Tag: Sheffield

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Riverside reflections (and a new camera – the LETO Ultrawide and Slim)

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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.

Near Lady's Bridge

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 15 January 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

The same subjects

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Today’s photo is of The Fat Cat pub in Kelham Island. It’s a place I’ve photographed on a number of occasions as it always seems to catch my eye, especially if the conditions are nice, as they were on this day.

I think that, because I tend to choose Kelham Island for photography outings quite often – it’s close and easy to get to and I can usually find free parking. Plus it’s undergoing gentrification so change is taking place all the time – that an element of over-familiarity might have set in and that I’m drawn to the same compositions that attracted me on previous visits – the more obvious ones at least.

There will be countless other pictures to be made, but I need to look more carefully and draw them out I think.

A couple of earlier posts featuring The Fat Cat can be seen here and here.

Fat Cat

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 15 January 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

City Life

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The City Life church sits on a back street in the Kelham Island / Shalesmoor area of Sheffield. It’s a multi-cultural church although, not being a religious person, I know little about the place other than what I’ve read online before typing this post. What I do know is that it is housed in an attractive building, more akin to a mock castle than a church in some ways. On the morning I made this picture, the low sun was casting some lovely shadows across the masonry and features of the building, setting it into sharp relief.

City Life

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 15 January 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

I developed some film today

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After yesterday’s post about how I really don’t enjoy the process of developing film, and how I’d put off developing a roll for a somewhat weak reason, today I pulled my finger out and got the job done. It wasn’t urgent, so I could have left it another week – after a period where I was running out of new photos to use in the blog, I now have three full rolls of stuff, two of which were waiting to be scanned even without developing this new roll – but if I’d left it, then the job would have been hanging over me like a cloud, and I might even have ended up with a backlog if I shoot more stuff in the interim.

Anyway, it’s done now. All developed. All cut and sleeved. All the equipment washed and tidied away for next time.

I got rid on my stop-bath and fixer today too. They’ve had 15 or 16 films through them and the stop-bath was starting to change colour slightly. I might have eked a few more rolls out of both batches but I’d rather not risk a ruined roll, so I’ll need to make some fresh solutions next time.

I also managed to drop the freshly washed roll onto the shower cubicle floor while squeegeeing the moisture off it, necessitating my re-dousing it with the remaining wetting agent. Thankfully the shower floor was pretty dry and not covered with soap bubbles or anything like that, and the negatives look ok on first glance now they’re dried. I said some profane words when it happened though. 🙂

Today’s picture is of Globe Works in Sheffield. Should you be interested, there’s another photo of the building along with a bit of information about it in this post.

Globe Works

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Fujichrome Provia 100. Lab developed.

Taken on 23 January 2022

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Upstream

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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.

Upstream

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Fujichrome Provia 100. Lab developed.

Taken on 23 January 2022

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Number 71

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This is another of those locations that I’ve photographed on a number of occasions. Something about it draws my eye.

I’m not sure if any activity currently takes place in the corner shop here. It has the look of a cafe, but I don’t think it is, although maybe it was sometime in the past. I had a look on Google Maps which allows me to see how it looked at a number of points in time from 2008 to the present. It has housed at least two businesses in that period: and IT repair shop, and something called “Amazing Cave“, which looked to be some sort of vintage / antiques / brik-a-brak- type place.

Amazing Cave looked to have opened in the autumn of 2012 (there’s a picture from July that year where it looks like the stock is inside, but the store is not yet ready for customers). Sadly, in the next available image from October 2014, it looks like the place might already have gone out of business or, to be more positive, perhaps moved to a new site. The website address of the store can be seen above the windows but is now listed as being available.

The upper floors of the place appear to be in use as flats now.

On Rutland Road
71

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Fujichrome Provia 100. Lab developed.

Taken on 23 January 2022

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Industry and entertainment

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Beside the Don Valley Centertainment complex – which houses a multiplex, bowling alley & arcade, kid’s play area, and a selction of restaurants – are industrial streets. This is the east-end of the city where, in it’s industial heyday, the bulk of the steel industry resided. There are still steelworks in the area, and more as you head down river towards Tinsley and Templeborough, but much of it has now become history.

I’m not sure what the building in today’s picture used to house – I’m sure my dad would know, and I’ll ask him next time I see him – but it’s now the home of a scaffolding hire and sales business.

Wood and steel

Olympus XA3 & Kodak Tri-X Pan (expired 2003 – shot at box speed and pushed a stop in development). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 15 December 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Cosmos

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I made this picture back in late November I think – it’s on a roll that was shot over the space of a few weeks with my Olympus XA3, which I’d been keeping in my coat pocket. It was taken from the car-park across the road from these buildings on the day I went into town for one of my attempts to get my laptop rebuilt. I was heading towards the stairwell when I noticed the shot and liked the way the buildings stoof against the sky with the central tower flanked by the smaller buildings on either side.

The film was a roll of expired Tri-X dating back to around 2003. I’ve shot a few rolls of this and found that it likes an extra stop of exposure. For the previous rolls I just exposed it at 200asa and then developed it normally, but as the weather was a little gloomy on the day this roll was loaded, I decided to keep the extra stop of speed and push it a stop in development instead. I’m quite happy with the results. The grain is quite pronounced, but I’m not afraid of a bit of grain.

The worst thing about this film is how much the negatives curl when developed. Not only do they coil up like a spring, there is also heavy bow to the film along its full length. This made cutting and sleeving the negatives troublesome, but this was not nearly as problematic as trying to get them into the negative holder to be scanned. The Plustek holders are pretty good at keeping negatives flat – I doubt I would have gotten anywhere with my Epson holders – but you still need to get them in and aligned before it can be closed to hold them in place. Somehow I managed it though, although I’ve only scanned two strips so far.

Cosmos

Olympus XA3 & Kodak Tri-X Pan (expired 2003 – shot at box speed and pushed a stop in development). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken in November 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Alpine Lodge

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Another in my set of unseasonably snowy November photos. The last in the set in fact.

This temprary bar forms part of the Christmas Markets (or did – I’m not sure if they’re still there) and is situated in the Peace Gardens beside Sheffield town hall (the building at rear left). The other building is the Mercure Hotel, part of the St. Paul’s Square complex that was built on the site of the old town hall extension.

There’s a fountain beneath where the bar is sat, so I hope it didn’t get unexpectedly turned on!

Alpine Lodge

Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°.

Taken on 27 November 2021