Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
Another subject I’ve photographed on a number of occasions is this willow tree situated on the Woodhouse Washlands flood plain. Most of my other shots feature the tree with it’s branches but, at some point, it has lost them. I’d assumed the tree was already dead even when it still had its limbs, but even in its new, curtailed form, there are signs of fresh growth near the base of the trunk.
Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°
Taken on 16 May 2026
Down on Woodhouse Washlands lives this fallen willow tree. It’s trunk is broken and splintered so that much of it lies almost parallel to the ground. But the tree is a survivor and its limbs rise finger like from its fallen trunk.
These were the first three shots from my replacement replacement Yashica Mat 124G – the one that replaced the one with the shutter problem. So far, everything seems to be working as expected with this one and the test roll I shot has delivered a bunch of pictures I like, including these.
Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°
Taken on 11 February 2024
Two photos of the same scene today. The first was made while I ummed-and-ahhed about whether to use a wider lens, only for the train to appear, so that clearly needed to be photographed while the opportunity was there. The second picture was made a minute later with the 50mm switched for the 28mm. I like both shots a lot, but the one with the train pips it, I think.
Distant viaduct
Brick-built arches framed by a
Willow in the field
Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 | G-Zuiko Auto-W 28mm f/3.5 + orange filter & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°.
Taken on 25 March 2021
This pollarded willow tree sits at the southern end of Woodhouse Washlands close to the A57 flyover (in fact, you can see the shadow of the flyover at the base of this image – I thought about cropping it out, but it would take the foot of the tree closer to the edge of the frame than I’d like). The field was pretty muddy and had a considerable number of cow pats deposited about on the day so I decided to use the zoom lens to get me closer. While it may not be to everyone’s taste, I like the contrast of the fields and trees on the left with the industry of the pylons and factory units to the right. The track fills the gap at bottom right nicely too.
Pollarding cuts trees
off at height, not at the base
as coppicing does
Pentax P30T, Takumar-F Zoom 70-200mm f/4-5.6 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 27 December 2020
Another photo from my “Whoah! Where the heck did those colours come from?!?!” series. I know I’ve mentioned it on more than one occasion already but, just, wow. The shots with this willow lit by the rising sun have got beautiful complementary tones – that classic, and perhaps over-used, orange and teal thing. I’ve not tinkered with the colours at all in these shots – it’s how they popped into being after converting the negatives with Grain2Pixel. Sometimes I can have to work at things with certain film stocks and Grain2Pixel, but these just landed perfectly.
I will confess to a bit of Photoshoppery to remove a trio of distracting ducks (or maybe they were gulls) bobbing about in the water behind the swan. I’m usually relucant to edit my photos in this way (apart from getting rid of bits of debris), but in this case I think it made the picture a lot better.
Fuji DL-270 Zoom Super & Kodak Colorplus. Grain2Pixel conversion.
Taken on 26 November 2020
This is almost the same composition as the one I published last week here, albeit that being a medium format black and white image made with the Bronica. Again, the colours on this Colorplus shot are, I think, beautiful. While it might not have the detail of the medium format version, and I’m slightly miffed that I cut off the tree on the left (I should have kept all of it in frame, or omitted it altogether, but I think I was too busy concentrating on getting the sun behind the trunk of the willow to have noticed at the time), I think that this version is more impactful. The colour film has captured the lovely subtle tones in the clouds and the golden light on the grasses of the lake side.
Fuji DL-270 Zoom Super & Kodak Colorplus. Grain2Pixel conversion.
Taken on 26 November 2020
This willow stands at the lake’s edge at Rother Valley Country Park and I’ve photographed it on more than one occasion – there will be more photos of it to come soon, in fact!
It was a bright morning, with a hint of mist on the water and a touch of frost on the ground. I had a few frames left on the roll of HP5+ that I was pushing to 3200asa in my Bronica ETRSi, so I took a walk down to the lake before work.
The sun was low in the sky, peeking under a blanket of high cloud, and casting long shadows across the ground, so I decided to shoot into the light and use the branches of the willow to block the bulk of the glare. A small star of brilliance peeks between the branches.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 50mm f/2.8 MC & Ilford HP5+ (@1600). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 20mins @ 20°.
Taken on 26 November 2020
One more photo from Woodhouse Washlands. This willow tree has suffered some sort of catastrophe at some point, it’s tunk ruptured and folded down to ground level, but such is the tenacity of the tree that it lives on, thriving boughs rising at angles from the fallen section.
I was pleased with the results here. I opened up the aperture to soften the otherwise distracting background, but didn’t have a tripod, so had to carefully hand-hold the shot to maintain focus on the texture in the broken wood.
Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 10 October 2020
A willow tree photographed on a wintery day last month. Cropped to 6×7 ratio from 6×6.
Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Fomapan 400.
Taken on 12 December 2017
Not far from where I live is the floodplain of the River Rother, where horses and cows sometimes graze. It’s also the location of a number of willow trees, a few of which have been notably disfigured by some force.
Canon Sure Shot Telemax & Kodak Tri-X.
Taken on 12 December 2017
Steel City Snapper photography 