At the top of the steps

August 6, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

When I go on a holiday, I like to take time to wander round and explore the places we visit. Sometimes, in a place like Barcelona, there is far more to be seen than can possibly be experienced in a short stay. But even in more tourist-focused locations such as Lloret de Mar, there are still things to be found. Sometimes these are relatively everyday locations that are made exotic by unfamiliarity, and sometimes they are just unexpected.

In my mind, I had the basic layout of the part of the town where we stayed mapped out as gradually sloping downhill until it reached the beach (separated from the town by a promenade, road, and a long strip of hotels and restaurants). What I didn’t realise was that there was a tall hill smack bang in the middle of this. The hill is no doubt readily apparent from a higher vantage point, but once you’re amongst the buildings then it becomes easily obscured. Until you stumble over it on a random walk through the streets.

I first noticed it when I spotted a large flight of steps between a couple of buildings. It was a very hot day and I considered taking another route, but the curious part of me decided there might be something worth seeing at the top, so up I climbed. I didn’t count them, but there were quite a lot and the first picture below if the view looking back down.

The first thing I spotted at the summit was a row of houses draped with vivid swathes of red flowers. I don’t know what this plant is, but it certainly made for an attractive subject for a picture.

Despite being near the top of the hill, I didn’t find any vantage point where I could take in a view (other than down mostly curving streets). I guess you need to enter one of the buildings to take advantage, such as the tall stacked platter of a structure in the image below.

It was odd that, even when I knew the hill was there, it was still quite easy to miss, even from the beach – where it was apparent, but kind of blended into the taller, more-distant background hillsides.

Olympus Trip 35 & Fuji Superia 100 (expired 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 3 June 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A day at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (part 3)

July 19, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The final batch of pictures from my Yorkshire Sculpture Park visit. As previously, I’ve added a little information about the artworks below each picture, but you can find out more at the park’s website.

**Seated Figure by Sean Henry**

Sean Henry makes detailed and life-like sculptures of anonymous figures, often in casual poses and deep in thought. They are usually based on members of the public or actors, and scaled either up or down, so they are never actually life sized. *Seated Figure* is a monumental 3 metres tall. The artist uses clay to model his works in the studio, before they are cast in bronze. (taken from the YSP website)

This piece can be seen from miles and has a commanding position looking out across the landscape from the top of a hill.

The charity boxes that inspired this piece were a common sight when I was younger, although not with the additional flourish added by Hirst, which features the collection box pried open by a crowbar. I was amused and happy to note that crows had taken up residence within the open collection box and were carrying nesting material in there as I watched.

**The Virgin Mother by Damien Hirst**

Damien Hirst’s The Virgin Mother stands at 10 metres tall and is the tallest sculpture at YSP. A powerful presence in the landscape, it is partly inspired by the historic sculpture *Little Dancer of Fourteen Years*(c.1881), by Edgar Degas. Hirst deliberately makes the materials look different than they are, for example *The Virgin Mother* is bronze painted to look like plastic. (taken from the YSP website)

This is a striking piece of sculpture and my picture doesn’t really give a sense of scale, with a full grown adult barely reaching the figure’s calves. It’s also slightly disturbing with the figure appearing intact from her left profile, only to reveal tissues, muscles, bone, and a fetus in her womb. Where her left hand crosses the demarcation between outside and inside, the fingers are severed.

Two Large Forms by Henry Moore

The colossal sculpture is impressive in both scale and composition, appearing very different from every angle and continuing the theme of points that almost meet, which appears in much of Moore’s work. (taken from the YSP website)

I’d originally intended to get the whole sculpture in frame when I took this shot, but I liked how the child gave a sense of scale to the piece, so moved the viewpoint.

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tmax 100 (expired 2008). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 7 minutes @ 20°

Taken on 5 April 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A day at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (part 2)

July 18, 2025 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

More pictures from my Yorkshire Sculpture Park visit. Again, I’ve added a little information about the artworks below each picture, but you can find out more at the park’s website.

