Empties

February 9, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

While I rarely witness it, a regular sight on Sunday mornings in the town centre is the detritus of the previous evening. Sometimes, if you’re in town early, this will sometimes include the people who didn’t manage to find their way home again, usually as a result of too much of a good time. While sometimes these people would make for great photos – such as the person I once saw slumped in a doorway fast asleep and wearing a suit, with a half-eaten (and long-cold kebab) still in his grasp – I don’t tend to take pictures of those scenes. I have a rule to try to not take “unkind” photos and I think images like this – as with photographing homeless people – would fall into that bracket. I’m not a photojournalist, and I don’t think I could really dress my pastime up as “social commentary”.

However, that doesn’t mean the things that late night revellers left behind can’t make for a shot or two, such as today’s collection of bottles.

Nikon F80, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 2 February 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Dogwalker

February 6, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Continuing my series of photos from the misty morning walk I took a couple of weeks ago, here’s someone walking their dog. Without the mist this would have been rubbish, I think, but as it stands the conditions plus the grainyness in this photo (and the ice filled potholes) work pretty well.

One thing I’m unsure about is the stuff in the upper-left of the image. At first I thought it was a mark on the film, but then I realised that it’s actually part of the cable-waterski equipment at the lake. I find it a little distracting and did consider cloning it out, but then I would have felt deceitful – I have a particular attitude to cloning stuff out of my photos. I’ll happily remove small distractions or fix flaws, but there comes a point where, even where could make a success of it, it feels like I’ve gone too far and have altered the reality of the scene too much. And so I decided that the cables would stay in the shot, even if they perhaps spoil it a little.

But hey, it game me something to talk about in today’s post. 🙂

Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 22 January 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Abandoned bags

January 24, 2020 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

Another shot featuring reflections (albeit, mostly of the sky in this one) making up a trio of posts over the last three days. I like the ambiguity of this shot, it making it look like the faceless person walking away has forgotten or abandoned their bags.

One thing this roll shot with the little Pentax Espio has taught me, is that the camera falls back on slow shutter speeds very quickly in low light. Several shots on the roll were largely spoiled because of subsequent camera shake (although in some cases, the motion blur has added a great sence of movement to the images too). This said, I have used it in dim light before without any noteable camera shake, so I wonder if it’s somehow mis-read the Kentmere’s DX coding (or maybe it’s just faulty)? Where I’ve used the camera in sunny conditions, it’s a capable little performer though, so I shall bear that in mind for future reference.

Pentax Espio 140M & Kentmere 400.

Taken on 15 January 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A passing reflection

January 22, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Just a random street shot today. Not much to say about it other than the scans from this whole roll of Kentmere 400 are covered with dust spots! – no idea why it should be worse than other rolls, but it is. It’s taken ages to spot each scan so far. Maybe I need to have a dusting session in the office…

Pentax Espio 140M & Kentmere 400.

Taken on 15 January 2020

35mm · Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Day 365 – Twelve favourite photos from 2019

December 31, 2019January 5, 2020 fishyfisharcade8 Comments

My initial plan for today’s post was to publish 12 photos that were taken this year but which haven’t featured in the blog, but on second thoughts I’ve decided to take the more traditional route. There might still be some that never appeared here before though – I tend to upload more stuff to Flickr than gets featured here – so aren’t you the lucky ones. 🙂

Today also marks the 365th consecutive blog post of the year – a target I attempted once before but which fell through when other events in my life took precedence. Not every blog was written on the day it was posted – in situations where I’ve been away from home I’ve pre-written blogs and then scheduled them to automatically publish (or made them live from my phone). Because of the way I link my photos from Flickr, I’ve found it’s a complete PITA to try and write and publish from mobile devices.

Anyway… Before I get on to the pictures, I just want to take the time to thank all who’ve viewed, interacted or commented on my blog over the year and to wish everyone a happy new year.

So, the photos…

January – This tree sits on the moors just south of Sheffield and is just a few metres from the roadside. It’s distictive shape made for an easy composition. Sadly the tree has now suffered damage – the last time I passed all that remained was the trunk as the upper branches have been broken off. 😦

Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 AF & Fomapan 400. Taken on 20 January 2019

February – Eyes in the back of his head? One of the tenets of street photography is to be prepared and ready to catch that decisive moment when it occurs. Sadly, this is rarely the case for me and I’ve missed loads of potentially nice shots due to fumbling with the camera. This was one of the times I didn’t.

