A couple of people and a couple of dogs walking south down Mablethorpe beach.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 D & Kodak Portra 160. Lab developed, home scanned, & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 17 September 2022
Dog walkers
Tag: Seaside
Beach chalets (and dusty negatives update)
It’s that time of the year when my blog becomes awash with photographs from Mablethorpe, taken on my annual visit (pilgimage 🙂 ). I think I shot three-and-a-half rolls this year, these are from the half-roll (Kodak Portra 160), but I have shots from a full roll of 135 Velvia 50, and one roll each of Fuji Pro 160NS and Kodak Plus-X in 120 still to come.
I’ve made further attempts to scan the dusty negatives that I posted about my frustration with yesterday. I’ve carefully cleaned all the strips with isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and microfibre cloths. The negatives that I thought I’d damaged yesterday also cleaned up better on this attempt and are thankfully not marred by permanent streaks as I had feared. There is still a considerable amount of dust present, but much less than before (at least from the ones I’ve tried scanning so far). There is also at least one neg with a scratch that I’ve introduced. But they look better.
I’m still going to put the pieces in place to develop colour film myself though. Maybe not immediately, but hopefully before too long.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 D & Kodak Portra 160. Lab developed, home scanned, & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 17 September 2022
Mablethorpe north beach and dusty negatives
More scanning tonight, and yet more dust woes. Suffice to say I won’t be using the same place again for my colour developing. I’m frankly quite disheartened at the thought that some probably quite nice pictures are looking not so nice due to this, or will require an undue amount of dust spotting in Photoshop – a mind-numbing task. I tried cleaning the first couple of negatives with some IPA which did remove quite a lot of the dust, but also seems to have added some faint streaks which may, or may not, be permanent. Not good.
I’m going to have to bit the bullet and start developing my own colour film, aren’t I? In the meantime, I’m going to have to find somewhere else and incur postage costs.
The shot below was from the same lab, and while still dusty in comparison with the lab I used to use (which has now closed), it’s nothing like as bad as the roll I’ve started to scan tonight. It still took quite some time to dust spot though.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 D & Kodak Portra 160. Lab developed, home scanned, & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 17 September 2022
A print perhaps?
It’s very rare that I make prints of my photographs. Occasionally, I’ll get a bunch of cheap mini prints of random shots as they can be nice things to put in gifts, and I had a print made of a picture my cousin liked for her to hang on her wall, but rarely do I make a print for myself.
I might get a print of the picture posted here today though. It’s not a perfect image and probably not something anyone would buy commercially, but I like the photo – it’s evocative and also, because I was there when it was made, personal. It’s mine. It would be a nice thing to look at when I’m at work, I think, maybe even moreso when the dark winter days kick in proper.
Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 160NS. Lab developed, home scanned, & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 17 September 2022
Coastwatch revisited
This is the Coastwatch building which sits atop the dunes at Mablethorpe’s north shore, tucked away in a corner of the visitor car-park. On the day I visited, it was still a couple of days before the state funeral of the queen and the country was still in the official period of national mourning, so the flag is being flown at half-mast.
I’m quite pleased with how this image turned out. The structure itself makes an interesting focal point, but it’s helped no end by the cloud detail, the light, and the colour rendition of my scan which has rendered the Fuji Pro 160NS very nicely to my eyes.
It’s not the first time I’ve shared pictures of this place on the blog and you can see some earlier images in this post.
Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 160NS. Lab developed, home scanned, & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 17 September 2022
Crazy golf
One of three crazy gold courses at Mablethorpe. When I was younger, this was part of the Arnold Palmer chain of courses. The Arnold Palmer course had a hazard in the form of a windmill with ball-blocking rotating blades (which, for all I know, is still present on this new pirate-themed course, but it was closed so I couldn’t take a look). The trick to beating the windmill was to bounce the ball from the sides of the course, bypassing the rotating sails completely, and still allowing for a skillful hole-in-one if you were good enough.
The final hole was a sloping contraption with a single hole in the centre and a set of traps. Missing the hole would result in your ball rolling back into one of the traps and being lost (or, as I suspected, conveyed back to the hut where you payed and collected your club and ball via some sort of underground channel – you could hear the balls rolling back when you were paying for your game). A successful shot however would cause a bell to ring and allow the lucky player to claim a gift and a free pass for another game. I still have a free game pass in my wallet, despite it having being rendered useless decades ago. It’s worth more for the memories than the free game ever was.
Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 160NS. Lab developed, home scanned, & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 17 September 2022
Beach football
This singular football goal stands on the north beach at Mablethorpe. I think the sand and blue skies are a nice contrast and make for a nice photo. I decided to use if for my competition entry for the “cloudscapes” theme.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80 f/3.5-5.6 D & Kodak Portra 160. Lab developed, home scanned, & converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 17 September 2022
Two cobbled streets
A quick post as I’ll be out all day and probably won’t have time to post anything when I get home.
Here are pictures of a couple of cobbled streets on overcast days, the first in Whitby, the other in Staithes.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 D & Kodak Portra 800. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 D & Fujifilm Superia Xtra 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 28 & 29 July 2022
Waiting on a rising tide
A couple of pictures of boats in Staithes harbour today. They were probably taken about thirty minutes apart and the tide has risen by a small, but noticeable amount in the interim.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 D & Fujifilm Superia Xtra 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 29 July 2022
Staithes harbour
On the third day of our trip to the Yorkshire coast we visited Staithes, a picturesque and quaint fishing village up the coast from Whitby. While there are more modern areas of housing in the village, these sit at the top of the area. The older buildings down by the harbour are reached via steep roads on either side of Staithes Beck. Coming down the hill isn’t too much of a difficulty. Getting back up requires some air in your lungs!
As with much of this trip, the weather was mostly overcast (in fact it rained heavily when we first arrived). The tide was also out at the time of our visit, leaving many of the small boats in the harbour beached. I’ll have more pictures from Staithes to post here in the coming days.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 D & Fujifilm Superia Xtra 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 29 July 2022
Steel City Snapper photography 