A swan and a goose

March 27, 2026 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Last month I wrote about how I was unsatisfied with the quality of the Tamron 28-200mm lens I had and how I’d traded it in for a Nikon 70-200mm.

So far I’ve shot the Nikkor on a few occasions and the results have been noticeably sharper than those from the Tamrom, which is good. The downsides that I also discussed (size, weight, and lack of flexibility mostly) have also been borne out, but I knew this would be the case, and the improved image quality win out.

I’ve already posted a digital picture I took with the lens, but these are the first film shots I’ve shared on the blog. They were taken during a walk around the local country park, which has a healthy population of waterfowl.

Nikon F80 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Semi-stand in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour @ 20°.

Taken on 8 February 2026

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A protective swan

June 28, 2024 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The picture shared today features a pair of adult swans and, if you look closely, their brood of cygnets.

The photograph was taken a few minutes after the swan at the front had gone into full blown protect-the-family mode.

A man was coming down the canal on a sit-down paddle board (he must have been fishing, as there were a couple of fishing rods attached to the back of the board). As soon as the swan noticed him heading in the direction of its family, even though he was still about thirty meters away, immediately launched into a threatening flight directly towards the man, flying inches above the surface, it’s wing tips making splashes on the water.

The guy on the paddle-board slowed himself to a stop and the swan dropped back into the water maybe seven or eight feet in front of him, it’s long neck coiled down into a tight number-two shape. The swan then proceeded to swim back and forth in front of the board, clearly prepared for any sign of hostility towards it’s nearby family. This continued until the guy gently and slowly passed downstream from the birds.

I took great care not to antagonise the swans when I took this picture. The thing about a swan being able to break a man’s arm is most likely an urban myth, but I felt it prudent to take no chances. 🙂

Yashica Mat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 400H. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro. Converted to B&W in Lightroom.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

By the Wye

May 25, 2022 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

Three more photos from Ashford-in-the-Water, all taken on the banks of the River Wye where it flows past the edge of the village. It’s really quite picturesque.

The bridge in the third image is Sheepwash Bridge, a 17th century packhorse bridge which is a Scheduled Monument, giving it legal protections from modification. To the left of the bridge in the image is a stone pen. Lambs would be places in this pen so that their mothers would be enticed to swim the river to get to them. As they swam they would be pushed beneath the surface to clean their coats before they were sheared. There were no lambs in the pen on this day, although there were a couple of ducks.

That’s the same swan in all three shots. 🙂

Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Pro 400H. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 19 April 2022

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Mexborough canal

April 27, 2022 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

I’m not actually sure if this stretch of canal has a name. It’s a navigable route that runs beside the River Don at Mexborough, presumably because the river itself is not suitable passage in this area. The canal diverts from the Don just upstream of Mexborough and then re-joins it further along, just before the River Dearne also merges with the flow.

I’d visited Mexborough because I believed therewas a camera store in town, but when I got there the address appeared to be closed. Not wanting to waste the trip I had a wander around and took a few photos. The three here today are all taken close to one another from the canal towpath.

Although all three shots have been converted with the same settings, the first has a different tonality to the others. I’m not sure if this is a factor of the Negative Lab Pro processing in some way, or if it’s down to the camera’s metering of the scene perhaps.

I like all three of the photographs, but they probably would have been much better on non-expired film.

Nikon F80, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D & TruPrint FG+ (expired 2005). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 2 April 2022

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Swan

August 10, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

There are a number of these stone plinths beside the canal near the wharf area. I’m unsure as to their original purpose – perhaps supports for some structures no longer present or something. I’m sure canal afficionados would know.

These have each been decorated with various images of animals – the swan seen here, and also a kingfisher and horses. I’ve a couple of pictures of the horses which I thought might be nice, but there are some odd artefacts on the negatives – possibly a light leak or other camera problem (I shot those using an Olympus Superzoom 160), or maybe a developing issue (I found a bit of loose film leader in the developing tank when removing the film after washing, which I suppose might have caused a problem).

Swan by the canal
Graceful as ever it seems
But frantic beneath

Nikon F80, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 24 July 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Golden willow and white swan

December 15, 2020 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

Another photo from my “Whoah! Where the heck did those colours come from?!?!” series. I know I’ve mentioned it on more than one occasion already but, just, wow. The shots with this willow lit by the rising sun have got beautiful complementary tones – that classic, and perhaps over-used, orange and teal thing. I’ve not tinkered with the colours at all in these shots – it’s how they popped into being after converting the negatives with Grain2Pixel. Sometimes I can have to work at things with certain film stocks and Grain2Pixel, but these just landed perfectly.

I will confess to a bit of Photoshoppery to remove a trio of distracting ducks (or maybe they were gulls) bobbing about in the water behind the swan. I’m usually relucant to edit my photos in this way (apart from getting rid of bits of debris), but in this case I think it made the picture a lot better.

Fuji DL-270 Zoom Super & Kodak Colorplus. Grain2Pixel conversion.

Taken on 26 November 2020