Few words and many pictures today…
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Fujichrome Velvia 50. Lab developed & home scanned.
Taken on 4 November 2022
Autumn blowout
Tag: Peak District
Fruiting bodies
Why is Toad from the Super Mario games so popular? Becasuse he’s such a fun guy!
Ho ho ho. 🙂
It’s autumn and toadstools, mushrooms, and fungi of all manner of varieties are in full evidence. There were numerous examples to be seen when I visited Padley Gorge the other week, including some teeny-tiny specimens growing from the trunks and stumps of trees. I’m glad I had my macro lens with me!
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Fujichrome Velvia 50. Lab developed & home scanned.
Taken on 4 November 2022
Frosted maple leaf
A few years ago I bought myself a roll of Fuji Velvia 50 as a treat. At the time I think it cost me in the region of about £11 for the roll, which seemed expensive. Little did I know…
Anyway, moaning about the price of film aside, the reason I bought it was to try and photograph some autumn colour. Unfortunately, when that autumn came around I either didn’t have the time, or the conditions weren’t right, and so the season passed. I kept the fim in the fridge though, thinking it would keep until the following year. But I didn’t shoot it again. And then covid arrived and limited my ability to shoot it even further. In the subsequent time I actually picked up a few more rolls of Velvia 50, albeit expired, and I’ve shot a couple of of those (although, given its cost, it always feels like a “special occasion” sort of film), but none of it during autumn. This year though, I had my chance – I booked a week of work for the first week of November which, this time, would be unperturbed by pandemic related lockdowns.
I went out a couple of times during the week to do some photography – the first trip to Bakewell (images to come at a later date), and then, later in the week, a visit to Padley Gorge and its surrounding environs. It was there that I finally shot the full roll of Velvia 50. I’ll probably share most of the worthwhile results in a seperate autumal-themed post, but there are a few that I like enought to post individually, or in small sets, today’s picture included.
This was the first day of the season that I had encountered frost – I had to scrape the car windows before heading out and, although I didn’t set off too early, there was still a little frost left on the ground when I arrived (although it was quickly steaming away where the sun hit it). Just across the road from where I parked my car there were numerous fallen leaves right beside the footpath, all with a light frosting of ice, and the one shared here today grabbed my attention. I was very glad to have taken my Sigma macro lens, and used it for almost every shot on the roll, even the non-macro stuff. It’s a very nice lens and one I should make better use of.
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Fujichrome Velvia 50. Lab developed & home scanned.
Taken on 4 November 2022
Country store (no more)
The light falling on this shopfront – a combination of contrasty tones and shadows from the trees to the left of frame – attracted me to make the picture. It’s a shame that the shop is not trading, but I guess that’s the way the country is changing. Demographically, villages like this are altering, and combined with that a change in shopping habits and the introduction of online shopping, means that trading conditions have become much more difficult for such stores. Hopefully it will re-emerge in some new guise.
Olympus XA3 & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 30 April 2022
Further views of Monsal Dale
I think that today’s three photos will be the last of the batch from my trip to Monsal Dale (and Asford-in-the-Water). I have a few more images but none that really stand out as worth posting here. For some reason a number of frames from this roll came out a little underexposed – I’m not sure if it was the way the XA3 metered the scenes, or (more likely) that I under-developed them or something. Nonetheless, I’ve managed to get them looking pretty nice (if a bit grainy), I think.
Olympus XA3 & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 19 April 2022
Monsal Dale monochrome
Another view of Monsal Dale (these will come to an end in a day or two, in case you’re fed up of seeing the place). It’s from almost the same vantage point as the colour version I posted a few days ago but this one was made after I’d walked down to the valley floor, across the bridge you can see middle-right in the picture, followed the river beneath Headstone Viaduct, past the weir, and then up a deceptively long and, in parts, steep footpath back up the other side to my starting point.
If you click the image and zoom in, you can make out a person stood in the courtyard between the two houses you can see at the bottom of the dale.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Ilford Delta 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 19 April 2022
Wye bridge
Another bridge picture today, this one crosses the River Wye not far upstream from the Headstone Viaduct but is of a much smaller scale.
I shot another roll of my expired film this morning so I’ll hopefully (if the film gods smile down upon me) be able to post some results from that before too long.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Ilford Delta 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 19 April 2022
Packhorse bridge
A couple more photographs of the packhorse bridge at Ashford-in-the-Water today. I shared another photo of the bridge a couple of days ago and mentioned that the sheep paddock at one side of the bridge contained only ducks on this occasion. You can see a couple of them (well just the back-end of one) in the second picture.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Ilford Delta 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 19 April 2022
Monsal Dale and Headstone Viaduct
On the day that I visited Ashford-in-the-Water, I also drove up to Monsal Head, a scenic viewpoint which overlooks a stretch of Monsal Dale where the valley takes a sharp bend. As with Ashford, the River Wye flows through (and indeed, eroded) the dale here too, a few miles upstream from the village.
One of the main features of the valley is the disused Headstone Viaduct which used to carry the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway. The line was open between 1863 and 1968. The route of the railway now forms the Monsal Trail, a popular route for hiking and cycling. The viaduct is 300 feet in length and 70 feet tall.
A little downstream from the viaduct a weir slows the flow of the river.
Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 400H. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 19 April 2022
By the Wye
Three more photos from Ashford-in-the-Water, all taken on the banks of the River Wye where it flows past the edge of the village. It’s really quite picturesque.
The bridge in the third image is Sheepwash Bridge, a 17th century packhorse bridge which is a Scheduled Monument, giving it legal protections from modification. To the left of the bridge in the image is a stone pen. Lambs would be places in this pen so that their mothers would be enticed to swim the river to get to them. As they swam they would be pushed beneath the surface to clean their coats before they were sheared. There were no lambs in the pen on this day, although there were a couple of ducks.
That’s the same swan in all three shots. 🙂
Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 400H. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 19 April 2022
Steel City Snapper photography 