Following our trip to Mahón, as seen in yesterday’s post, we had to change buses when we got back to Ciutadella. Our bus wasn’t due for a while, so I took a few minutes to have a quick look at the municipal cemetery, which was right across the road from the bus terminal.
My wife was a little anxious that the bus would arrive and we would miss it, so it was a very brief visit. I also only had a couple of shots remaining on the roll of film in my camera, so it didn’t take long to use those up, with one shot of the entrance, and another of a curved row of vaults* within.
It’s interesting to note the differences between cemeteries in hot, southern European countries like Spain, and those in colder, wetter countries like the UK. The architecture, and methods of interment are very different in both.
* I’m not sure of the correct terminology.
Olympus 35 RC & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
During our holiday in Menorca we decided one day to take a trip to the nearby city of Ciutadela. However, after arriving, my wife didn’t seem that impressed by the place (I’m not sure why, as I quite liked it, and would return on my own later in the week). So we decided to get a bus to Mahón (or Maó as it appears on all the road signage), the island’s capital.
Menorca isn’t a huge island, and it only took about an hour on the bus to get there. The pictures in today’s post are those I took while there.
The blues in the skies look a little strange in some shots. No matter how much I feel like I’ve got a good handle on scanning colour negatives, I still get caught out by it sometimes, often for not discernible reason.
Olympus 35 RC & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
The picture in today’s post is of Black Swan Walk, a dead-end street in the middle of Sheffield city centre. It has the air of a really old street and if you squint a little it looks almost like rows of the overhanging Tudor storefronts that you can see in places like The Shambles in York. It actually dates back to the late 19th century and, on close inspection, it really looks nothing like The Shambles.
Because it’s a dead-end, at the bottom it widens and there still exists the remains of a turntable and it’s mechanism where carriages would once be turned around so they could exit the narrow street after depositing their goods. There are also stories of ghostly carriages being witnessed entering the street before vanishing!
Fujica STX-1 & X-Fujinon 50mm f/1.9 FM on Agfa APX 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10.5mins @ 20°.
The large building in today’s picture is the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield. It’s a large and imposing structure visible from many different parts of the city.
This shot was one that I just happened to catch offhand. Something about the positioning of the different elements – the zebra crossing, the road, the side-street, then the houses and the hospital lead nicely through the frame. The little Fiat perched above street level is a bonus.
It’s just struck me as I type this that I can probably see the window of the room my mum was in when the cancer took her. I’ve photographed the hospital on a number of occasions before but never really thought of it in that way before now.
Fujica STX-1 & X-Fujinon 50mm f/1.9 FM on Agfa APX 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10.5mins @ 20°.
When I go on a holiday, I like to take time to wander round and explore the places we visit. Sometimes, in a place like Barcelona, there is far more to be seen than can possibly be experienced in a short stay. But even in more tourist-focused locations such as Lloret de Mar, there are still things to be found. Sometimes these are relatively everyday locations that are made exotic by unfamiliarity, and sometimes they are just unexpected.
In my mind, I had the basic layout of the part of the town where we stayed mapped out as gradually sloping downhill until it reached the beach (separated from the town by a promenade, road, and a long strip of hotels and restaurants). What I didn’t realise was that there was a tall hill smack bang in the middle of this. The hill is no doubt readily apparent from a higher vantage point, but once you’re amongst the buildings then it becomes easily obscured. Until you stumble over it on a random walk through the streets.
I first noticed it when I spotted a large flight of steps between a couple of buildings. It was a very hot day and I considered taking another route, but the curious part of me decided there might be something worth seeing at the top, so up I climbed. I didn’t count them, but there were quite a lot and the first picture below if the view looking back down.
The first thing I spotted at the summit was a row of houses draped with vivid swathes of red flowers. I don’t know what this plant is, but it certainly made for an attractive subject for a picture.
Despite being near the top of the hill, I didn’t find any vantage point where I could take in a view (other than down mostly curving streets). I guess you need to enter one of the buildings to take advantage, such as the tall stacked platter of a structure in the image below.
It was odd that, even when I knew the hill was there, it was still quite easy to miss, even from the beach – where it was apparent, but kind of blended into the taller, more-distant background hillsides.
Olympus Trip 35 & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
This is an ordinary shop, the type that you can find many examples of in a tourist resort, selling ice creams, drinks, snacks, toys and a whole range of things that tourists may find useful.
But it caught my eye.
I really like the way it’s framed on the street (which looks quiet because I timed my shutter press, but was actually pretty busy), the leading lines of the pedestrian crossing, the framing by the buildings at the end of the street I was on, and the splashes of red that border the shop’s entrance, the faintly-striped awning, the surrounding wall furniture in the form of windows, cabling, and the neighbouring shops.
There’s a lot of detail present in the full-size scan too and you can zoom right in and see it, demonstrating the resolution available in a 35mm frame.
Olympus Trip 35 & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
This is probably a mundane sight to Spanish residents – it’s a delivery van for the Dulcesol baked goods business. But we don’t have Dulcesol vans in the UK, so it’s vivid red and white livery, along with the backdrop of palm trees and hotels make it a novelty and an interesting subject for a picture.
I wonder if there are Spanish photographers visiting the UK taking pictures of branches of Greggs? 🙂
Olympus Trip 35 & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Photos of churches have featured on my blog many times. Not because I’m a religious man – I’m not – but because I find them interesting from architectural, historical, and cultural perspectives. Despite my secular nature, I can still appreciate the investment of effort, sometimes lasting centuries, that is poured into these structures to serve the faith of the, well… faithful.
Most of the churches I photograph are in the UK, because that’s where I live, but the occasional overseas example will find its way into the blog too, such as the one shown today, the impressive and colourful Parish Church of Saint Roma in Lloret de Mar, Spain.
The original church dates back to the 14th century, but the bulk of what is there now is far more recent, having been constructed last century.
Olympus Trip 35 & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Steel City Snapper photography 