Tag: Town hall

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Phone box and town hall

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There are still a number of the old K6 telephone boxes in Sheffield city centre, a lot of them clustered around the town hall area. This one stands on Leopold Street and has seen better days. I’ve photographed it on quite a few occasions, and it’s featured in the blog on at least one previous occasion.

There are still numerous K6 phone boxes around the country, but the ones out of town centres rarely contain telephones anymore, now tending to be used to house mini-libraries, or sometimes defibrillators.

Something good that happened today…

I had a call with a customer that I had been a little nervous about (this is not unusual, I often feel nerves before such calls, despite never having had one go badly), but it went well, which is always a relief. People I’ve been on customer calls with have always fed back on how confident and composed I am, but my own inner imposter-syndrome tends to try and tell me otherwise.

On Leopold Street

Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 9mins.

Taken on 25 October 2024

35mm · Film photography · Photography

The loss of a lab

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I received the sad news yesterday that my local film lab appears to have closed down. I last used them about a month ago to process the roll of Portra 800 which I’ve been sharing photos from the past few days and had planned to drop another roll of C41 off in the next week. I took a look at their website the other evening and noticed that it appeared to be offline, just displaying a blank page with no content, but assumed a temporary problem. But then, yesterday, someone else mentioned that there were posts on Twitter about it having been closed when it was visited in person and that the nearby businesses reported no-one has been seen for over a week. Some people on Twitter are concerned because they have posted film to be developed and now have no idea what has happened to their rolls.

I don’t know the precise cause of the closure, but it would appear to have been quite sudden.

I’m sad about this happening. They were a good lab with friendly and helpful staff (to whom I send my thoughts that they are ok). I stopped using them quite as much during and following the pandemic as, when they had to close for a few months as part of the lockdown, I taught myself how to develop black and white film at home, but I still regularly took all my C41 and E6 films there. It looks like I will now have to start using my local camera store for film developing services. While it’s still relatively convenient, being just on the edge of the city centre, it won’t be the same as the short walk I’ve been able to take advantage of these past few years.

I’m not sure if anything will happen to the lab – whether it is closed permanently, or might be rescued in some fashion – but it’s disappointing news for sure.

Today’s picture is from the first roll of film I had developed at the lab back in 2016.

FILM - Photo Walk-

Olympus Trip 35 & Kentmere 400 film.

Taken: 9 August 2016

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

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Down a back street in Retford

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Another photograph from my short stop-off in Retford after visiting North Leverton windmill. I was just wandering around looking for pictures when I spotted this back street behing the town hall building that looked like a nice shot.

Overdeveloped again (from the same roll as yesterday’s photo), but I think it works pretty well still.

In Retford

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 7 mins 45 secs @ 22.5°.

Taken on 25 July 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A door for disinfectants

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While walking around the eerily empty town centre a couple of weeks back, my route took me behing the town hall building. There I noticed a door which looked like it might make for an interesting photograph. The door itself is labled “Town Hall” via a plaque afixed to the wood, but carved into the masonery on the lintel above the entrance is the word “Disinfectants”. In all my years of living here in Sheffield, I’ve never noticed this before.

A quick bit of searching online reveals that this dates back to the Victorian period and formed part of a strategy to rid the city of the disease and vermin which would have been rife in some of the slum conditions that existed at the time in industrial cities. As the poorest members of society would not be able to afford the cost of purchasing disinfectants themselves, these would be given out by the local authority via this entrance to the town hall building.

Town Hall Disinfectants

Olympus OM-1, F-Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10 mins @ 20°.

Taken on 14 June 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Through sunlit trees

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Today’s picture is another photograph making use of glorious low sunlight. I like the way that the building – Chesterfield Town Hall – is obscured behind the trees. It gives it a bit of an air of mystery, I think.

In other news, it seems that both #FP4Party and Expired Film Day have crept around again, so I best get myself sorted for those – although, in the case of the former, I already have, and scanned some Holga-shot FP4+ negatives today.

For the latter, I have three rolls of expired film defrosting – one relatively fresh roll of Ektachrome 100 that’s dated 2008, a roll of Kodacolor Gold 200 from 1989, and oldest of all, some TriFCA from 1975 (which I’m not even sure the local lab will process – I shall ask them before I shoot it!). Shooting days are this weekend (13-15 March).

Through the trees

Minolta SRT 101b, Rokkor 50mm f/1.7 & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 27 February 2020