Tag: TLR

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

The Shambles

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The Shambles is probably the most famous street in York. It’s buildings date in some cases back to the 14th century and it’s a big draw for tourists. There’s something undeniably attractive about it’s narrow, canyon-like passage, with an almost enclosed feeling due to the overhanging buildings.

The street gets its name from the fact that it used to be home to a significant number of butcher’s shops (“shambles” being an old name for such, apparently). I’m not sure that there are any butchers shops present any longer, but there is a shop that sells ghosts, and another full of Harry Potter paraphernalia.

This shot was taken quite early on a Sunday morning before the crowds of tourists began to fill it to capacity.

There are some more photos of The Shambles in this post I published back in 2017.

The Shambles

Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+ @800asa. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 16 December 2023

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

The looming face

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Of the photographs I made during our visit to York in December, the one posted here today is probably the one I like most. Technically it’s good, being sharp, well exposed and, thankfully, not showing any real sign of the low contrast that affected many of the other pictures on the two rolls I shot.

But really I just like the picture. The western side of York Minster looks enormous, looming above the streets. There’s a power to the scale of the building and it’s really quite amazing to consider the architecture, engineering, craftsmanship, and sheer art that went into the construction of these buildings.

At Minster Gate

Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+ @800asa. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 16 December 2023

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Hot roasted chestnuts

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This shot (and several others on the rolls I shot in York) showed notable loss of contrast due to the haze in my Yashicamat’s lens (hence the reason I’ve been seeking a replacement). Some work in Lightroom has done a relatively good job of bringing back a bit of punch to the image.

https://flic.kr/p/2pscD5p

Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+ @800asa. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 16 December 2023

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

On Blackpool North Pier

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A farewell to Blackpool with the last three shots from this roll.

I’ve been very happy with the look this roll of JCH Streepan has given me. Very fine-grained for a 400 ISO film, and lots of contrast. I’m not sure how it would work in less flattering light, but in these conditions it shone.

North Pier boardwalk
Refreshments
A helter-skelter at the end

Yashicamat 124G & JCH Street Pan 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 1 July 2023

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Blackpool Tower

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For a considerable amount of time through my life, I believed that Blackpool Tower had been constructed as a prototype for the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I’m not sure where I gained this belief, although I suspect it originated, as so many long-held and unquestioned beliefs do, in the school playground. Some believable kid probably told us in a sage and wise tone about the origins of the Eifel Tower being in a Lancastrian seaside resort. This unremebered child didn’t offer any explanation as to why Gustave Eiffel had decided to come to the windy north west of England to test out his design. Or perhaps we simply believed that he had copied the Blackpool Tower (the reality is that Blackpool Tower was inspired by the Eiffel Tower).

Whatever the case, I never event thought to question any of this knowledge until much later in life whereupon at some point I guess I suddenly had a random realisation that it was all a load of bullshit.

I had similar beliefs about the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle being a prototype for the Sydney Harbour Bridge as well, although, in that case, the builders and designers of the two bridges were the same, and the Tyne Bridge predates it’s larger Sydney version by a few years.

Blackpool Tower

Yashicamat 124G & JCH Street Pan 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Mirror Ball revisited

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I photographed this artwork (officially titled “They Shoot Horses Don’t They?“)last year during an autumn trip to Blackpool and posted about it here, but the two photos I’m sharing today were from a visit this year, back in July – we went back again because we had a complimentary room.

There are a lot of public artworks around in the UK – I think there may be requirements on developers to install such things when the build new projects, but many of them feel somewhat arbitrary. This one though, is there for its own sake and it’s quite a spectacle up cloese.

Mirrorball

Yashicamat 124G & JCH Street Pan 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Glitterball revisited

Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Blackpool prom

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A couple of weeks back I posted a picture of Blackpool’s “Comedy Carpet”. The Comedy Carpet formed part of an £87 million redevelopment project around Blackpool promenade and seafront.

Among the other new features added are the Giant Spoons, although these seem to be much more commonly referred to as the “Tulips”. These things are huge and must be well in excess of 100 feet tall and are quite the sight to behold, especially when you are stood right beneath them and they are swaying in the wind on their flexible stalks. There’s something slightly unnerving about them, like they’re a part of a Martian tripod from The War of the Worlds, or something.

I cropped the image to a 6×7 format to remove some uninteresting sky.

On the prom

Yashicamat 124G & JCH Street Pan 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 1 July 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Brilliance

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This metal sculpure names Brilliance resides on Birley Street in Blackpool and was installed as part of the town’s regeneration by light scheme. It takes the theme of “a continuous ribbon spiralling in and out of the ground” and is illuminated at night.

I didn’t see it after dark but it still made a striking enough subject for a photograph in the daylight hours.

Precinct

Yashicamat 124G & JCH Street Pan 400. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 1 July 2023.