Long time subscribers of this blog will know that I enjoy making photographs of power lines. It’s a fascination that goes back to my childhood, probably borne out of watching the old Play Safe public information films that were screened on the television here in the UK warning of the dangers of overhead power cables and electrical substations.
I’m not obsessed by them, and don’t go out with the purposes of “pylon spotting” or anything like that, but I find the way they traverse the landscape quite evocative and find they make for interesting photographic subjects.
The three images presented here today feature not only pylons, but the source of their power as well in the form of power stations. After I visited North Leverton windmill, I drove towards the nearby village of Sturton-le-Steeple which is adjacent to the large West Burton power station. One of the public footpaths near the village provided a great vantage point to see the (still quite distant) facility. Another station, Cottam, is visible in the distance to the south in the final of these three photos. These, and other power stations, sit beside the River Trent from which I believe they draw water for cooling.
They are impressive structures, dominating the landscape from miles around.
Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 7 mins 45 secs @ 22.5°.
Taken on 25 July 2020
Steel City Snapper photography 
Nice! In my own work, I sometimes like powerlines; the rest of the time they just anger me. I feel they’re constantly getting in the way of what would otherwise be nice compositions. But for shots like yours here, in predominantly open fields, they work.
Even though I still haven’t gotten my test roll developed yet from my newly acquired Sure Shot Max (I should soon; I’ll give you an update when I do, as promised forever ago), your work with the Supreme has me wanting one of those too.
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I think, oftentimes, that the power lines *are* the compositions. Whereas I can understand how having them cut through areas of natural beauty can be disappointing, there are many cases where an area that might be otherwise unremarkable and uninteresting can be transformed by the presence of a line of pylons, or a solitary telegraph line heading off to some distant destination.
The Sure Shot Supreme is quite nice and is amongst those 1980s compacts with nice f/2.8 lenses. It loses out to the Telemax on other features though (especially that oh-so-handy physical switch for the flash!). I’m more than happy using wither )or, as is the case at present, my Sure Shot Z135 :)).
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I love a bit of pylon and power line sometimes… I get fascinated by the mix of geometry 🙂
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They can be particularly impressive in areas where lots of them converge.
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