Olympus 35 RC & JCH Streetpan 400. Taken on 15 February 2019

March – Portraiture is not something I have much of an interest in, particularly studio portraits (although I do enjoy looking at environmental portraits), so when an opportunity arose to photograph some models at the local camera club I wasn’t sure whether I’d enjoy it or not. While I can’t say it ignited any desire to take more portraits, I was very pleased with my results, one of which is below. It isn’t prefect (the creased backdrop lets it down a little), but the way the Sigma 105mm lens and the Kodak P3200 rendered the images is lovely.

Nikon F80, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM & Kodak Tmax P3200. Taken on 19 March 2019

April – A gate on a public footpath through Edale in the northern Peak District National Park. I think this photo has a certain charm to it, there’s a sense of mystery as to where the path leads and what might be beyond the gate. This is from the penultimate roll of film through my Yashica Mat 124G last year. I shall have to rectify this situation and shoot with the camera again post haste!

Yashica Mat 124 G & Fomapan 100. Taken on 20 April 2019

May – During May I visited New York with my family. It’s the second time I’ve visited (and I’d love to return – although I think my wife would prefer somewhere else in the US if we get across the Atlantic again) – I could have spent all day, every day just walking the streets taking photos. It was a family trip though, so I grabbed whatever I could. This is just a view down 7th Avenue after a rain shower, but it screams New York to me.

Canon Sure Shot Z135 & Ilford HP5+. Taken on 28 May 2019

June – A box of pre-owned pool balls on a stall at the Sheffield Steam Rally. I think I might have said at the time that colour would have been a more obvious choice here, but I love the contrast given by the HP5+.

Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 D & Ilford HP5+. Taken on 30 June 2019

July – The beach at Scarborough. My wife and I took a trip to the seaside and I shot a roll-and-a-half of film during the day. This is just a snap of the beach, the people enjoying themselves there, and some yachts in the sea beyond, but it has a nice “Martin Parr” feel to it that I like. It was also an opportunity to test the little Pentax Espio compact that I’d bought for £1 a fortnight before.

Pentax Espio 140M & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008). Taken on 13 July 2019

August – Taken at the Lincoln Steam Rally – the first time I’d attended this event, but it was huge and I hope to go again in 2020. I shot four rolls of film on the day, but this Ektar shot of a vintage truck is a favourite. The almost 70-year-old Zeiss Mess-Ikonta continues to impress with it’s superbly sharp lens.

Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Ektar. Taken on 17 August 2019

September – A day trip to my childhood seaside haunt: Mablethorpe. It’s a place I’m always drawn back to, even though I’m always slightly disappointed that it hasn’t remained frozen in time as I remember it from when I was a child. Another day where several rolls of film were shot (including three botched rolls through my Holga because I had it set to bulb mode!). I’ve many photos from the day that I like, but this is the one that always springs to mind when I think back.

Olympus 35 RC & Kodak Portra 400. Taken on 13 September 2019

October – I took a trip to Doncaster racecourse with my dad, and this is one of the photos from the day. The weather was awful, with heavy rain all day, but oftentimes bad weather makes for good photos.

Olympus OM-1, Zuiko 75-150mm f/4 & Ilford HP5+. Taken on 25 October 2019

November – This shot is potentially my favourite of the whole year. The simple but beautiful charms of the Holga coupled with a wonderfully foggy day made for some amazing photographic opportunities.

Holga 120N & Kodak Tmax 400. Taken on 30 November 2019

December – December is a little difficult as, as I type this, I have three rolls of film waiting to be processed still and there might be a showstopper on there (or possibly not), but this image that I took just before Christmas on a lunchtime walk is definitely worthy of the spot. It’s another Holga 120N image, but cropped to a 4×3 ratio (the bottom of the frame has a river in it, but it didn’t add a lot to the overall image and the landscape crop works much better. The way the Holga renders out-of-focus details is wonderful, and almost impressionistic in style.

