs on a jukebox at the station.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600).
Taken on 19 February 2020
Stood right beside the twisty oak woodland that I featured yesterday stands Wellington’s Monument. This stone cross features the dedication: “Wellington, Born 1769, Died 1852. Erected 1866 by E.M. Wrench, late 34th Reg’ment” and commemorates Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Waterloo. The cross is visible atop the hillside from the A621 Sheffield Road which passes to the east at the bottom of the valley. Across the valley on Birchen Edge stands another monument, this one dedicated to Admiral Lord Nelson.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 | Zuiko 28mm f/3.g & Ilford Delta 400.
Taken on 4 January 2020
A maze of beautiful twisted oaks just below Wellington’s Monument on Baslow Edge. I don’t think I’ve got the best composition here – I’m not sure about the grassy area at lower left – but it’s a location not too far away, so plenty of chance for me to get a better shot in future.
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford Delta 400.
Taken on 4 January 2020
I present to you today a couple of pictures of the “Anvil Stone” which sits atop Baslow Edge overlooking the Derwent Valley. I’m not sure if it’s name is official, or one of those things that has just fallen into common usage but you can certainly see how it gets the name.
It was blowing a gale when I first arrived, the wind swooping up the valley sides and buffeting anything close to the edge, so I took care where I stood atop the crags. It’s not a sheer drop along most of the edge (although surely high enough to be potentially fatal in a number of places), but it wouldn’t take that big a fall to sprain an ankle or break a limb or two (or smash delicate cameras!) if you were not to take care.
I entitled this second shot “Jawas” on Flickr as I found the shape of the rock form this angle to be evocative of the Sandcrawler vehicles they use on Tattooine. 🙂
Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford Delta 400.
Taken on 4 January 2020
This is the view from the edge of Lady Canning’s Plantation looking back towards Sheffield city centre, which lies around 4.5 miles away. It’s a nice illustration of how close you are to rolling countryside just a hop and a skip from town. The large block of a building that sits to the left of the image is the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.
I think I botched the exposure somewhat as the shadowy area of the wall is showing significant grain. I love my OM-1, but it’s relatively simple metering can sometimes fool me into picking the wrong shutter speed / aperture combo.
Olympus OM-1, Zuiko 28mm f/3.5 & Ilford Delta 400.
Taken on 30 December 2019
A few months ago, a friend on the photography forum I’m a member of offered some rolls of bulk-loaded Polypan F to other members. Apart from generosity, he was interested to see what sort of results a variety of other people would be able to achieve with the film. Several people volunteered to take part and a box full of film was circulated (each person taking a roll and then posting the remainder to the next person, and so on).
I received the box back at the start of November, but didn’t shoot my roll untill the end of December. The main reason for the delay is the nature of the film. Polypan F is a motion picture copy film. It has very little anti-halation and so can make bright light sources bloom and glow in the right conditions. As November in the UK is not known for it’s bright conditions, I decided to wait for a sunny day. The 30th of December wasn’t the first sunny day to come around, but as I work full time, it was the first one where I was off work and could get out and shoot the film.
There was a loose theme attached to the film – the subject matter should be related to the letter “P”. Based on this, I decided to shoot my roll in a plantation of pine trees in the Peak District national park.
Polypan F has a native speed of 50asa so, even given the bright conditions, I would probably need to shoot accordingly. As a result I took along my tripod and a shutter-release cable. Alas though, even these measures were not to be sufficient.
Shooting in relatively well lit areas of the woodland didn’t pose much of a problem, especially with the 50mm lens, but the 75-150mm was another matter. I was using mid-range apertures to try and maximise my depth of field while shooting at focal lengths over 100mm. When in shaded conditions, this was dropping my shutter speed right down to little over 1sec in many instances. While the camera was firmly held on the tripod, and I was using the cable-release, I still ended up with a lot of shots displaying noticeable camera shake. I believe that the long lens, coupled with the slow shutter speed, was subject to vibrations from the cameras mirror when I took the shots. This was a shame as I lost a number of photos that I think were otherwise pretty nice, Still, I’ll take it on the chin and chalk it up to experience. I’ve never used the OM-1’s mirror lock-up before, but am now fully conversant with how it operates!
Here are some of the better shots from the day.
1 – This is the southerly path I took when entering the plantation (Lady Canning’s Plantation, to the south-west of Sheffield at Ringinglow). The plantation is commercially operated but has public access, including a number of mountain bike trails that were in heavy use on the day of my visit. The light blooming is quite apparent in this shot, particularly where the sun is peeking through the trees.
2 – I ventured off the main footpath to take the next two photos. This was perhaps a mistake as the ground was very uneven (from the wheels of heavy plantation machinery that must have worked there some time in the past) and with a notable quantity of prickly, clothes-snagging, skin-scratching brambles to fight through. Even though I was only 20 or 30 metres from the path, I did wonder if anyone would ever notice me where I to collapse or something. Me and my cheerful thoughts, eh?
3 – This wide avenue bisects the plantation and is the route of an underground pipeline, hence the lack of tree cover.
4 – The southern boundary of the plantation opens onto Burbage Moor.
5 – A couple of hundred metres or so from the southern edge of the plantation stand the Ox Stones, a gritstone tor. Also nearby is a triangulation (trig) point.
6 – And finally, here’s a detail shot of one of the Ox Stones.
It was interesting to use the Polypan F. I’m not sure it’s a film I’ll rush to use again, but I wouldn’t say no if some more came my way. I wish I’d not had the issues with camera shake though as I might have had more images to share.
All photographs taken with my Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 / Zuiko 75-150mm f/4 lenses & Polypan F.
