Few words and many pictures today…
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Fujichrome Velvia 50. Lab developed & home scanned.
Taken on 4 November 2022
Autumn blowout
Tag: Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM
Fruiting bodies
Why is Toad from the Super Mario games so popular? Becasuse he’s such a fun guy!
Ho ho ho. 🙂
It’s autumn and toadstools, mushrooms, and fungi of all manner of varieties are in full evidence. There were numerous examples to be seen when I visited Padley Gorge the other week, including some teeny-tiny specimens growing from the trunks and stumps of trees. I’m glad I had my macro lens with me!
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Fujichrome Velvia 50. Lab developed & home scanned.
Taken on 4 November 2022
Autumn leaves
Another lone Velvia 50 autumn photo today – probably the last of these single images with a group of pictures realted by theme tomorrow and then, if I have time, the remaining decent photos from the roll as a kind of autumn blowout.
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Fujichrome Velvia 50. Lab developed & home scanned.
Taken on 4 November 2022
Velvia blue
An insanely blue sky thanks to Fuji Velvia 50. It works pretty well with the golden birch leaves, I think.
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Fujichrome Velvia 50. Lab developed & home scanned.
Taken on 4 November 2022
Bracken
There was a lot of bracken in this area, but this plant stood alone and was catching the sun. I wish I’d done a better job of checking my corners and moved that encroaching frond at the bottom-right of the picture though…
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Fujichrome Velvia 50. Lab developed & home scanned.
Taken on 4 November 2022
Frosted maple leaf
A few years ago I bought myself a roll of Fuji Velvia 50 as a treat. At the time I think it cost me in the region of about £11 for the roll, which seemed expensive. Little did I know…
Anyway, moaning about the price of film aside, the reason I bought it was to try and photograph some autumn colour. Unfortunately, when that autumn came around I either didn’t have the time, or the conditions weren’t right, and so the season passed. I kept the fim in the fridge though, thinking it would keep until the following year. But I didn’t shoot it again. And then covid arrived and limited my ability to shoot it even further. In the subsequent time I actually picked up a few more rolls of Velvia 50, albeit expired, and I’ve shot a couple of of those (although, given its cost, it always feels like a “special occasion” sort of film), but none of it during autumn. This year though, I had my chance – I booked a week of work for the first week of November which, this time, would be unperturbed by pandemic related lockdowns.
I went out a couple of times during the week to do some photography – the first trip to Bakewell (images to come at a later date), and then, later in the week, a visit to Padley Gorge and its surrounding environs. It was there that I finally shot the full roll of Velvia 50. I’ll probably share most of the worthwhile results in a seperate autumal-themed post, but there are a few that I like enought to post individually, or in small sets, today’s picture included.
This was the first day of the season that I had encountered frost – I had to scrape the car windows before heading out and, although I didn’t set off too early, there was still a little frost left on the ground when I arrived (although it was quickly steaming away where the sun hit it). Just across the road from where I parked my car there were numerous fallen leaves right beside the footpath, all with a light frosting of ice, and the one shared here today grabbed my attention. I was very glad to have taken my Sigma macro lens, and used it for almost every shot on the roll, even the non-macro stuff. It’s a very nice lens and one I should make better use of.
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Fujichrome Velvia 50. Lab developed & home scanned.
Taken on 4 November 2022
Multiple exposure
Regular readers may remember me posting on occasion about the photo competition I enter each month, It’s approaching the end of the 2022 contest now with just three images remaining to be entered. October’s theme is multiple exposure.
I rarely shoot multiple exposure images (although occasionally accidentally), but I’ve shot quite a few this month, including a full roll of 12 shots with the Holga and also several shots on a roll of expired Truprint FG+. Of all the shots, the one featured in the blog today is my favourite and the one I’ve entered in the competition. It’s a picture of three overlaid camera – an Olympus OM-1, an Olympus XA3, and a Kodak Retina IIa. The resulting image looks a little like an x-ray photo, the sort you see from airport scanners.
I’ll perhaps post some of the other shots in a future post.
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Truprint FG+ (expired 2003). Lab developed and home scanned.
Taken on 22 October 2022
Signs of autumn
I took a walk out this afternoon to drop off a parcel at a local shop that accepts Hermes packages. The day has been bright and sunny and, while there was a slight coolness to the breeze, it was still very mild and I had a bit of a sweat going by the time I got home (I do walk fast though – much to the complaint of my family who accuse me of taking them on forced marches when we go out!). There are now definite signs of autumn colour on the trees and small drifts of fallen leaves can already be seen here and there.
Autumn is my favourite season, but one than seems to pass by all to quickly. This year then, I’ve made myself a promise to go out to walk at least three times a week and to take in and savour the changes that occur. I hope that this will help me to enjoy it while it lasts and not just suddenly realise it’s Christmas and the last three months have disappeared in a blur!
Keeping to the autumnal theme, today’s photo is of an acorn I picked up while walking with my family a couple of weeks ago. It was a fairly fresh acorn – still green – and I dropped it into a planter on the back garden after making the picture. Maybe it will take root.
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 13mins @ 20°
Taken on 30 August 2020
Leftover flowers
I’m still writing my camera review piece, honest! I’ve actually started it today and now have a few hundred words down on paper (well, a text file…). Finger’s crossed it’ll be here soon.
So in the meantime I’ll keep posting other stuff which, today, means a couple of photos of some flowers I bought my wife for our anniversary. When they were past their best and starting to wilt, I nabbed them before they got thrown out and took a few photos with my macro lens. As I didn’t want to mess around with a tripod and the rest of it, I pushed a roll of HP5+ to 1600asa so I could shoot handheld. While it’s not the first time I’ve pushed HP5+ a couple of stops, it is the first time I’ve developed the results myself. As usual, the Ilfotec DD-X has delivered results I’m more than happy with.
Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 13mins @ 20°
Taken on 30 August 2020
Out near Thorpe Salvin
A bunch of photos that I made on a big looping walk from Thorpe Salvin a few weeks ago. I’ve posted several photos from the same walk in previous posts here, here, here, here & here.
These are all from the second roll of film I started during the walk, some expired Fuji Superia 100. It expired 12 years ago but has been cold-stored and it still looks great. I sometimes overexpose it slightly, but it looks good shot at box speed too, as can be seen in the photos here.
It’s a bit of a random selection of some of the things I passed while walking and I’ll post them as they come, without any commentary.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008). The last shot was with my Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM lens.
Taken on 31 May 2020
Steel City Snapper photography 