Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
I think I’ve photographed this old factory obscured by trees at least three times (although two of those were on the same day, but on different cameras). You can see another one here, which I took a couple of years ago.
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 8 minutes @ 20°
Taken on 2 February 2025
Just downstream from the Ball Street Bridge lies a weir on the River Don. The weir diverts part of the flow towards the former industrial workings at Kelham Island (where the museum is these days).
Today’s picture is from the bank of the Don with the top of the weir just visible as a regular line across the foreground water. The trees sit on an island and made an attractive sight with the more regular shapes of the industrial buildings visible in the rear.
Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Fujifilm Superia X-tra 400. Lab Developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken 5 February 2023.
The bridge in today’s photo is the northern span of Sprotbrough Bridge which crosses the navigable part of the river Don. The southern span crosses the river just below Sprotbrough Weir.
In the background of the shot can be seen Sprotbrough Lock.
Chroma 4×5. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 & Fomapan 100. Fomadon R09 1+50 9 mins @ 20°
Taken 4 March 2023.
Just downstream from the bridge I shared a photo of yesterday (you can see it in the background of today’s shot) is a second bridge, this time an active railway bridge. Indeed, as I was setting up this photo a train was sat idling off the the right of fram and actually crossed when I was ready to take the picture. I waited until it had passed though as, even though it was moving slowly, the half-second shutter speed I was using would have rendered it blurry, and probably not in an aesthetically pleasant way.
I’ve been out making more photos today, although with the Bronica ETRSi rather than the large format kit. We’ve had a big dump of snow the last couple of days which eased off yesterday afternoon and then began to melt quite rapidly. However temperatures overnight fell below freezing so I decided to go out this morning – a lovely sunny start – and try and catch some wintry scenes while they remained. I managed to shoot the full roll of HP5+ I had loaded, and also one or two frames of expired Provia 100 that is loaded in a compact I was carrying in my coat pocket. It was a nice morning and I was pleased that it actually fell on a day where I could take advantage of it for once!
Thos shots will appear here in due course, although I expect the snow will have become memory by the time they do.
Chroma 4×5. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 & Fomapan 100. Fomadon R09 1+50 9 mins @ 20°
Taken 4 March 2023.
Just downstream from Sprotbrough, the Trans Pennine Trail crosses the River Don on this former railway bridge.
While I wish I’d had better light, the riveted structure still manages to be an interesting subject, and the large format negative really captures the detail.
Chroma 4×5. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 & Fomapan 100. Fomadon R09 1+50 9 mins @ 20°
Taken 4 March 2023.
A couple of photographs of the River Don taken from the Ball Street bridge on a lovely September morning a few weeks back.
Every time I use my Olympus Trip 35 it rewards me with beautiful images, sharp and well-exposed. It’s a camera I really need to use more often and perhaps in conjunction with my XA3 – another Olympus zone-focus model. Perhaps one with B&W and one with colour for flexibility of choice when shooting.
More Olympus Trip 35 pictures to come over the next week or so…
Olympus Trip 35 & Kodak Colorplus. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 23 September 2022.
I’d planned to come up with a longer piece for today’s blog but then my eldest son and his girlfriend came to visit for a few hours, so I’ve not got the time now. Maybe I’ll farebetter tomorrow.
This picture was taken pretty much adjacent to the one that featured yesterday, this time looking up the path beside the river rather than down into the water.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 15 January 2021
The same buildings that could be seen in yesterday’s post, but this time focused on the reflection.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 15 January 2021
When I visited Kelham Island the other week I decided to follow the river downstream to where it skirts the edge of the town centre and shot a number of black and white photos on that leg of the walk. The photo in today’s post shows the scene just upstream from Lady’s Bridge (which you can see peeking into the shot at the lower right).
I received a new film camera in the mail today. An actual, bona-fide brand-new film camera to boot and, no, it’s not a Leica. Quite the opposite infact – it’s a RETO Ultrawide and Slim, which is a copy of the Vivitar Ultrawide & Slim. It’s a toy camera made almost completely out of plastic, including the lens, with the distinctive feature that the lens is a 22mm focal length, hence the “ultrawide” in the name. There have been a number of copies of the original Vivitar version, of which this is the latest.
I’ve not had chance to try it out yet, but the lens is supposedly quite sharp (although what that means in real terms, I’m unsure), but with a dropoff in quality to the edges of the frame, and with a vignette too. I’m a fan of my Holga and the images it produces, so thought this might be fun to try out. It cost me £30, which is probably more than it is worth (especially considering some other cameras I could buy for the same or less) but, well, I’ve spent money on worse things.
When I get around to shooting with it I’ll post some results and maybe a review.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
Taken on 15 January 2021
This picture was taken on the bridge carrying Rutland Road over the River Don immediately to the left of the building that featured in yesterday’s post. The brightly coloured objects behind the Gardener’s Rest pub caught my eye with their reflections in the water. They don’t have as much of an impact in the photo unfortunately, but I like the overall composition nontheless.
The view is looking upstream on the stretch of the river that flows through Neepsend. Further up it passes through Hillsborough where it is joined by two of its tributaries, the River Rivelin, and the River Loxley.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Fujichrome Provia 100. Lab developed.
Taken on 23 January 2022
Steel City Snapper photography 