Two bridges

April 10, 2024April 10, 2024 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

I took the following two pictures while walking to Woodhouse Washlands where I shot the photos that I’ve shared here during the past week.

The first bridge crosses the railway line that comes from Sheffield, via Darnall and Woodhouse, towards Chesterfield and onward destinations. A scrapyard sits just at the other side of the bridge, along with footpaths to Rotherham Road, Rother Valley Country Park, plus some other trails through the floodplain.

Just to the right of the the bridge is a somewhat pointless bike gate. That aint stopping anyone!

Railway bridge (and pointless bike gate)

The second is of the railway bridge which carries the stretch of track running between Rotherham and Chersterfield across the River Rother (from which Rotherham takes its name, translating from the Old English Homestead on the Rother). This line joins the line crossed by the footbridge pictured above a little further south. It’s not obvious from the picture, but the river bank in the foreground was quite slick and muddy!

From here I followed the course of the river downstream through the section of floodplain that lies south of the Mosborough Bypass (which marks the southern edge of Woodhouse Washlands). Before the bypass, I had to cross Ochre Dyke and Rotherham Road. The dyke is spanned by a small bridge. Or it normally is…

On this day I found that the bridge had been removed and the foundations for a replacement were now in evidence. The water looked jumpable, but I thought it might be prudent to walk around. Unfortunately, following a lot of rainfall, the route was blocked by swampy, submerged grass, and I would have had to make a significant backtrack to get around. So I decided to risk the jump after all.

Despite not looking too bad, it was quite a hard landing on the far bank, resulting in a muddy knee, a hand prickled on a bramble, and a pain in the joint just above my knee that has flared up on occasion ever since. I’m no longer young, it seems…

Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 3 March 2024

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Footbridge and football ground

January 28, 2024January 28, 2024 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Just behind the Cleethorpes sea defences, not far from the section of beach where the wooden post that featured in yesterday’s post stands, the railway line to Grimsby passes by. On the other side of the tracks stand streets of houses and, a little beyond, the stadium of Grimsby Town Football Club.

The railway line can be crossed by a pedestrian footbridge, as seen in the first photo of today’s blog post.

Climbing the steps to the top of the bridge presents a much better view of the football ground, with the terraces of houses in the foreground. The winter sunshine was playing ball too on this day, so the scene is lit with nice low light which casts great, contrasty shadows over the scene.

Fujica GW690 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken on 28 December 2023

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Canals and railways

November 29, 2023 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A couple of pictures taken on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. These are very close to the canal’s eastern end where it joins the River Aire in Leeds city centre just below the railway station.

The canal was originally conceived in the 18th century, with construction beginning in 1770 and being completed forty-six years later (although it was subsequently extended in 1822). It runs for 127 miles and has 91 locks on it’s main line.

The second photo shows westbound rail tracks crossing the canal just after they leave Leeds railway station.

Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko AUTO-W 28mm f/3.5 & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins.

Taken 14 October 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Synchronous things seen from beside the canal

May 3, 2022May 3, 2022 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

I thought I’d lump these two photos together in today’s post. There are two reasons for this.

Firstly, both shots were made while I walked along the towpath beside the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal, heading back towards Victoria Quays, so there is a connection there.

Secondly, there is (to my eye at least) a visual connection in the shape of the piece of sky in the railway bridge picture, and the chimney in the second shot. It almost feels like, if you were to overlay them that they might somehow intersect and fit together. Obviously it wouldn’t be a perfect fit, but compositions definitely have a synchronicity about them, a kind of positive / negative relationship.