This shot was one from a short roll of Fomapan 400 that I bulk-rolled to test that my camera wasn’t faulty – the previous roll had revealed a piece of fluff on every frame which I needed to painstakingly clone out of every shot! Thankfully the offending fiber must have been dislodged when I took the roll out of the camera, and this test roll showed no sign of it.
But, despite just going for a quick walk to fire off a few test shots, I managed to get several I really like, including this lovely picture of an elderly couple walking down the Trans Pennine Trail.
I think it pays to shoot with a sense of purpose, even when running a test.
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 9mins @ 20°.
A further trio of pictures taken on a Boxing Day walk on the Trans Pennine Trail. I was fortunate to enjoy three misty days straight after Christmas, all on days when I wasn’t at work so could take advantage of them.
Jumping back to December for some more B&W Yashica Mat 124G images. I posted a couple of shots from this roll already (including a couple of pictures of woodland shelters), but the two shown today are of part of the bridge system that criss-crosses the Trans Penine Trail near Rother Valley Country Park.
It’s quite interesting to look at historic maps of the area and see the network of railway lines that served the coal mine that used to exist in the area. Wandering through the birch woodland that now covers a lot of the area, it’s quite easy to stumble over old track-beds and entire bridges surrounded by thick overgrowth.
Three pictures of bits of fence on the Trans-Pennine Trail that I shot during a walk at the end of October. The weather wasn’t the best and I don’t tend to shoot (expensive!) colour film on days such as this, but it had been loaded in the camera a while before so I decided to make use of it anyway.
Something good that happened today…
After a run of pretty dismal, dull, grey weather – including yesterday where it also rained as well as being murky – today was a little brighter. Not exactly sunny, but there was a little structure in the clouds and occasional splashes of brightness where the sun found a way through the cloud. This provided an opportunity to go out and make some photographs. I didn’t have any great project in mind, and if I’m honest, my mind wasn’t really in the right place for it, but I got myself dressed an headed out anyway. In the end I shot 20 frames of the roll of Ilford HP5+. I’ll be interested to see how they turn out after I’ve finished the roll and developed it, but I had promising feelings about a lot of them. We shall see.
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Portra 400. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
The first post of another new year. I’ve now posted daily for six full years!
For once, it’s some photos that’re relatively fresh, having been made less than a week ago at time of typing.
We had misty weather across large parts of the UK in the days following Christmas, so I made an effort to go out and take advantage of the atmospheric conditions. I probably missed the best of the mist on this particular day as I didn’t venture out until the afternoon, but there is still enough of it around to add a little to the pictures.
These shelters spring up every now and again in the trees close to the Trans Pennine Trail. I’ve never seen anyone building them and I don’t know who makes them or if they serve any particular purpose – there’s the remnants of a small camp fire in front of the second one, so I guess somebody spent at least a little time there, but they don’t look like they will give that much protection from the elements.
A few weeks back I decided to go for a walk on the Trans Pennine Trail. I’ve walked the stretch close to where I live before, reaching as far as Renishaw a few miles to the south, but I’ve never followed it any further than that.
So, on the day in question, I decided that I would see what was down there, walking the stretch between Renishaw and Staveley and then following the Cuckoo Way on the return journey.
Looking east from the Trans-Pennine Trail towards the village of Mastin Moor. The Cuckoo Way meanders its way north over near where those pylons stand.
The Trans-Pennine Trail follows the path of an old railway along this stretch of it’s route and is relatively straight as a result. It’s also flat and doesn’t tend to get muddy at all. The Cuckoo Way, on the other hand, follows the route of the Chesterfield Canal and can be hiked all the way from Chesterfield to the River Trent – about forty five miles away as the route takes you.
Looking west from the Cuckoo Way. The Trans Pennine Way is where the row of trees is on the horizon. The houses are on the outskirts of Staveley.
The Cuckoo Way is easy to walk in many places, particularly sections where the canal still exists, but this stretch just winds through fields, sometimes with little sign of where the waterway once flowed. This particular stretch was quite muddy. Not wet sloppy mud, but the thick stuff like you find on a playing field after a game of football has been played when the ground isn’t dry. It quickly clogged up the soles of my hiking boots with it’s thick clay-like weight and took quite some time to wash off when I got back home.
Heading back north and following the former route of the canal. Teh Cuckoo Way is just off-camera to the right.
Just downstream from Sprotbrough, the Trans Pennine Trail crosses the River Don on this former railway bridge.
While I wish I’d had better light, the riveted structure still manages to be an interesting subject, and the large format negative really captures the detail.
I’ve posted many photos taken along the Tranbs Penine Way on this blog, mostly because a section of it – the southern spur that leads to Chesterfield – is only half a kilometer from my home. The photo today shows the very first time I saw the starting point (or, I guess, the finish if you travel the other way) for the main east / west route. This post marks the easternmost point at Hornsea on the Yorkshire coast beside the North Sea. The far end of the trail lies in Southport in Lancashire on the edge of the Irish Sea.
I’ve never been to Southport before, but perhaps a trip will be in order someday – I do like seaside resorts after all, and it would allow me to pair up both ends of the trail.
Steel City Snapper photography 