A blossom laden tree and stone built house make for an attractive scene. Although 6×4.5 is pretty small where medium format film sizes are concerned, I’m always happy with the quality of the photographs produced by the Bronica ETRSi.
Blossom on the trees
Soon to fall in white cascades
Herald of summer
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Kodak Portra 160.
Taken on 6 April 2021
This is the track that leads to Bolehills Quarry. On the left, just beyond the tree, you can see a stockpile of abandoned millstones. Presumably this is where they were stored before being transported elsewhere, and here they remain since the market fell away, gathering coats of moss and lichen and providing something nice to look at as you pass by.
Abandoned millstones
Lining the route to Bolehills
In the spring sunshine
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Kodak Portra 160.
Taken on 6 April 2021
Bolehills Quarry, up above Padley Gorge, is carpeted with lush grass and beautiful silver birch trees. It’s a location that likely suits pretty much any type of conditions. The trees cast stark shadows in bright light and look mysterious in mist. These two shots were made around 9-10am while the sun was still striking long shadows.
I scanned these using EpsonScan, which is not something I normally do with colour photos as I’ve been less than successful at getting nice colours from the results in the past. This time though, I think it’s worked very well. Maybe not perfect – I doubt I’ll ever be sure a colour scan is “perfect” – but still a result I’m very happy with.
The Bolehills birch trees
White trunks cast shadows on green
In the morning sun
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Kodak Portra 160.
Taken on 6 April 2021
The film photography competition I partake in each month has “Accurate” as its theme this month and my entry is the following shot of my Silva compass sat atop an Ordnance Survey map. It was a pretty rushed shot if I’m honest. I shot two frames and the whole exercise took less than five minutes including digging the map out of a cupboard. Of the two photos, I like this one the best.
Although I favour Ilford HP5+ over Tri-X – especially now that the latter costs almost twice as much! – I had a roll of Tri-X Pan in my OM-2n so that had to serve the purpose. The film is almost 20-years expired and I shoot it at 200asa (I have a few rolls of it still) and it produces decent results. In this case I think the greater contrast from the Kodak film has resulted in a better photo than I might have had from HP5+.
The biggest downside with the film is how much it curls when developed and dried. It coils up like a spring AND has a longitudinal curl as well. This makes it pretty difficult to get into the negative holder for my scanner – it’s easier to get my cat into his box for visits to the vets!
A map of contours
Like my roll of Tri-X Pan
Twisting and curving
Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 & Kodak Tri-X Pan (expired 2003) . Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.
Taken on 24 April 2021
This is the A6187 road at Hathersage Booths, before curving and descending into Hathersage itself. It has a wonderful overview of the Hope Valley stretching into the distance with Mam Tor (the “Shivering Mountain”) just coming into view as part of the distant peaks. Mam Tor translates as “Mother Hill” and is so named because one side of it is prone to frequent landslides. The resultant debris has given birth to a number of smaller hills on the lower slopes.
Into Hope Valley
A beautiful view to see
During the descent
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 6 April 2021
I’d estimate I was perhaps halfway up the side of the valley when I made this photo, climbing from the River Derwent at the bottom up to Over Owler Tor – the highest point on my walk that day. The house that can be spied beyond the gate sits on the main Sheffield to Hathersage road.
Thighs aching, I walk
My ascent up the valley
To my origin
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 6 April 2021
A saw this tree as I was beginning my climb back up the side of the Hope Valley towards where I’d parked the car. A small cluster of Wood Sorrel – sometimes known as Fairy Bells – had found a home in the mossy surface of the tree trunk.
On this April day
My eye was drawn to flowers
At home on a tree
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 6 April 2021
I had to pause before making the photograph in todays post. The sunlight was getting increasingly bright when I found the tree and the contrasts of light and shadow were pretty strong – perhaps too much? But it caught my eye and I felt there was a picture to be had. I think I’d have ignored it if I’d been shooting digital (and definitely if I was using slide film!), but I had HP5+ in the camera back and I thought it would handle the extremes.
It didn’t let me down and, despite the dynamic range of the scene, there is still detail in both highlights and shadows.
Out of the coner
These twists of wooden lightning
Spark up from the earth
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 6 April 2021
A lone gate leant against a drystone wall. I’m not sure where it came from – I didn’t see an empty gap – so it’s possibly a backup gate, or maybe one that’s gone feral and escaped its bounds…
In spite of a chain
This gate has escaped its place
And rests in the sun
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 6 April 2021
This follows on directly from my post a couple of days ago about my walk over the fields near Aston. Another four photos from the middle(ish) section of the walk.
It was dry on the day of the walk and the ground was firm, but there were reminders of how the conditions can change when wet weather has occured, both in the shape of these tractor tracks, and also the signs of footprints in the dried surface of the footpath.
Across another field the path splits – turning right and heading south along the western edge of the mortorway, or left where I walked up an incline to the bridge across the M1. Just before crossing the bridge I made a photo of a farm track where it ran through a stand of trees.
Crossing the motorway in the crisp spring light, I made another picture, this time of the road heading north. A little further up is the junction where the M18 splits to take drivers north-east to Doncaster, Robin Hood Airport, and on to Goole. The M1 itself bends westwards to split the gap between Sheffield and Rotherham, crossing the River Don over Tinsley Viaduct close to the Meadowhall shopping mall, before turning back north to Barnsley, Wakefield and Leeds.
After crossing the motorway, the footpath cut to the right and south towards a nearby farm. The farm had a large open-sided barn which made opportunity for another couple of pictures.
I did make one final photo on this roll of Delta 100 a little further on where a line of poplars framed a nice wooden door and cottage. Sadly the film snapped while loading it onto the spiral and so that frame was lost.
I’ve more photos still to come from this walk, but they’re colour pictures so I’ll post them another day.
A big wooden barn
It’s sides open to the wind
Contents blown away?
Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 | G-Zuiko Auto-W 28,, f/3.5 + orange filter & Ilford Delta 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°.
Taken on 5 April 2021
Steel City Snapper photography 