Taken on 30 December 2019
My initial plan for today’s post was to publish 12 photos that were taken this year but which haven’t featured in the blog, but on second thoughts I’ve decided to take the more traditional route. There might still be some that never appeared here before though – I tend to upload more stuff to Flickr than gets featured here – so aren’t you the lucky ones. 🙂
Today also marks the 365th consecutive blog post of the year – a target I attempted once before but which fell through when other events in my life took precedence. Not every blog was written on the day it was posted – in situations where I’ve been away from home I’ve pre-written blogs and then scheduled them to automatically publish (or made them live from my phone). Because of the way I link my photos from Flickr, I’ve found it’s a complete PITA to try and write and publish from mobile devices.
Anyway… Before I get on to the pictures, I just want to take the time to thank all who’ve viewed, interacted or commented on my blog over the year and to wish everyone a happy new year.
So, the photos…
January – This tree sits on the moors just south of Sheffield and is just a few metres from the roadside. It’s distictive shape made for an easy composition. Sadly the tree has now suffered damage – the last time I passed all that remained was the trunk as the upper branches have been broken off. 😦
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 AF & Fomapan 400. Taken on 20 January 2019
February – Eyes in the back of his head? One of the tenets of street photography is to be prepared and ready to catch that decisive moment when it occurs. Sadly, this is rarely the case for me and I’ve missed loads of potentially nice shots due to fumbling with the camera. This was one of the times I didn’t.
Olympus 35 RC & JCH Streetpan 400. Taken on 15 February 2019
March – Portraiture is not something I have much of an interest in, particularly studio portraits (although I do enjoy looking at environmental portraits), so when an opportunity arose to photograph some models at the local camera club I wasn’t sure whether I’d enjoy it or not. While I can’t say it ignited any desire to take more portraits, I was very pleased with my results, one of which is below. It isn’t prefect (the creased backdrop lets it down a little), but the way the Sigma 105mm lens and the Kodak P3200 rendered the images is lovely.
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Kodak Tmax P3200. Taken on 19 March 2019
April – A gate on a public footpath through Edale in the northern Peak District National Park. I think this photo has a certain charm to it, there’s a sense of mystery as to where the path leads and what might be beyond the gate. This is from the penultimate roll of film through my Yashica Mat 124G last year. I shall have to rectify this situation and shoot with the camera again post haste!
Yashica Mat 124 G & Fomapan 100. Taken on 20 April 2019
May – During May I visited New York with my family. It’s the second time I’ve visited (and I’d love to return – although I think my wife would prefer somewhere else in the US if we get across the Atlantic again) – I could have spent all day, every day just walking the streets taking photos. It was a family trip though, so I grabbed whatever I could. This is just a view down 7th Avenue after a rain shower, but it screams New York to me.
Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Ilford HP5+. Taken on 28 May 2019
June – A box of pre-owned pool balls on a stall at the Sheffield Steam Rally. I think I might have said at the time that colour would have been a more obvious choice here, but I love the contrast given by the HP5+.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 D & Ilford HP5+. Taken on 30 June 2019
July – The beach at Scarborough. My wife and I took a trip to the seaside and I shot a roll-and-a-half of film during the day. This is just a snap of the beach, the people enjoying themselves there, and some yachts in the sea beyond, but it has a nice “Martin Parr” feel to it that I like. It was also an opportunity to test the little Pentax Espio compact that I’d bought for £1 a fortnight before.
Pentax Espio 140M & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008). Taken on 13 July 2019
August – Taken at the Lincoln Steam Rally – the first time I’d attended this event, but it was huge and I hope to go again in 2020. I shot four rolls of film on the day, but this Ektar shot of a vintage truck is a favourite. The almost 70-year-old Zeiss Mess-Ikonta continues to impress with it’s superbly sharp lens.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Ektar. Taken on 17 August 2019
September – A day trip to my childhood seaside haunt: Mablethorpe. It’s a place I’m always drawn back to, even though I’m always slightly disappointed that it hasn’t remained frozen in time as I remember it from when I was a child. Another day where several rolls of film were shot (including three botched rolls through my Holga because I had it set to bulb mode!). I’ve many photos from the day that I like, but this is the one that always springs to mind when I think back.
Olympus 35 RC & Kodak Portra 400. Taken on 13 September 2019
October – I took a trip to Doncaster racecourse with my dad, and this is one of the photos from the day. The weather was awful, with heavy rain all day, but oftentimes bad weather makes for good photos.
Olympus OM-1, Zuiko 75-150mm f/4 & Ilford HP5+. Taken on 25 October 2019
November – This shot is potentially my favourite of the whole year. The simple but beautiful charms of the Holga coupled with a wonderfully foggy day made for some amazing photographic opportunities.
Holga 120N & Kodak Tmax 400. Taken on 30 November 2019
December – December is a little difficult as, as I type this, I have three rolls of film waiting to be processed still and there might be a showstopper on there (or possibly not), but this image that I took just before Christmas on a lunchtime walk is definitely worthy of the spot. It’s another Holga 120N image, but cropped to a 4×3 ratio (the bottom of the frame has a river in it, but it didn’t add a lot to the overall image and the landscape crop works much better. The way the Holga renders out-of-focus details is wonderful, and almost impressionistic in style.
Holga 120N & Kodak Tmax 400. Taken on 18 December 2019
So there you have it. Twelve favourite shots from 2019. As with any list like this it’s subjective, and if I were to do it again tomorrow several of the selections might change, but for now it will do.
One final word – I’ll proof read it later, so apologies in advance for any typos or grammatical goofs. 🙂
Steel City Snapper photography 