Stuff on my mind

It’s one of those days today where I don’t know what to write on the blog (although here I am, writing stuff about not knowing what to write…). Today I think it’s because I’ve got something preying on my mind at work. Nothing terrible, just something I need to do this week that I’m not sure I’m fully prepared for. Usually, it comes to pass that I’m stressing out about nothing and everything will go just fine, but that doesn’t stop my brain flipping into anxiety mode. The fact that I’m focusing on this one thing also means I’m not spending time on a bunch of other things I need to be doing, leading to a cumulative worry about, well, more stuff.

It also doesn’t help that I tend to procrastinate. And while I always pull things together in the end, there’s always the worry that one day I might not be able to. I seem find myself increasingly easily distracted from things I ought to be concentrating on in recent years, to the extent that I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out I have ADD (but that’s another story). I guess that tomorrow I need to just pull myself together, give myself a virtual slap across the cheeks to wake myself up, and just get on with what I need to do. In a couple of days the thing will have passed and I can get back to normal (i.e. worrying about the next thing…).

So, look at that – I’ve written more than I do on many other days. Good ol’ productive stress, eh?

Here’s a picture of a foggy scene. This is probably not disimillar to what it looks like inside my head right now. 🙂

Fujica GW690 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa) . Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 13mins @ 20°

Taken on 21 January 2023.

Across the Moss

This is the first of two photographs of bridges crossing the River Moss That I’ll publish – the second will be here in a couple of days.

I managed to get out and shoot a few rolls of film today, 36 exposures on some Superia Xtra 400, and a couple of rolls of 120 through my Bronica ETRSi (one HP5+, one Fuji Pro 400H). It’s the first time in ages I’ve shot so prolifically, and should mean that the wolves can be kept from the door for a while in terms of me having new photos for the blog. I’ll get the two rolls of C41 sent off for developing tomorrow and will maybe dev the HP5+ one lunchtime this week if I get the chance. I’ve got about a half-dozen more pictures from the GW690 to keep things ticking over until then though.

Fujica GW690 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa) . Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 13mins @ 20°

Taken on 21 January 2023.

Rushes

I think the left side of this picture is a little messy, but there was unfortunately no way to get around it short of cropping. The GW690 has a fixed focal length and, while using my legs to zoom is often a viable technique, in this case I was hemmed in by trees at either side, and in front of my feet the ground dropped into marshy wetness where the rushes are growing and I didn’t fancy a boot full of freezing mud.

Nonetheless, the foggy morning does a lot of lifting and makes the shot quite pleasing, I think, particularly the contrast of the heads of the rushes against the faded backdrop.

Fujica GW690 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa) . Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 13mins @ 20°

Taken on 21 January 2023.

Is this what an insect sees when walking through the grass?

Trees. Big, solid, tall, impressive things, aren’t they. But what if you were a giant? What if you stood several hundered feet tall? Would a forest become a lawn? Would the people walking beneath their canopies become like bugs?

This is what popped into my head when I was composing this shot.

Fujica GW690 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa) . Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 13mins @ 20°

Taken on 21 January 2023.

An abandoned place

This ruined structure sits beside the River Moss in Eckington near Sheffield. The main flow of the river runs to the right of the scene in the picture but there’s also a separate stream that runs behind the building which leads me to think it was a water mill of some kind. The building is depicted on Ordnance Survey maps but not named. There are the remains of mineworking in the area, with a pumphouse (named the Seldom Seen Pumphouse) a little further up the valley, so it’s possible that this building may have formed part of those activities.

Fujica GW690 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa) . Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 13mins @ 20°

Taken on 21 January 2023.

On Millennium Bridge

This point of view almost suggests that the bridge will carry pedestrians right across the Thames and directly into St. Paul’s Cathedral.

SPOILER: It doesn’t.

Apologies for another short post. I’m still feeling ill – although maybe a little improved over yesterday. Hopefully I’ll feel better still by tomorrow.

Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°

Taken on 29 November 2022.

Sounds of the Universe

An image of the London record shop, Sounds of the Universe.

My cold is no better – I don’t think the walk I took yesterday to get some fresh air helped, and may have made things worse. I had to take a sick day from work today and have spent most of my time laid on (or in) the bed just staring into space as I didn’t even have the inclination to read or watch TV. I think I’ll take a covid test tomorrow, just in case.

Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°

Taken on 29 November 2022.

Year five

Here I am again, beginning a fifth year of daily posting on my blog. This will be the one thousand, four-hundred and sixty second consecutive post (I now fearfully await someone telling me I missed a day somewhere. Eek!). I don’t have any real plans to switch things up from the current format – a mixture of stuff about making photos, to random, usually brief, journal posts of my life and experiences – but who knows what this year will bring?

I’ve got a new camera to post about soon, but I need to figure it out and – importantly – take and develop some photographs with it first. Hopefully something to come on that in the next week or two.

For my first post of the year, here’s a picture from the Photographer’s Gallery in London. The gallery is split across a number of floors and the usual route it to take the lift to the top floor and then work your way back down to the bottom. The quickest way to do this is via the stairwell and, between two of the floors, there is a window that opens into a small offshot of one of the galleries where photobooks and other documentation about the current exhibition is available to be viewed by visitors. When I visited, the work of British photographer Chris Killip was being exhibited and my photo depicts two people perusing books of his work.

The exhibition was excellent, by the way.

Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°

Taken on 29 November 2022.

Still inside a gallery

Following yesterday’s post, here are three more gallery photographs from the Tate Modern. All three here were taken in the Turbine Hall, a huge space named after it’s previous use when the building was the home of Bankside power station. It really is an impresive venue and can be viewed from several different levels. Looking down upong the other visitors gave views of scatterings of tiny, Lowry-like figures below moving this way and that.

Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°

Taken on 29 November 2022.

HMS Belfast and The City

HMS Belfast is a Tow class light cruiser that was built and launched just prior to Britain entering the Second World War. Shortly afer her launch she was struck by a magnetic mine resulting in severe damage (although, thankfully, relatively few casualties – very sadly, one crewman Painter 2nd Class Henry Stanton, died later from the injuries he sustained). The vessel did not return to active service until 1942 but went on to take part in various campaigns (including the Korean War) and was eventually retired in 1963.

In 1971 the ship was opened as a floating museum managed by the HMS Belfast Trust, situated on the River Thames in London just above Tower Bridge. In 1978 the trust and ship ship became part of the Imperial War Museum.

In this photograph, the ship can be seen from the South Bank of the Thames with the towers of the City of London in the background. It was pointed out to me that the ship’s camouflage is still doing a sterling job.

Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko Auto-W 35mm f/2.8 & Ilford HP5+ (@1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°

Taken on 29 November 2022.