Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
This guy hopped up on the harbour wall and scurried confidently back and forth, unperturbed by the drop into the sea on the other side. The tide was almost in at this point, and the drop was probably about 12-15 feet, so not too far to the water (and the sea was calm), but even with the variety of life-rings and people around, I still wouldn’t have fancied falling in.
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins.
Taken on 2 August 2024
Today’s picture shows the booking booth for the Yorkshire Belle, a pleasure boat that sails out of Bridlington on trips to nearby scenic points of interest such as Flamborough lighthouse, and the nature reserve at Bempton Cliffs where thousands of gannets roost.
The Yorkshire Belle was built in 1947 specifically to serve as a tourist boat and is the last of six such boats built to operate out of Bridlington between the 1920s and 1950s.
The boat’s future was put in jeopardy during the Covid pandemic when reductions in tourist numbers and social distancing rules meant she became unviable to operate and fundraising activity took place to prevent her loss. There’s an ITV Calendar news story covering the events.
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins.
Taken on 2 August 2024
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins.
Taken on 2 August 2024
There’s something about a bicycle, especially one propped against a fence, that seems to attract my eye. I don’t think I’m alone in this, and there are countless photographs of bicycles, both ridden and riderless to be found. I wonder if anyone has put down in words why they are a popular subject?
My own theory is that they make for a pleasing combination of geometric forms, a combination of circles, triangles and other polygonal shapes. They also make for interesting subject matter whether seen in full, or as detail – a wheel, a saddle, a chain for instance – and different points of view give even more variety – from the side, from the front, from above.
And once other factors are added to the mix there’s an almost limitless variety of pictures to be found. Every change of light, of type, of surroundings brings more into play.
The shot below is pretty simple. A bike leaning on a fence with the North Sea behind. I like the contrast of the dark bike against the bright railings. I also like the little incidental details caught by the shutter – the couple in the sea, the distant boat, and the kite that has fluttered into the edge of the frame.
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins.
Taken on 2 August 2024
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins.
Taken on 2 August 2024
The beach at Bridlington is backed by a sea wall along the stretch in front of the town north of the harbour area. This means there’s a good vantage point for looking down upon the sand and seeing the activities of the people enjoying the seaside, including writing messages in the smooth wet sand.
Despite my own spelling often being atrocious (albeit usually due to my inaccurate keystrokes, rather than an inability to spell), I seem to be quite good at seeing other peoples typos, such as the ones present in the first two pictures shared today. To be fair to the authors, it’s a lot easier to spot them from up on the promenade, than it probably is a beach level.
The third shot is spelt accurately, although it’s missing an apostrophe in “mums” and the spacing leaves a little to be desired. It’s not lacking in impact though, and I wonder what “mum” thought about the message?
😀
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins.
Taken on 2 August 2024
Back to black and white again. The coming series of posts will be photographs I made during a day trip to Bridlington with my wife back at the start of August.
This shot seems quite grainy for FP4+, but I do like the light and the expansiveness of the beach, with the coast curving around to the distant promontory of Flamborough Head.
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins.
Taken on 2 August 2024
Back at the end of June I spent the day in Blackpool for The Big Film Photowalk, a series of events around the country that had been organised by Analog Wonderland, the UK based film stockist. I posted about the events of the day here.
While the photowalk in Blackpool took place in Stanley Park, about a mile or so from the seafront, I parked near the town centre as my wife and her sister had accompanied me for the day and were planning on wandering round the shops while I went to take photos. As I was early for the photowalk, I took the chance to go and shoot some photos on a second camera I’d brought with me – my OM-10 – loaded with a roll of expired Fuji C200.
As I said in my other post, the weather on the day was not what I would have chosen. And while the photowalk had its share of drizzle and gloom, the beginning of the day along Blackpool’s seafront was worse, with bouts of full rain and a stiff breeze to contend with. I wasn’t confident of success, especially as I would usually prefer black and white for these conditions, not expired C41 film. Thankfully though, I was wrong, and I really like these colour pictures. They certainly capture the mood, and where there is colour in the scene, it really jumps out of the frame.
I managed to get pictures of the central and north piers, some (unused!) deckchairs, the sea defences, and obligatory shot of Blackpool tower, a shelter, a slightly pitiful looking crazy golf course, and some hardy metal detectorists on the beach.
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Fujifilm C200 (expired 2012 and shot at 100asa) . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 29 June 2024
I still have a sizeable backlog of photos that I haven’t yet published on the blog (or, in some cases, even uploaded to Flickr yet). I’ve already posted quite a few pictures that I took at this year’s Sheffield Steam Rally back at the end of June, but those were all medium format shots. I also finished off a roll of expired Fuji C200 on the day as well, and the photos below are the best from that batch.
Hopefully, in the coming days, I’ll share the rest of the photos from this roll, which were taken elsewhere and turned out better than I had expected…
Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Fujifilm C200 (expired 2012 and shot at 100asa) . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 30 June 2024
So, it’s Star Wars day today, so it seemed apt to publish a photo aligned with that theme. Not that I have many Star Wars related photographs – and even fewer shot on film (two or three at a stretch) – but this one certainly fits the bill.
These two Barcelona manequins must be clones given the headgear they’re wearing. And, yes, that is Darth Vader in a t-shirt lurking in the background…
Olympus OM-10, Cimko 28mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+.
Taken on 17 June 2019
Steel City Snapper photography 