Another Don crossing

Just downstream from the bridge I shared a photo of yesterday (you can see it in the background of today’s shot) is a second bridge, this time an active railway bridge. Indeed, as I was setting up this photo a train was sat idling off the the right of fram and actually crossed when I was ready to take the picture. I waited until it had passed though as, even though it was moving slowly, the half-second shutter speed I was using would have rendered it blurry, and probably not in an aesthetically pleasant way.

I’ve been out making more photos today, although with the Bronica ETRSi rather than the large format kit. We’ve had a big dump of snow the last couple of days which eased off yesterday afternoon and then began to melt quite rapidly. However temperatures overnight fell below freezing so I decided to go out this morning – a lovely sunny start – and try and catch some wintry scenes while they remained. I managed to shoot the full roll of HP5+ I had loaded, and also one or two frames of expired Provia 100 that is loaded in a compact I was carrying in my coat pocket. It was a nice morning and I was pleased that it actually fell on a day where I could take advantage of it for once!

Thos shots will appear here in due course, although I expect the snow will have become memory by the time they do.

Chroma 4×5. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 & Fomapan 100. Fomadon R09 1+50 9 mins @ 20°

Taken 4 March 2023.

Where the Trans Pennine Trail crosses the Don

Just downstream from Sprotbrough, the Trans Pennine Trail crosses the River Don on this former railway bridge.

While I wish I’d had better light, the riveted structure still manages to be an interesting subject, and the large format negative really captures the detail.

Chroma 4×5. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 & Fomapan 100. Fomadon R09 1+50 9 mins @ 20°

Taken 4 March 2023.

Across the Moss once more

Here’s another photo of a bridge crossing the River Moss (as I mentioned the other day). I took this photo just after my wallaby / kangaroo encounter (see here if you want to find out about that) and regaled a couple of other people with the tale of my unexpected encounter.

I had pretty high hopes for this photograph. I’d switched from black and white film to some Kodak Gold by this time and, while the light was dim due to the fog and the tree cover, the camera was tripod mounted and the composition was nice.

Sadly this roll of film is one that Negative Lab Pro (or perhaps me, as the user) struggled with – usually Negative Lab Pro works a treat, and I’ve had no issue with it converting Gold in the past. It could be the fact that I’m scanning on a V700 rather than a V550, but I’m not really sure. A couple of the colour images look ok, but many of them had a nasty green and purple cast to them that I was unable to remove. In the end I decided to cut my losses and convert them to black and white using Lightroom. Happily all the shots I converted suit the monochrome treatment pretty well.

I still have the un-converted RAW DNG scans so I may yet re-visit them to see if I have more luck with a further attempt but, for now at least, some of this roll will be sans colour.

Fujica GW690 & Kodak Gold (converted to B&W in Lightroom).

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.

Low arches or high water?

Another photgraph taken at Ulley Reservoir on Christmas Eve. It was the first time I’d ever taken this road around the edge of the water and so I’ve never seen this viewpoint of the bridge where it crosses this part of the reservoir. I’m not sure if the water level was particularly high, or if those arches are designed to leave such little space beneath the roadway. No-one is going to be taking a boat under them, that’s for sure!

Again, due to my tripod-plate mishap, this was another picture shot at a lowere shutter speed and wider aperture than I’d have liked.

Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+ . Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken on 24 December 2022.

Packhorse bridge at Bakewell

Today’s photo is of Holme Bridge in Bakewell, a gritstone packhorse bridge spanning the Rivey Wye whose construction dates to 1664.

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 & Kodak Yri-X (expired 2013). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°

Taken on 1 November 2022.

Bakewell bridge and willow

The bridge that carries the A619 Baslow Road across the River Wye at Bakewell can be quite frustrating to photograph. It’s an attractive structure but, due to it carrying traffic on one of the main routes into and through the town, along with the popularity of the place as a tourist trap, it can be difficult to catch a moment where some vehicle isn’t raising it’s distracting head above the top of the walls. I’ve nearly managed to avoid it in the picture published here today. But not quite. If you look carefully there’s a van peeping into view. Not a bad picture though and I have almost the exact same composition to come in a future post, but this time on 6×45 and in colour.

Olympus XA3 & Ilford Delta 400 . Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°

Taken on 1 November 2022

Tinsley viaduct

The Tinsley viaduct has been a feature of Sheffield since 1968, carrying the M1 motorway across the Don Vally to the east of the city. It was unusual at the time for being one of the first two level road bridges of its kind. Until 2008 the viaduct had a fellow landmark in the shape of the two cooling towers of Blackburn Meadows power station. The power station remains, albeit in a new form, but the towers were demolished – to much local consternation from people who didn’t want to lose a landmark that indicated they were almost back home following a journey, and which was felt to be an intrinsic part of the city’s identity. The twin cooling towers can still be found on items of Sheffield memorabilia despite the fact they are no longer in existence.

To the west of the viaduct – towards Sheffield – would have been the site of much heavy industry when it opened but the most noticeable feature now is probably the large Meadowhall shopping mall.

Fujica GW690 & Fujicolor Pro 400H. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 22 October 2022.

Pretty big thing

Although it doesn’t really look it from this photograph, the distribution centre for online fashion retaile, Pretty Little Thing is huge. They’ve gone for that “try to make it blend in with the sky” colour scheme that I’ve seen on a number of similar facilites, though I’m not convinced it works.

Olympus Trip 35 & Kodak Colorplus. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 23 September 2022.

Further views of Monsal Dale

I think that today’s three photos will be the last of the batch from my trip to Monsal Dale (and Asford-in-the-Water). I have a few more images but none that really stand out as worth posting here. For some reason a number of frames from this roll came out a little underexposed – I’m not sure if it was the way the XA3 metered the scenes, or (more likely) that I under-developed them or something. Nonetheless, I’ve managed to get them looking pretty nice (if a bit grainy), I think.

Olympus XA3 & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.

Taken on 19 April 2022