One of the landmarks near Whitwell is Steetley Dolomite, a large quarry and refining plant to the south of the village. The large chimney can be seen from some distance and, even when the rest of the works is obscured by the low hills in the area, the top of the chimney is often still visible.
The two shots below were taken from the same spot, with my stabilised Tamron 28-300mm zoom lens earning its keep.
I thought I’d treat myself to one of those clickbait titles similar to the ones I see on YouTube from time to time. You know the ones, where the person titles their video “My final post” or “That’s it. I’m finished.” or something else that gives the impression that their video making days are at an end but, upon viewing, it turns out that it’s “My final post… of November!” or “That’s it. I’m finished… Putting together this year’s calendar which you can buy from my SquareSpace site.“.
So in the spirit of that annoying tradition, today’s post is just about what I found at the end of the road I drove down in Whitwell, Nottinghamshire one day. In this case it was Whitwell railway station. The station today is a pretty simple affair – a couple of platforms, a footbridge, and some shelters for passengers. There used to be a selection of buildings at the station, but these were removed when the line was closed to passenger traffic sixty years ago (although passenger services would resume in the 1990s). The buildings were not lost however and were rebuilt at Butterley on the Midland Railway – Butterley heritage line as they were almost identical to the buildings that had originally stood there.
As to why I drove to the end of the road, it was mostly to see if there was a good composition of the chimney at the nearby Steetley Dolomite works (you can see it just above the Whitwell railway sign to the right of the first picture). I think a longer lens might have led to a more dramatic photograph but, alas, a long lens the GW690 does not have. Instead it’s a shot of loads of things poking up into the sky. A bit mundane, but I kinda like it anyway.
The second picture was another reason I drove down here. The lamps on this footbridge are just about visible peeping over the bridge crossing the railway tracks that I’ve driven across on a number of occasions, and I’d wondered if there was a picture to be had of them. This was the picture I got, although I think there may be better ones to be found if I revisit the place, possibly (again) with a different focal length at my disposal.
The chimney of this dolomite works is visible from a long way away. I’ve driven past on a couple of occasions and taken photographs of the buildings, which are impressive and crusted with white dolomite deposits, although I’ve not attempted to see if the actual quarry workings are visible from the roadside.
The road and verge is also covered in a faint white sugaring of dust from the works’ activity.
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.
This fella was pottering about on the edge of this canal boat and tinkering with the ropes. I have no idea about boats so don’t really know what he was doing – he could have been tidying for all I know.
I used my APS-C 35mm for most of the roll that this picture was taken from. Although designed for a crop-sensor, it has a large enough image circle to work on a full-frame / 35mm camera, albeit with vignetting. The vignetting becomes pronounced as the lens is stopped down, but at wide apertures it’s acceptable (well, to me anyway). The autofocus seemed exceptionally slow on the F80 with this lens though.
Fast lens, slow focus It’s not meant for a camera That shoots 135
The photo posted here today is a composition I’ve shot on quite a few occasions. It’s one that just seems to work and always catches my eye. I’m not sure how many times the scene has featured on the blog (at least once before, here), but I know I have several different versions. This one is, I believe, the first time I’ve shot it on 6×9 though.
I bit of a bumper set of pictues today, by my normal standards at least. All of them made during a walk around Pleasley Pit country park.
The park stands on the site of Pleasly colliery, which operated from the 1870s until 1983. The buildings were saved from demolition and in 1996 designated as an ancient monument. The surrounding land was reclaimed and regenerated into a park and wildlife habitat.
The remaining buildings now operate as a mining museum.
On the day I made these photos my intent wasn’t to visit the museum, but to browse the nearby car-boot sale that operates on Saturday mornings in the hope that there might have been some cameras to be had. Sadly, no cameras were to be seen (apart from some early-noughties digital point-and-shoots in a box on one of the stalls. As I had a my OM-2n with me, I decided to have a walk around the country park and take some pictures of the pit buildings. I only had a 50mm, so some foot-based zooming was required, but it worked out well. The museum wasn’t open this early in the day so I didn’t get to see inside. Perhaps another day.
Down there at Pleasley A monument to mining A reminder still
Almost the same subject matter as yesterday’s photo, although this one was made a little further up the road from that one. Once more the gorgeous blue skies rendered by this out of date slide film, countered by the warm tones of the buildings.
I went out for a walk this morning to finish off a roll of Colorplus in the Sure Shot Supreme, but also to have a test run with the recently acquired Olympus XA3. The tiny camera is great for dropping into a pocket, and the simple zone-focusing design means it’s easy to concentrate on the composition rather than camera settings. I had a moments panic where I thought the film had jammed part way through the roll, but it quickly resolved itself (the winder started to move smoothly again, plus the rewind crank turned too, so hopefully the film didn’t snap). Still more than half-a-roll left to shoot, but I’m looking forward to seeing the results.
I also developed my first roll of film in what feels like ages today, although it’s probably only three or four weeks since the last one. I think it’s the fact that I usually have rolls to develop most weeks that’s made the gap seem so large.
Steel City Snapper photography 