Down at the bottom end of Woodhouse Washlands there is an oxbow lake. It’s actually not much of a “bow”, more a strip of water which lies maybe fift to a hundred or so metres from the current course of the River Rother.
A tree stands at the edge of the water – a willow, I think – and is the subject of today’s photograph. The fog masks so much in this scene which, in clear conditions, would reveal houses and other structures on the valley side in the distance beyond the tree. Thank you fog.
It’s been a while since I posted a power-lines picture I think, so let me rectify that. If you’ve read this blog for a while you’ll perhaps realise that I find pylons and power lines an appealing choice of subject matter. Not to the extent that I go looking for them purposefully, but they often draw my eye. This pylon, stood like some metallic sentinel on the foggy and frosty Woodhouse Washlands certainly caught my attention.
I took myself off for a trip to the seaside today. I don’t often tend to go there on cold January days, but I figured that a change of scene would get my creative juices flowing (plus I could eat some fish and chips while looking out at the sea…). The day was sunny and bright, but bittely cold with chill winds – the remnants of storm Malik that was now headed east out to sea – so a hat, gloves and a fully zipped up jacket were a definite necessity. I’m feeling tired now, and ready to hit the shower when I finish typing this, but my belly is full of my fish and chip dinner, and I have two rolls of 35mm film to be developed, so the day counts as a success. The pictures will turn up here in a bit, although I’ve got two other rolls of stuff to root through before that happens. It’s nice to be back in the black again, photographically speaking.
I’ve spent this afternoon developing a roll of Ilford FP4+ that I shot last weekend, and also scanning a roll of Fujichrome Provia 100 that I also shot suring the same session (but which I had developed by my local lab as I don’t have the gear for developing E6). I’m pretty happy with the Provia scans, and they’ll start to appear on here after the weekend. The FP4+ negatives look nice too, although I can never truly tell until the scan appears before my eyes.
Today’s photo is another from the foggy morning’s walk a few weeks ago and was shot beneath the viaduct that featured on the blog a couple of days ago.
This pollarded tree has featured on the blog at least once before (and probably more times, but this is the only one that my quick search pulled up). It’s usually difficult tophotograph in isolation due to all the surrounding elements. There are other trees close by that can creep into the shot and cause background distraction, there are power lines and pylons in the area, a concrete viaduct spanning the valley, and older brick railway viaduct, plus a whole bunch of industrial units on the valley side. It’s still possible to get interesting pictures, but you generally have to work the other elements into the shot.
On foggy days though most of these things fade away. There’s sight of some of the other trees in this shot, plus the vague lines and shapes of the power lines and some factory buildings, but the fog serves to mostly obscure them.
I shot this roll of HP5+ at 1600asa and pushed it in development as the light was very dim. There is added grain in the resulting images and perhaps a little more contrast, but I think they serve to add some grit to the pictures.
Two quite similar photos today, both of the A57 viaduct where it crosses the River Rother and railway lines. There was thick fog on the morning they were shot and it just disappeared into the blankness. I’m not sure which of the two I prefer though. I like the composition of the first, which is quite clean and layered, but I like the interest of the foreground grasses in the second (although they’re maybe a little messy). Anyway, both here to see, whichever you prefer.
It’s not really inconvenient, it’s just that it was closed at the time I took this picture.
I think the place opens a little later in the morning and then stays open until late in the evening, so actually pretty convenient. It’s not a place I use often and isn’t that close to where I live, but it accepts parcel returns so it’s very useful in that regard. I didn’t set out with the intent of photographing the store – I was heading out to the washlands to get some foggy-morning pictures – but it caught my eye as I drove past and so here it is.
A photo I took on a walk around Eckington just before Christmas.
Shortly before I took this photo, a day or so prior (it might even have been the evening before) one of my sons went to a birthday party held at a cricket club that is located about half a mile up the road on the left in this picture. It was extremely foggy on the evening – pretty much a wall of blankness in front of the car as soon as the streetlights were left behind. While I love fog as a weather condition where photography is concerned, I’m definitely less inclined towards it when it comes to night driving…
Olympus XA3 & Kodak Tri-X Pan (expired 2003 – shot at box speed and pushed a stop in development). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
The weekend befoe Christmas, we went to visit a Christmas market in the town of Matlock – about a half-hour’s drive away. My eldest and his girlfriend came along and, despite it being a somewhat gloomy day (with heavy fog on the hills), and the market not being as big as we expected, we had a nice few hours wandering around, topped off with some takeaway fish and chips.
I took my XA3 in my coat pocket and managed to grab a number of pictures in the misty winter conditions, including this one of the bowling green in the park where the market was taking place. No-one was out playng bowls on the day.
I remember Crown Green Bowls being a regular fixture on TV when I was younger, although I never had any interest in it, but I’m not sure if it’s still shown these days – maybe on a dedicated sports channel I suppose? I’ve only played the game (which you can find described here) on a few occasions and, as I and my friends were young and foolish at the time, I recall it mainly involved us mischieviously larking about trying to collide with other player’s bowls in the middle of the green than playing it properly.
Olympus XA3 & Kodak Tri-X Pan (expired 2003 – shot at box speed and pushed a stop in development). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°
I’m nearing the end of this roll of misty pictures now. Maybe a couple more day’s worth to get out of it. I guess I’d better get scanning my next roll before I run out of stuff…
Beside one of the footpaths in Padley gorge stands the remains of a twisted tree. Little more of the trunk is left but it’s something of a focal point on the path as the wood is embedded with hundreds (or more) coins which have been hammered into the surface and bent over (or perhaps they were bent over before they were knocked in). The result is an odd and intriguing texture that resembles the scales of some beast, like a serpent or a dragon.
The effect is even more pronounced when viewed from the right point of view as the broken tip of the trunk resembles a horned face (or I think it does anyway). On this day it had a conifer branch leant against it giving it a slightly festive air given it was a couple of days before Christmas.
Steel City Snapper photography 