Tag: TLR

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Plants on a shelf

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Today’s post sounds like some sort of rubbish sequel to Snakes on a Plane. 🙂

It’s been a pretty slow day at work today, mostly because I’ve only really had my phone to use to try and do any work, which has limited my options somewhat. I’ve not heard anything about when my replacement laptop will arrive yet, but I’m hoping it might be tomorrow.

My mojo has been largely absent over the past few months where photography has been concerned, but I’ve found myself watching photography videos on YouTube again over the past week and it’s lighting a pilot beneath me and driving some inspiration to get out with the camera. I’m not back to that sense of compulsion to make photographs that I’ve had in the past just yet, but I’m hopeful that will return in time too.

Plants

Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Lab developed in Xtol.

Taken on 6 November 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Outside the greenhouse and broken laptops

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Today has been something of a letdown. In the continuing saga of my attempts to get my laptop upgraded to a new build I went into the office to meet up with the engineer for the installation. My attempt to install the build myself a couple of months ago ended in failure, and there have since been three other attempts – all abortive for one reason or another – until today, when I finally met the engineer to get the work sorted.

Unfortunately it failed, and this time in a more impactful way, with the outcome being that the computer is now bricked. So I’m now without my laptop and unable to work (beyond accessing email and other apps on my phone) until I get a replacement machine. Thankfully this shouldn’t take too long and might even be as soon as tomorrow, but I’ll still need to restore my data and get things set up properly before I can get back to normal, so I reckon it will be Wednesday at the earliest before this is all done, and possibly later.

Luckily, this week seems quieter than normal – not sure if people are already getting ready for Christmas – and I don’t have too many things that will be badly impacted by the disruption, although I had a bunch of jobs I wanted to catch up on while I had a bit of breathing room. Last week would have been much worse had it happened then though, so in a way I’m glad that the appointment that was supposed to have taken place then was cancelled.

Today’s picture is of the greenhouse / glasshouse at Clumber Park again.

Greenhouse tree

Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Lab developed in Xtol.

Taken on 6 November 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Glasshouse

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Today’s photo is of the greenhouse in the walled kitchen garden at Clumber Park. I’d hoped to go inside and make some photos but it was closed off (although I did manage to grab one sneaky photo through the barriers – I’ll probably post that tomorrow).

One of my son’s had his second Covid vaccination today, so that means we’re now all at least double-jabbed. He’ll have to wait until March until he gets his booster though. On the way home we stopped off to get him some shirts that he’s asked for and, as it was lunchtime, popped intot the Burger King that was nearby. I decided to try the meat-free Whopper to see what it was like. I’ve already had the McPlant from Macdonalds and have been impressed by just how close to a regular beef burger it is, so wanted to see how the Burger King alternative stood in comparison. Turns out, pretty well. Again I couldn’t really tell that it wasn’t meat and it tasted just as good as any other burgers I’ve had from fast food chains like this. While I’m not vegan (or even vegetarian), I’m more than happy to eat these meat-free alternatives if they taste as good as the real thing. In fact I’m happy to eat any vegetarian / vegan food full stop if it taste nice, not just those that are mimicing meat dishes.

When we arrived home, despite it raining, I put the Christmas lights up outside the house. It took longer than I’d expected – mostly because of my pernicketyness at trying to get everything lined up just right. They’re all up (and now lit), so that’s that sorted out for the next few weeks until they get taken back down again.

Clumber greenhouse

Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Lab developed in Xtol.

Taken on 6 November 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Behind an open gate

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I liked the look of this house as I walked past. I’m not sure that it’s used as a residential property as it’s in the bounds of Clumber Park, a National Trust property, so it may be used for administrative purposes.

The building is enclosed by a tall fence so my view was limited, but as I approached the gate began to open to let a van make its exit, so I quickly grabbed this shot. I’m a little disapointed that the white van at the rear of the building is in shot – if I’d taken a step to the left I’d have avoided it’s inclusion.

The photo (and most of the others on this roll) were made back in early November on the same day that I shot the roll of Ortho Plus from which I’ve already shared picture. It was about a week before we lost Stan, so this roll has sat undeveloped in my office for tha last few weeks. Normally I’d develop it myself, but I wasn’t in the mood so took it to my local lab instead and paid for the privilege of someone else doing it for me.