**Wall Dale Cubed – Sean Scully**
Made for YSP, *Wall Dale Cubed* uses 1000 tonnes of Yorkshire stone from a local quarry and was constructed over many weeks. Importantly to the artist, this colossal work is built in the same way throughout, which connects to ancient stone walls in Ireland, so that ‘when looking at the outside of the block, one can feel the inside without being able to see it’. (taken from the YSP website)

**Galaxy was a Memory, Earth is a Souvenir by Kimsooja**
Kimsooja developed this elegant and towering conical sculpture in collaboration with scientists at Cornell University. The nanopolymer in which its panels are covered enhances the refractive qualities of light, giving an iridescent effect similar to that which occurs naturally on the wings of a butterfly or a beetle’s shell. It is responsive to changing light conditions and brought to life by sunlight on its surface. (taken from the YSP website)

The structure apparently has a mirrored floor which make it look like it pierces the earth below, although I didn’t walk close enough to it to see this aspect.

Peter's Fold — **Peter’s Fold by Andy Goldsworthy**

In Britain, folds have been made for hundreds of years as animal pens and Goldsworthy has developed the traditional fold to make contemporary sculptures. *Peter’s Fold* was built using drystone techniques by master wallers who have worked with the artist for many years. The Yorkshire sandstone was sourced from Hillhouse Edge Quarry in nearby Holmfirth. It is built around a common lime tree with distinctive epicormic growth, which occurs when dormant buds beneath the bark become active. (taken from the YSP website)

I decided to take the picture from a low vantage point on the grass. Unfortunately, due to the way TLR cameras work, I didn’t spot a stray blade of grass in front of the taking lens which resulted in a blurred smudge on the image. I’ve attempted to remove this and not done too bad a job (although you can probably see the joins if you look closely…)

A stump amongst the dafodils — **Tree Stump by The Tree**

This isn’t an actual artwork, but this lone tree stump surrounded by daffodils looked pretty photogenic, so here it is, in amongst it’s more famous fellow park residents.

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tmax 100 (expired 2008). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 7 minutes @ 20°

Taken on 5 April 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A day at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (part 1)

July 17, 2025 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

Back in April I took a trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The venue features indoor gallery spaces, but also a significant landscaped outdoor park dating to the 18th century. Throughout the park are an large array of sculpture and artworks of varying styles, types, designs, and sizes.

On this visit I took my trusty Yashica Mat 124G and a (potentially less trustworthy) roll of expired Kodak Tmax 100 film that had been sat in the freezer for several years. As you can see, there was no need to worry about the condition of the film, which has produced lovely results.

I shot the whole roll at the park and will post the pictures over the next few days. I’ve added a little information about the artworks below each picture, but you can find out more at the park’s website.

**Djinn – Bharti Kher**

This huge, 5-metre tall bronze sculpture is very striking. It forms part of a series titled *Intermediaries* that take South Indian golu dolls as their starting point. These small, colourful clay figurines that are displayed in homes as part of the Navaratri festival depict gods and goddesses, animals and people.

Riace figures — **Riace Figures – Elizabeth Frink**

There are three of these figures gathered together, titled Riace II, III, & IV (although only two of them feature in my picture – I don’t know which ones).

The *Riace* figures are inspired by the 5th century BCE bronze sculptures that were rediscovered in the sea off the coast of the Riace region of Italy in 1972. Frink said ‘*the original figures are very beautiful, but also very sinister, and that is what they are supposed to be*’.

**Buddha – Niki de Saint Phalle**

The black and white picture, while pleasing, doesn’t really do justice to the bold colours that make up the mosaic surfaces of the figure.

**Sitting – Sophie Ryder**

Known as the Lady Hare – which Ryder describes a companion for the Minotaur – the work combines a female body with the head of a hare, a mystical creature in folklore.

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tmax 100 (expired 2008). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 7 minutes @ 20°

Taken on 5 April 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Mother and child

June 29, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Religion isn’t really my thing but I do enjoy photographing religious artifacts and buildings – I probably fall under the umbrella of being a “cultural Christian” in that regard – although I find other religions artifacts equally interesting.

In the UK we have a wealth of churches dating back centuries, chock full of amazing architecture, artworks, stained glass windows and so forth. Even the more modern buildings, such as the brutalist architecture churches built in the post-war years, are interesting – sometimes even more so.

Most of the time any photographs I make of churches are of the exteriors. This is usually because many churches are not freely accessible, either to prevent theft or vandalism (sad, I know), or, in the case of grand cathedrals, require admission fees to wander around inside.

