Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Sometimes it goes wrong…

These pictures are from the same roll of Fuji Pro 400H as this pictures I posted yesterday. Unlike those, the light leaks on these were unrecoverable (by my level of skill, at least, although I suspect anyone else’s too).

I think the problem was caused by keeping the roll of film in the camera for two long. I shot a single frame when I visited Hull back in August but, because the film advance wheel fell off thew camera after that shot, it meant that I wasn’t able to shoot any more frames that day and only got around to shooting more in September, before finishing the final four frames in October when I went on my annual day-trip to Mablethorpe.

I shot all those during the journey, three in Gainsborough, and the final picture in Legbourne, and it’s the first of the Gainsborough pictures, and the Legbourne picture shown below.

Cool album cover, bro!

It was after taking the picture in Lebourne and removing the roll of film from the camera that I became aware that I had a “fat” roll, the film and backing paper wrapped much more loosely around the spindle than required, meaning that light was able to get to the film when I opened the camera back. I put the roll somewhere dark as quickly as possible but not matter how fast I might move, it’s still slower than the speed of light, so the damage was done.

It’s a shame these two photos were damaged in this way as I think they would have been good pictures (I’ve since returned to Gainsborough and re-taken the first, but the weather conditions were different and the plume of steam wasn’t there, so I don’t think it will be as good). Still, despite the obvious issues, I still liked the results enough to post them on my Flickr account. I think the first one could make a pretty decent album cover!

Something went wrong-4

Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Fujifilm Pro 400H. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 11 October 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Dark vs light

I was quite please with this picture of West Burton power station. I like the framing, and I’m a fan of industrial subjects in photographs, but most of all – thanks to the position of the clouds when I took the shot – I like the way that some of the cooling towers and some are light, like some massive game of chess or something.

Dark vs light

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE and Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken 2 September 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Power station

This is Blackburn Meadows power station which sits beside the the M1 motorway where it crosses Don Valley across a viaduct near the Meadowhall shopping mall. I’ve driven over the viaduct on numerous occasions and seen the power station bathed in gorgeous light many times. It’s been on a mental list of things to photograph for a while now. A road and a footpath run beside the place making for good vantage points.

The photos before were the first time I did so, although I had a second visit last weekend – but I have doubts about the second set as I had a problem when removing the film from the camera and suspect it might be riddled with light-leaks now as a result. I guess I’ll see when I get the negatives back from the lab.

Electric lights
Power station
Industrial structures

Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Plus-X (expired 2008). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 6mins @ 20°

Taken on 20 September 2022

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Tracks past the power station

Another photograph from near West Burton power station. This is a shot I’ve thought of making for quite some time and have looked at the location on Google Streetview to get an idea of the view. Unfortunately, Google uses super wide-angle lenses on it’s Streetview vehicles which makes it a little difficult to ascertaing what the view might be through a longer lens, and all I had with me on the day was my Zeiss Mess-Ikonta and Canon Sure Shot Supreme – both of which have fixed focal length lenses, with the Supreme’s 38mm being the widest.

Still, this opportunity arose mostly because this location is pretty close to North Leverton windmill, which had been my primary location for the trip, so I’ll chalk this up to a first attempt and will hopefully get out there again at some point to have another attempt, probably with a zoom lens to afford me some additional flexibility.

All things considered though, I like this quite a lot. My original thought was to have the cooling towers fully visible, but their hidden, but looming presence works well.

Eastbound

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 7 mins 45 secs @ 22.5°.

Taken on 25 July 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Power and pylons

Long time subscribers of this blog will know that I enjoy making photographs of power lines. It’s a fascination that goes back to my childhood, probably borne out of watching the old Play Safe public information films that were screened on the television here in the UK warning of the dangers of overhead power cables and electrical substations.

Two cows through a hedge

I’m not obsessed by them, and don’t go out with the purposes of “pylon spotting” or anything like that, but I find the way they traverse the landscape quite evocative and find they make for interesting photographic subjects.

West Burton

The three images presented here today feature not only pylons, but the source of their power as well in the form of power stations. After I visited North Leverton windmill, I drove towards the nearby village of Sturton-le-Steeple which is adjacent to the large West Burton power station. One of the public footpaths near the village provided a great vantage point to see the (still quite distant) facility. Another station, Cottam, is visible in the distance to the south in the final of these three photos. These, and other power stations, sit beside the River Trent from which I believe they draw water for cooling.

They are impressive structures, dominating the landscape from miles around.

Towards distant Cottam

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 7 mins 45 secs @ 22.5°.

Taken on 25 July 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Power station

Five minutes before this shot was taken the whole structure was enveloped in steam. I quickly made my way to a vantage point where I could get a photograph of the spectacle but, alas, it didn’t reoccur in the time I was able to wait. Smaller volumes of steam were constantly being emitted, as in the shot below, but not the glorious fogbank I’d initially witnessd.

FILM - Power station

Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 12 January 2020