The building on the left of this shot – the one with the wooden structure attached – houses a Newcomen steam engine at Elsecar Heritage Centre. It is, apparently, the oldest steam engine in the world still in its original location, dating back to 1795.
Apologies for another succinct post today. My wife and I went out for the evening and I didn’t get chance to write something before we left. <feeble excuse ends>
Fujica GW690 & Ilford FP4+. Lab developed in Xtol.
I’ve not posted a power-lines photo for a while, have I? Well let me remedy the situation with this photo of a transformer (at least I presume that’s what it is – I know little of such things) stood at the edge of a flooded field.
It’s a mundane scene, and one that is undobtedly repeated countless times across the country (albeit with perhaps less flooding), but one that appealed to my eye when I saw it.
Fujica GW690 & Ilford FP4+. Lab developed in Xtol.
Sitting behind the Rockingham Arms pub (which I posted a photo of a few days ago) is this neat looking shed. There is a small sign on it saying “Players only on the green”, so I assume that the grass in front of it was once a bowling green. It’s now covered in wooden benches to cater for pub visitors though, although there were none to be seen on the windy February day on which the photo was taken
Fujica GW690 & Ilford FP4+. Lab developed in Xtol.
Yesterday’s post showed the round house at Wentworth in its entirety. Today’s picture is a closer perspective with the cottage beside it in full view. Part of me prefers this shot – there’s a lot of detail tucked away and it was probably the two busts beside the front door that drew me as much as the structure itself.
Fujica GW690 & Ilford FP4+. Lab developed in Xtol.
This odd looking house was originally a windmill, built around 1745. I expect that the crenellations and other decorative features were later additions when it was converted to a domestic home.
Fujica GW690 & Ilford FP4+. Lab developed in Xtol.
I took quite a while to get the composition how I liked it for this photo. Not a long time, but longer than my usual “there’s a photo! click” method. I saw there was a picture to be had but there were distractions / potential interest points at either side of the frame, so I spent a few minutes moving left, right, backwards, and forwards to get just what I wanted into frame – all the while being conscious that I was stood in a road and that cars might be approaching from my rear.
The right of the frame had a parked car which I wanted to avoid in the shot, but the left had some interesting street furniture that might have added to the photo, plus it showed the curve of the road at the side of the house to better effect. Unfortunately, positioning myself to get the stuff at the left in frame also meant that other unwanted things crept into view as well, so in the end I went for this version.
As a direct follow on from yesterday’s post, which showed the new Holy Trinity church – that’s if something nearing one-hundread-and-fifty years old can be considered new I suppose – today’s post shows the old church that preceded it.
The old church tower predates the new one by four or five hundred years, with the rest of the structure having been rebuilt in 1684. The construction is of sandstone and the centuries have taken their toll with the masonry being quite worn by erosion in places, particularly the decorative stonemasonry elements such as carved figures.
The GW690 is something of a beast of a camera – it didn’t get the nickname of The Texas Leica because it’s compact, that’s for sure. As a result it canbe quite an awkward camera to use, despite its otherwise simple set of controls. I find it quite difficult to hold in portrait orientation and most of my missed shots, where there has been a degree of camera shake, have been when taking pictures this way. The camera has a second shutter release button on the front of the body to aid in taking portrait format photos, but I still tend to generate more of a wobble when using it even like this.
Thankfully the portrait oriented pictures I took on this day in Wentworth have all come out ok with the exception of one.
Fujica GW690 & Fomapan 400. Shot at 200asa and developed at box speed by lab (in Xtol).
A couple more photos from Wentworth today and, let’s face it, there will be a few more day’s worth of Wentworth photos yet to come given that I shot three rolls of film there. All GW690 though, so not that many in total really.
The first one required crackerjack timing (c.f. Jack Burton) to avoid any of the frequently passing vehicles getting in the shot, but I’m not sure if I should maybe have cropped the right side a little. It was composed this way deliberately to avoid the clutter of parked cars and stuff further down the road to the left, but it feels a little unbalanced as a result..
I made a big pan of chicken and bacon soup earlier today to satiate my current need for a soft diet. The soup looked great when ready, and then I had to blitz it in the blender to get rid of any chunks. It looks nowhere near as nice now but, thankfully, it still tastes great. I had a huge bowl of it for my tea and feel pretty full now!
Fujica GW690 & Fomapan 400. Shot at 200asa and developed at box speed by lab (in Xtol).