Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
After sharing some photos of the dam itself, here are a couple of pictures of the reservoir it forms behind it.
The first picture was taken from the footpath that skirts the edge of the water, while the second was taken from up on the hillside above the reservoir. You can just make out some small figures in the shot – those people are close to where I made the first photo.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 9 January 2024
In the hills up above the Derwent reservoirs I found this Land Rover Defender parked up. It looked in its element up there.
I would have photographed it with the temperamental Yashica Mat 124G too, but it was at this point that it stopped working. The XA3 saved the day.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 9 January 2024
Three more photos of Derwent Dam not, as the post title might misleadingly suggest, taken on a separate visit to the location, but taken on the same day as the Yashica Mat 124G shots I posted a couple of weeks ago (which you can see here). These shots were taken with my Olympus XA3. Indeed, it was fortuitous that I had this little compact camera with me as the Yashica quickly exhibited signs of a fault and let me down and without th little XA3, I would have been unable to make any more photos.
The people in the first picture were flying a drone (despite signs clearly stating that this was not permitted), but I think it was out of sight beyond the dam wall when I took the picture.
The final two pictures are similar compositions to those I made with the Yashica Mat, although the wider angle of the XA3’s lens (and also the 35mm aspect ratio) meant I was able to get more of the scene in each shot.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 9 January 2024
About halfway along Derwent reservoir there is a tributary on it’s western bank where a side valley joins the main. It was across this part of the reservoir from the south that I noticed these trees and the reflections of their trunks in the dark water.
Because of the time of the year the sun was low in the sky and cast a shadow across the water and the foreground trees, while those a little further back caught its light. I liked the layers and contrast that this created.
Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 9 January 2024
I almost forgot to write and post my blog this evening!
I faffed around doing stuff on the computer for a bit after work, then took a shower and headed downstairs to veg out for the evening (“veg out” actually means “be remorselessly harassed by my two self-centred cats for a couple of hours“…). I was about to take my cup of tea into the living room when I remembered.
I’m approaching my two-thousand-consecutive-daily-post milestone this year, so I’d like to try and make it there if I can. Not that it really means anything. But, yet, somehow it does…
Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 9 January 2024
Three pictures of Derwent dam today. There was a little water over-topping the dam wall while I was there, but no sign of the cascading curtain of white water that appears when its in full flow, sadly.
The Yashicamat had no chance of getting the whole structure in frame from the available vantage points, so I opted for a couple of shots showing each of the dam’s towers, plus an extra picture of the century old sign warning of a £5 fine if you bathe in the water!
The dam is perhaps most famous for the part it played in WWII, serving as a practice ground for RAF 617 squadron, or the Dam Busters as they are better known. Because of the similarity to the dams in Germany’s industrialised Ruhr valley, it was used to practice the low-level flying needed to drop the Upkeep bouncing bombs that would breach the dams during the raid.
I took more shots at the location with my Olympus XA3, so I’ll share those too at a later date.
Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 9 January 2024
I wasn’t going to include these pictures as part of this sequence of autumn walk posts but, given they were shot on the same outing and also depict autumnal conditions, it seemed a bit silly not to.
These were among the first pictures from a roll of Kodak Portra 160 and were shot in Padley Gorge, which is right next to the Longshaw Estate where the earlier photos were taken.
They’re not the best pictures I’ve made at this location, but they’re not horrible either, and I do like the one with the leaf on the boulder quite a lot.
Getting down to the side of Burbage Brook which runs through the gorge can be tricky. The sides are steep and laced with slippery roots, unstable topsoil, and a large volume of rocks – some slippery with moss, some unstable underfoot. Without care, it would be quite easy to gain an injury, potentially a serious one. Beside the brook is where the best photos are to be had though.
Still, I managed my descent safely – something made simpler when I spotted another photographer taking a much easier route. Even better, I was able to escape again afterwards!
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE / Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC & Kodak Portra 160. Lab developed, home scanned & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken 11 November 2023.
Following on from yesterday’s post showing pictures taken on Lomography Color Negative 400, here’s a (smaller) selection of images that I shot with Fujifilm Pro 160NS.
I’ve already posted a couple of images individually from this roll here and here. Despite taking the full fifteen images that the ETRSi provides per roll, I haven’t uploaded that many of them. Many of them felt samey, or I didn’t get the results I’d hoped for. Also, while the day had great light, by the time I shot this roll the sun was already higher in the sky and starting to feel a bit harsh and this, coupled with the lack of clouds in the sky, left a few of the images looking a little bland. I might be able to tweak the editing to get more from them, but that’s something for another day (if I do it at all).
This first shot of the fungi-covered tree stump is my favourite of the set, but the third picture found it’s way into Flickr’s Explore selection, so received a lot more online popularity.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE / Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC & Fujifilm Pro 160NS. Lab developed, home scanned & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken 11 November 2023.
Blessed with fine weather and on a day where I could take advantage of it, I headed out to the area around Padley Gorge and the Longshaw Estate one Saturday morning in early November with the hopes of catching some autumnal scenes.
The pictures posted today are ones I shot on a roll of Lomography Color Negative 400 with my Bronica ETRSi. Tomorrow I’ll post another, smaller set, that I shot on Fujifilm Pro 160NS.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE / Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC & Lomography Color Negative 400. Lab developed, home scanned & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken 11 November 2023.
The trunk of this tree looks a little worse for wear. I assume the damage is the result of animal activity – there are lots of sheep and also deer in the area. Plenty of squirrels too, although this amount of impact looks a little severe for those bushy-tailed creatures.
I’m not sure if it’s the result of teeth or horns / antlers, but it caught my eye and I took a picture.
The original is a colour image but it’s one of those frames that, for some reason, Negative Lab Pro had trouble with and the results had a nasty green and purple tint. The conversion to monochrome resulted in a more satisfying image. It’s not the first image that I’ve had these sort of issues with – sometimes I can spot frames that might be problematical – but this was not one of them. Maybe a visit to the NLP forum might help resolve the issue.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE, & Fujifilm Pro 160NS – converted to B&W in Lightroom. Lab developed, home scanned.
Taken 11 November 2023.
Steel City Snapper photography 