Outside The Hepworth

April 30, 2020April 30, 2020 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

I think I’m suffering from pandemic-induced weight-gain. I spent the first few months of the year cutting back on what I eat and had lost about 15lbs in weight before the lock-down was enforced. I’ve now seen my weight slowly creep back up and it’s now increased by maybe 4lbs.

My lifestyle hasn’t changed significantly since the introduction of the lock-down and, if anything, I’ve been going out for regular walks more frequently than before (although longer hikes have been curtailed). The problem is that I’m eating more, which I suspect is down to some underlying stress and anxiety about the pandemic.

This is clearly something I need to get a handle on – the thought of those months of dieting being wasted is not something I really want to deal with, so I think I’m going to have to start being properly strict with myself about it from now on.

Today’s photos are of The Hepworth gallery and were made back in March. Not everyone is a fan of the building’s brutalist architecture, but I like it and it offers a lot of possibilities for making photographs.

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 14 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Pandemic scenes #5

April 28, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Taken about a week-and-a-half before the UK was placed under lock-down, today’s photo is of a local doctor’s sugery. During the winter months this large banner is prominently displayed, encouraging those most vulnerable to seasonal flu to get a vaccination.

The sign has since been removed. I’m not sure if this is because the surgery are no longer offering vaccinations on-premises during the lockdown; if the time for these seasonal flu vaccinations has now passed; or if it’s just to avoid confusion for people who may believe that the vaccine is for Covid-19.

I wonder how long it will be before a sign advertising Covid-19 vaccinations appears?

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford Delta 400

Taken on 12 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Pandemic scenes #4

April 22, 2020April 24, 2020 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

One of the things I’ve heard mentioned on more than one occasion since this whole thing started – and particularly since the lock-down began – is that this feels like something from an apocalyptic movie.

In many regards though, things are much the same as normal – especially for someone like myself, who worked from home before this started anyway – the spring weather is nice, the air is clear and, if you venture outside, every day feels like you’ve gotten up early before anyone else is out and about, such is the reduction in traffic and pedestrains. It’s quite pleasant really.

And then you see the signs.

Affixed to cemetery gates, and on the noticeboard at the local park.

“STAY AT HOME” they proclaim. Adherence is a requirement to “protect the NHS and save lives”.

And the seriousness of the situation is re-cemented in the forefront of your mind.

Stay safe and keep well everyone.

Canon Sure Shot Telemax & Ilford Delta 400 – Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins

Taken on 11 & 12 April 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Pandemic scenes #3

April 19, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The majority of the hospitality industry in the UK has now closed. After a period where the government advised people to avoid socialising in groups and that they shouldn’t go to pubs -something that caused dismay to the owners and operators of the establishments as, apparently, without a formal government order for them to cease business, they were inelligible to make claims against their insurance policies that would pay out necause they were unable to trade because of the situation – the government formally ordered their closure.

A number of pubs in my local area (although I suspect it to be a widespread thing across the nation) placed messages of support to NHS and other key-workers on their notice-boards when the closed. Today’s photo depicts one of these messages.

During the lock-down, with significantly less opportunity to go out, I’ve started to make progress on enjoying the large (and continually growing) stack of photo books that I’ve bought. Today I chose one of the books further down the pile that must have been there for a significant amount of time now: Portraits of America, by William Albert Allard. The book contains images from his National Geographic work in the US. I’ve only looked at the first set of images so far: a series on the Amish shot back in the 1960s, but the photographs are beautiful and I’m looking forward to enjoying the rest of the book.

Canon Sure Shot Telemax & Ilford Delta 400 – Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins

Taken on 28 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Pandemic scenes #2

April 18, 2020 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

The local park is quite small and is essentially an open space in the middle of the housing estate where we live. Nonetheless it still contains a 5-a-side football / basketball court and sets of swings, climbing frames and a slide for children to play on. In normal times, the park would be populated by children of various ages, from older kids hanging out and playing football, right down to toddlers having fun on the infant swings or climbing on the frames while their parents watch them from one of the benches – something I used to do regularly when my boys were younger.

It’s a different story at present, and the park is largely deserted apart from the occasional person walking their dog, taking some exercise, or just passing through on their way to somewhere else.

The swings have been tied up and, on the day I took these photos, the equipment had been cordoned off with hazard tape (although someone has since removed it). No-one plays there at present.

Canon Sure Shot Telemax & Ilford Delta 400 – Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins

Taken on 29 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Pandemic scenes #1

April 17, 2020 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

I took this photograph not long after the start of the UK’s lock-down. People can be seen observing social distancing while queueing to enter the superstore to buy groceries and other essentials. The store was operating a “twenty at a time” rule when this photograph was taken, but this changed the following day so that is was limited to twenty individuals instead of groups (couples etc.). The system worked efficiently and the waiting times were quite short.

Apart from items like pasta, hand-sanitiser, paracetamol and other previously panic-bought items, the store was well stocked with most goods.

As the lockdown has continued, and panic-buying has (thankfully) subsided, most stores are largely back to normal in terms of the stock they are carrying. The social distancing rules are well implemented and most customers now understand how they work. In some ways, and despite the fact you have to queue to enter the store (admittedly something I’ve not had to do in bad weather yet), the lower numbers of people in the shops makes for a nicer experience

Canon Sure Shot Telemax & Ilford Delta 400 – Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins

Taken on 28 March 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Not thinking things through

March 31, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I was paid today, so decided to combine my exercise with a trip to the cash machine at the local shopping mall. Knowing that cash machines are a pretty high-risk vector for transmitable viruses like COVID-19, I decided to protect myself by wearing a plastic glove. I bought the gloves recently as a means of avoiding physical contact on surfaces that others are likely to have touched – they’re just the thin plastic type that you sometimes find at petrol-stations to avoid getting fuel on your hands, or in sandwich-shops to allow the person preparing the food to avoid touching the ingredients. I would have felt uncomfortable buying surgical-style gloves (even had I been able to find any) given the recent shortages in PPE that have been encountered by frontline healthcare staff.

Sadly, I didn’t think through the process of withdrawing the money in a contactless fashion, and it quickly became apparent that next time some greater consideration of the process will be required.

I decided to wear a single glove, thinking that I’d only be touching the buttons with a single hand, and removed my card from my wallet, entered it in the machine, and then replaced my wallet in my right pocket (as I had nowhere else to put it). I could then enter my pin, select the amount I wanted to withdraw, and remove the cash with the gloved hand. All good so far.

However, I now realised that I would have to reach over into my right pocket with my left hand to get my wallet back out. I also realised that I couldn’t open my wallet with just my left hand and insert the cash without risking scattering it all over the floor. Also, and possibly key – I was holding the cash in the gloved hand that had touched the potentially compromised buttons on the machine, thus transferring any contamination onto the money I had to put in my wallet anyway! In the end I touched the outside of my wallet with the “gloved hand of contamination” in order to complete the task too.

Short of (literally!) laundering the money to clean it of anything harmful, I’m kinda stuck with the situation. Thankfully I can avoid touching the money again (at least until any pesky viruses might have been rendered harmless) and will certainly refrain from rubbing it all over my face or anything, so I think I’ll be ok (plus it’s probably absolutely fine and uncontaminated anyway).

Given that many places are dictating card-only transactions at present, it might have been better left in the account…

Unrelated to all this, here’s todays picture, a bingo hall in Sheffield city centre – somewhere else (along with the cinemas, theatres, gigs, bars, retaurants etc.) that’s likely to remain dormant for the next few months.

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Lomography Color Negative 400.

Taken on 1 March 2020