Holga 120N & Kodak Tmax 400. Taken on 18 December 2019

So there you have it. Twelve favourite shots from 2019. As with any list like this it’s subjective, and if I were to do it again tomorrow several of the selections might change, but for now it will do.

One final word – I’ll proof read it later, so apologies in advance for any typos or grammatical goofs. 🙂

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Smoking

November 25, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Taken at the Barbican complex in London a couple of weeks ago. It was a quickly grabbed shot as I liked the way the scene was lit and the little splashes of colour on the bins. I’m glad the chap is in the picture too, but I think it might still have worked without him there.

Canon Sure Shot Telemax & Kodak Colorplus.

Taken on 13 November 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

1 hour dry cleaning

November 20, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Apologies, but this will be another short post today – work is keeping me pretty busy at present, which is good, but means I’m not in the right frame of mind to type lengthy posts when I finish for the day.

Another photo where I’ve been spotted. 🙂

Olympus OM-1, Zuiko 28mm f/3.5 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 23 October 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Love is all you need

November 19, 2019November 19, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Contemplating the menu at the Four Seasons restaurant in London’s Chinatown.

Olympus OM-1, Zuiko 28mm f/3.5 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 23 October 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Eagle-eyed readers can see this photo yesterday

November 18, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

In yesterday’s blog post I featured a cityscape shot of London depicting the Thames, the South Bank, and – in the distance – various other famous buildings (St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Shard, the office towers in the City of London).

One thing that probably went mostly unnoticed is the staircase that I’m showing today. It’s in there if you look for it.

I took a couple of shots of this – the other has a lady halfway up the second flight – but, while that one is ok, I much prefer this. The positioning of the man, the contrast and sharpness that the good ‘ol OM-1 and Zuiko glass provides, plus a bonus pigeon(!) make this one work better, I think.

Olympus OM-1, Zuiko 28mm f/3.5 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 23 October 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A day at the races

November 16, 2019November 17, 2019 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

About three weeks ago I visited Doncaster races with my Dad. I’d bought him an experience day voucher for his birthday earlier in the year and, as he’d not found anyone else who wanted to go with him (I’d assumed he’d have gone with one of his pals), I said I’d go. By the time this happened, there was only one event still available before the coucher was due to expire, the Vertem Very Different Stockbrokers Raceday on 25 October. As this was a Friday, I booked a day’s leave.

The voucher gave us access to the County Enclosure at the racecourse. This meant no denim, no trainers or sportswear, and the requirement to wear a collared shirt. It also granted us a £5 voucher each for a drink, as well as a free race programme.

When the day arrived, the weather was pretty atrocious with heavy rain forecast for the whole day. When we arrived there were very few people in the outside areas of the enclosures other than those wishing to place a bet at the trackside bookies, or those armed with umbrellas. Most people seemed to be inside watching proceedings on television screens. This seemed somewhat pointless as, as my dad said, they might have well just gone into a local betting shop to do this rather than pay the entrance fee for the racecourse.

We decided to cash in our drink vouchers before doing anything else (first things first, right?). My dad’s beer was covered by his, but the cider I asked for came to more than the allocated £5 and I had to put another 20p to the cost. It wasn’t even a particularly nice cider either. Nonetheless, we found ourselves a table with some free seats and sat down to look at the programme an pick the winners(!). After choosing some likely looking prospects (my dad came armed with a sheet of tips from a bloke he knows) we moved over to the County Enclosure ready for the first race.

A few minutes before the race was due, we went outside (where it was still raining heavily) to watch the event. Although the bottom tiers of the stands were soaked (see my earlier post for an idea of how wet they were), the higher levels were sheltered enough to have dry seats, so we headed up there.

I think there were seven races scheduled for the day. We didn’t bother with the first, which only had four runners, and we left before the final two races, but the others followed a similar pattern of us watching from the dry section of the stands (where I took a number of photos); retreating indoors to place further bets / take shelter; then repeating the process for the next race.

Although I have little interest in horse-racing, and even less experience in picking winners, I didn’t fare too badly on the day. While I didn’t break even, a couple of good results (including a win!) meant that my losses came to only a few pounds – and I’d written off all my stake money as likely to be lost beforehand anyway, so anything less than a total wipeout was good news. I’m not sure that my dad’s tips played any better than my “stick a pin in it and hope for the best” technique.