Nikon F80 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D on Fomapan 400. Rodinal 1+25. 6.5mins @ 20°.
Taken on 13 March 2026
Random tower
Tag: West Yorkshire
Equs Altus
I’m not one for Latin, but I think that’s maybe “High Horse” to you and I. The sculpture stands atop a tall metal column in the Trinity Leeds shopping centre.
It represents the pack horses that were used in the wool and textile trades, for which the city of Leeds was a major centre.
Its sculptor, Andy Scot, is perhaps best known for his work The Kelpies, which stand at Grangemouth in Scotland. Equs Altus may not have the same scale, but it’s definitely born of the same (ahem) cloth.
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D on Fomapan 400. Rodinal 1+25. 6.5mins @ 20°.
Taken on 13 March 2026
Follow the leader
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D on Fomapan 400. Rodinal 1+25. 6.5mins @ 20°.
Taken on 13 March 2026
Who watches the watchmen?
When I took this I wasn’t really considering the subjects in the exhibited photographs. My subject was the lady looking at them. But I like how I’ve been caught watching by one of the framed individuals.
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D on Fomapan 400. Rodinal 1+25. 6.5mins @ 20°.
Taken on 13 March 2026
Morris dancers
Taken when we visited the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival back in February. I shot quite a few scenes of movement like this during the day, relying on the microprism (rather than the split-prim) to focus. While things looked sharp in the viewfinder, many of the shots are slightly front or rear-focused. More practice is needed, I think.
Minolta X-300 & Minolta 50mm f/1.7 MD on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Ilfotec DD-X 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 22 February 2026
At Photo North
This weekend marks the seventh Photo North festival, and the fifth of which I’ve attended. As usual it was a great mix of lectures, exhibits, and retailers.
Apologies that this is quite a short post – I’ve been out of the house for the entire day and don’t have it in me for a detailed recap, but suffice to say that if you get the chance to attend, then please do. It’s well worth the visit, and it’s on until Sunday, with a different selection of talks and speakers on each day.
https://www.photonorthfestival.co.uk/festival
Ricoh GRIII
Taken on 13 March 2026
Wakefield Rhubarb Festival
My wife and I visited the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival today. It’s the first time we’ve been and it was an enjoyable few hours out.
Wakefield is one of the towns that delineate the area known as the Rhubarb Triangle*, famed for producing forced rhubarb, a method of growing the vegetable in dark sheds which encourages the plants to convert carbohydrates into glucose, forming stalks with a sweetly sour taste. Rhubarb has many uses, but is often served in sweet pies and crumbles,sometimes accompanied by other fruits. Wakefield Council holds the annual festival each February.
The event itself was somewhat akin to a Christmas market and I was surprised at how many stalls were present, along with various activities taking place, and local bars, cafe’s, and restaurants also laying on rhubarb themed food and drinks. We bought a number of items, including some orange and rhubarb marmalade (I’m on a bit of a marmalade voyage of discovery at present, having it with toast for breakfast several times a week), some rhubarb candles (which my wife will gift to a friend), a sausage and rhubarb focaccia (to be eaten tomorrow!), and some fresh stalks of rhubarb (some of which we ate with custard this evening).
As well as the stalls, there were a number of other events taking place during the event (which ran from Friday until today), including live music, arts and crafts, cooking demonstrations, various performers in rhubarb costumes, and no less than three different morris dancing groups (or sides, as I believe they are known) .
*the legal definition of the Rhubarb Triangle is apparently as follows…
“from Ackworth Moor Top north along the A628 to Featherstone and Pontefract. Then on to the A656 through Castleford. It then goes west along the A63 past Garforth and West Garforth. Head north passing Whitkirk, Manston and on towards the A6120 by Scholes. Follow the A6120 west, round to pass Farsley which then leads south west via the A647 onto the A6177. Pass Dudley Hill to pick up the M606 south. At junction 26 take the M62 south to junction 25 head east along A644 toward Dewsbury, passing Mirfield, to pick up the A638 towards Wakefield. At Wakefield take the A638 south to Ackworth Moor top.”[
Ricoh GRIII
Taken on 22 February 2026
The view from Castle Hill
Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Acros. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 16 August 2025
On Castle Hill
Castle Hill overlooks the West Yorkshire town of Huddersfield and has served as a settlement for more than 4,000 years. The remains of ancient hill forts can be found there, but the most striking feature now is Victoria Tower, a considerably more recent addition, dating back a mere 126 years to when it was opened in commemoration of the then-queen having sat on the British throne for 60 years.
The tower is 106 feet tall and you can climb to the top (or near to the top) for a small fee. There are a number of landings with seats at various levels of the tower for the weary climber to regain their breath. The bottom picture was taken from one of these, with the distant (and considerably taller, at 1,047 feet) Emley Moor television transmitter visible through the window.
Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Acros. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 16 August 2025
Roads in the sky
One of the interesting things about the area around Dean Clough Mill in Halifax is the way that the inner city road system crosses the deep valley. Look one way and there are Victorian factory buildings and smokestacks, look the other and concrete flyovers criss-cross the sky like something out of a Judge Dredd story.
In places they contrast, such as in the first three images below – in fact the first picture is actually an alternate view of the famous snicket photographed by Bill Brandt, which I posted about a few days ago.
It’s a very interesting location to make photographs.
Yashicamat 124G & Ilford XP2 Super. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken on 16 August 2025
Steel City Snapper photography 