As I watched, the gate opened

Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Lab developed in Xtol.

Taken on 6 November 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Alpine Lodge

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Another in my set of unseasonably snowy November photos. The last in the set in fact.

This temprary bar forms part of the Christmas Markets (or did – I’m not sure if they’re still there) and is situated in the Peace Gardens beside Sheffield town hall (the building at rear left). The other building is the Mercure Hotel, part of the St. Paul’s Square complex that was built on the site of the old town hall extension.

There’s a fountain beneath where the bar is sat, so I hope it didn’t get unexpectedly turned on!

Alpine Lodge

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

Taken on 27 November 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Christmas tree

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My wife put up our Christmas tree and the trimmings on Monday. Normally I would help with this, but my input this year consisted mainly of carrying all the boxes downstairs. This was mostly because I had to travel into my local office on the day for my fourth attempt at getting my laptop upgraded to a new build. It fell through again, so there will now be a FIFTH attempt next Monday. I could provide details of the whole sequence of events, but they’re really not very interesting.

So, back onto the decorations, my main involvement this year will be to put up the exterior lights on the front of the house, which I think I’ll do this weekend. It’s not too difficult – we have a small first storey roof that runs across the front of the house, so it’s just a matter of using the step-ladder to attach some clips to the guttering and then attach the lights. Probably about a half-hour’s work. We shall see…

The photo today is of the big Christmas tree in Sheffield town centre outside the town hall. It doesn’t seem as tall as the ones I remember from my childhood, although whether this is just one of those misrememberings that you get when recollecting childhood memories, I don’t know.

Christmas tree

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

Taken on 27 November 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Bronze women

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This sculpture stands beside the City Hall in Sheffield City Centre. It’s named Women of Steel and commemorates the women who took up roles in the city’s steel works during the first and second world wars. I’ve photographed the statues on a number of occasions and they’ve featured in the blog at least once before (here).

My OCD brain at first showed alarm at the fact that I’ve both chopped off a bit of the closest woman’s arm, and also not gotten her in focus (I was shooting at quite a wide aperture), but my rational brain overrode the concerns because, frankly, it looks just fine.

Steel duo

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

Taken on 27 November 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Festive wheel

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The Christmas market is in Sheffield this year again – I don’t think it was there last year due to the pandemic lockdowns that were in place. The market has had quite a lot of complaints on local social media apparently (although I’ve learnt to try and avoid local social media lest I gnash my teeth to powder at the ignorance and general crappy attitudes that prevail). Apparently it doesn’t compare favourably to previous years, or in comparison with the markets in some other places around the country. Too many food stalls and not enough gifts and other non-edible gifts are amongst complaints I’ve heard.

I think we should be grateful that the current situation is allowing the market to take place at all. It might not be at it’s best (although it looked pretty much like every other UK Christmas market I’ve visited) but maybe let’s give it a bit of leeway given the current global situation.

It’s very rare to see these markets with snow present (apart from the fake variety) as it’s unusual that we get any before Christmas. Even though it was wet and slushy and mostly gone, it was definitely a little bit festive to see these seasonal (not really) weather conditions.

Festive ferris

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

Taken on 27 November 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Numbers

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We managed to get out today for out family meal, my son having recovered from yesterday’s hangover. We chose an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant in the town centre and, while I didn’t eat too much, I still feel quite full now as I’m typing this. The plates in the restaurant aren’t huge – perhaps to reduce the amount of waste coming from people overestimating just how much they can eat – but I still managed four platefulls of food. The first was a plate of turkey and vegetables – a small roast dinner basically. The next two contained a selection of Chinese food, and the final one some dessert in the form of some apple crumble and custard, and a piece of pineaple pie.

After the food we went to a nearby pub for a drink, and there I tried some mango cider. I don’t normally go for sweet, fruity ciders, but this one was very nice and we might try and track dome down to guzzle over Christmas. Even my wife, who generally doesn’t consume any alcoholic drinks at all, thought it was very good too.

Somewhere we didn’t go was the Mecca Bingo hall seen in the picture in today’s blog post. This is another one of those places that I’ve photographed a number of times before, mostly because I think the chequerboard of numbers on the sides of the building make for an interesting picture.

Numbers

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

Taken on 27 November 2021