Sometimes though, particularly in villages out in the country, churches are still open and it’s possible to enter, enjoy their interiors, and make photographs. I took a few pictures inside a church at Tickhill last weekend that was open when I wandered past by chance. The picture of Mary and Jesus below is at Lincoln cathedral, but is outside, so I could make a picture without having to go inside.

I don’t mind paying an entrance fee if I know that there is likely to be something of interest to see and, importantly, I know I have sufficient time to wander at my leisure. I didn’t have the latter during this trip to Lincoln, unfortunately.

On another note, this weekend saw the 2025 Sheffield Steam Rally, so I went along today – as I do most years – and returned with a crop of exposed film (mostly medium format), so there will be traction engines to come at some point…

Yashica Mat 124G & Lomography Color Negative 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted using Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 1 March 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Around the courthouse

February 6, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

These four photos were all taken around Leeds Combined Courts Centre. I found the brickwork and the architecture made for interesting photographs, and the nice weather didn’t hurt where the expired slide film was concerned, either.

Something good that happened today…

I’ve had a busy day at work, mostly taken up with meetings. Sometimes days like this can be frustrating because there’s insufficient time between calls to get on with the work I need to do. While that was still the case to an extent, all the calls I was on felt productive, and I came away from them feeling like something had been achieved, which is good.

Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Kodak Elite Chrome 200 (expired 2004) . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 5 October 2024

Digital · Photography

A trip to Barcelona

December 24, 2024 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

My wife and I spent the weekend just gone in Barcelona to visit the Christmas markets and just wander round the city. It’s the first time I’ve traveled overseas so close to Christmas and I was a little concerned that we might get caught up in a mass of travelers going home for Christmas, but everything went very smoothly and, while Barcelona was pretty busy, the travel was not.

We had a very nice time just wandering about the place, not doing anything in particular other than visiting shops and markets and eating nice food. We visited the Sagrada Familia as there was another Christmas market there, and I did consider going inside the cathedral, but I would have needed needed to book tickets in advance and there were none available to buy on the day as it was fully booked. My wife isn’t particularly interested in visiting cathedrals anyway, and I would have felt a little guilty if I was dragging her around the place while I took photos and admired the architecture, so I wasn’t too concerned about missing the opportunity. Maybe I’ll get another chance one day.

I shot a roll of colour 35mm film while there, but it will be after Christmas before that gets developed, but took some more photos with my Ricoh GRIII, including the one posted here today, so will share some of those once I’ve gone through them all.

This large star can be found in Plaça Sant Jaume in Barcelona, Spain. It is titled Origen and was created by Xevi Bayona and Àlex Posada. It projects light from the points of the star onto the facades of the buildings in the plaza.

Ricoh GRIII

Taken on 20 December 2024

35mm · Digital · Film photography · Photography

A day in Kotor

September 27, 2024 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

On the penultimate full day of our holiday in Dubrovnik, we decided to take an excursion to Kotor in the neighbouring country of Montenegro. Kotor is a World Heritage Site set deep in a vast fjord-like tidal bay surrounded by mountains. We had two potential days when we could have made the trip, but chose the second as the weather seemed ok at the time of booking.

The weather was not ok…

There were two stops on the trip (well, four if you also count the toilet break at a service station, and the quite long stop while passing through the border), the first being Perast – a small village beside the bay – where we had a short boat trip to the Church of Our Lady of Škrpjela, which sits on a small man-made island. Unfortunately, as soon as we got off the coach the heavens opened with a torrential downpour that continued throughout the stop. While we had a waterproofs with us, they were jackets and provided no cover whatsoever for our legs and feet and before we even got inside the church our shoes were soaked.

*I posted this picture already during the holiday, but here it is again for some context – the church we visited is on the island at mid-right, the one with the blue dome.*

We got wet again after leaving the church, although thankfully the small boat we used for the crossing had a roof. The boat’s roof did not protect us on the walk back from the jetty to the coach however.

Thankfully, by the time we arrived at Kotor itself the rain had stopped, and it stayed dry for the rest of our visit, but the wet feet and damp clothing persisted and took some of the shine off the trip.

We had an affable tour guide inside the walled city, and our group of soggy day-trippers followed him dutifully around the crowded and narrow streets of the town while he pointed out various sights, explained the history, and suggested which restaurants might be good places for lunch.

Kotor is apparently quite famous for the number of cats that live there, and as well as seeing them everywhere you looked, there was a wide range of cat-related merchandise available from almost every shop.