Tag: Sheffield

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Well, why not… Photographing the same scene over and over

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I often put my car in a car-park beside Victoria Quays when I go for a walk around town. It’s slightly inconvenient for the town centre, being further away from the shops etc., but has the considerable benefit of being much cheaper than the car-parks that are more central.

One of the exits from the car-park takes you right to the canal-basin and remaining wharf buildings (now all home to modern offices and other businesses) and there is always a fleet of canal boats moored there, many of which make for nice pictures. Likewise, the straddle wharf and other warehouses are also nicely photogenic. As a result I’ve taken many pictures at this location, often of the same subjects (especially the aforementioned straddle wharf).

Two canal boats

It’s not the only location that receives this regular photographic attention. The Kelham Island area of Sheffield has featured on the blog on numerous occasions, and constant readers will know that I take a trip to my favourite seaside town, Mablethorpe, every autumn.

Rosie

While I enjoy visiting and photographing these places, I do tend to notice that I photograph the same things over and over again, even though there are undoubtedly countless other subjects and compositions to be had. I wonder if people see these pictures and think, “Oh, it’s that thing again…”?

But conditions can change and shine a whole new light (both figuratively and literally) on these subjects. Different times of day, different weather, different seasons, all can make for new ways of seeing things, I feel, and so I’ll no doubt be here with yet more pictures of the Straddle Wharf, the Mablethorpe Rock shop, and the chimney-stack at Kelham Island heritage museum.

At the wharf

Olympus OM-10, Zuiko Auto-S 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 3 May 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Giving the Holga some light

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My Holga has sat unused (but not unloved) for quite some time. I almost always like the lo-fi results that it produces, so I really should shoot it more often, but I guess having a bunch of different cameras means that some of them have to wait awhile to get their time in the sun (or overcast).

Fellow blogger Dave Whenham posts Holga pictures on a fairly regular basis, and it’s from reading his posts that the urge to Holga took hold.

Here are the results from a roll of Fomapan 400 I shot back in March. Apart from one picture that I wasn’t happy with, it’s the full roll. I don’t think this represents my most successful outing with the Holga, and there’s some element of shooting stuff because it was there rather than being more careful in my choice of compositions, but there are a few that I really like, such as the Thai Boxing gym, the underpass, and the church.

I’m also very pleased with the results of the semi-stand development. I sometimes find that Fomapan 400 needs more light (something you can’t particularly control with the Holga), but the Rodinal has pulled out a full range of tones from every image. I’ll certainly semi-stand Foma 400 again in the future.

Bunting and marquees
Milk flat
Milk float
ERF
ERF and canal
Thai Boxing
The Hope Centre
Under and out
St. John's Park church
Near the bottom of the Parkway
What remains of the Durham Ox

Holga 120N & Fomapan 400. Rodinal 1+100. 1 hour semi-stand development.

Taken on 28 March 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

An arcade weekend

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This weekend marked my third annual trip to Arcade Club in Bury. I go along with a bunch of similarly middle-aged videogame fans I know from an online community and a great time is had.

Arcade Club has three UK locations, but the one in Bury is largest, with hundreds of arcade game spread over four floors, from the late 70s Space Invaders era through to modern cabinets and rhythm action titles. There are home videogames available too, plus a good range of pinball tables, air-hockey, pool, and other more physical basketball and bowing machines.

There was a strange arm-wrestling game called Arm Champs II that was a proper physical challenge!

We enjoyed curry and beer on the Friday evening, followed by a full day at Arcade Club on Saturday – right up until the place closed at 11pm – then back home today after a group breakfast at a nice local cafe.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s event!

Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus

Taken on 17 May 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Abbeydale Picture House

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Originally opened in 1920, the Abbeydale Picture House served as a cinema for fifty-five years until it closed in 1975. The building, which achieved listed status in 1989, has performed a number of functions in the intervening years, including a furniture store, a ballroom, a snooker hall, a bar, and a performing arts centre. Recently the building was acquired by a brewery and hospitality company who intend to re-open the building as a premier entertainment venue.

Abbeydale Picturehouse

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 22 February 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Rossi’s

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Back in the 1990s, Rossi’s Italian restaurant, which occupied a former bank building just off London Road near the end of Sharrow Lane, felt like a regular destination for a night out with the people I worked with at the time. In reality it was probably only a handful of visits, but the memories persist and make it feel like more. I remember that Ann, one of the women I worked with, would always order the same dish: pollo a la crema. Except she always called it chicken pollo a la crema, which we would jokingly call her out about for adding the unnecessary English word. The food in the restaurant was good, the the tables were fancy marble affairs, and there was a statue of Michaelangelo’s David in the centre of the restaurant, if I remember correctly.

Rossi’s closed recently due to family circumstances (according to an article in a local newspaper) and has been up for sale. I’m not sure if a new owner has been found, or indeed what the new business will be (I would expect another restaurant though).

I’ve not visited for over twenty years, since the members of that team drifted apart and the night’s out fell away, and I don’t think I’ve seen any of those people I worked with back then for just as long (it’s quite possible that some of the older members of the team are no longer with us!), but the memories persist. And I still always think of pollo a la crema as chicken pollo a la crema.

Rossi's

Nikon F80 & Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD. Ilford HP5+ (@800), Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 22 February 2025

Digital · Photography

Leah’s Yard

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Leah’s Yard dates back to the early 1800s where it was a hub for the manufacture of shears and other hand tools. The place hosted a number of small workshops producing a wide range of goods – in Sheffield, these are known as “little mesters”, a local dialect version of “little masters” denoting the master craftspeople who worked and produced goods in such places. There were eighteen such little mesters in Leah’s Yard by 1905.

Leah's Yard

The workshops feature external staircases allowing access to the upper floors, and large windows are a feature to maximise the amount of daylight illuminating the workshops.

Over time these small industries gradually went away and Leah’s Yard, as with multiple other such sites in the city, fell into disuse and disrepair, and had stood empty for a couple of decades (although the little mesters workshops had been vacated of those trades long before).

Leah's Yard-2

Recently, plans were enacted to renovate the location as part of Sheffield’s “Heart of the City” development and the site re-opened recently. providing homes to a number of small independent businesses and retailers.

Yesterday was my first visit to the renovated Leah’s Yard, and it’s a charming location that I hope will thrive.

Leah's Yard-3

Ricoh GRIII

Taken on 10 May 2025

Digital · Photography

Uncovering a hidden river

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Sheffield has several rivers. The main river is the Don, but there are a number of smaller rivers that join it along it’s course, including the Loxley, the Rivelin, the Porter, and the Sheaf. The latter is where Sheffield derives it’s name: Sheaf Field.

For much of it’s length through the city centre, the Sheaf is subteranean, flowing through a series of man-made culverts and tunnels. One of these, named the Megatron, sometimes has guided tours!

The section of the Sheaf just above where it joins the Don is being uncovered as part of a new park on the site of the old castle site, and it can be seen in the photograph today beneath the ladder-like series of supports in the lower part of the image. The area to the left of the picture will form the park when the work is complete, and the river will act as a border and feature of the landscape.

Uncovering the Sheaf

Ricoh GRIII

Taken on 10 May 2025