Throwback Thursday… Fellows Morton & Clayton Ltd/The Canalhouse

Fellows Morton & Clayton LtdFellows Morton & Clayton Ltd
Nikon D300, AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR at 42mm, 1/640s, f5.6, ISO 200

What was I photographing on this day in previous years?

10 years ago it was The Canalhouse, a pub occupying the lower floors of the former canal museum in Nottingham. I believe it’s the only canalside pub in Britain where the canal itself (The Beeston Canal) actually enters the building!

Fellows Morton & Clayton Ltd was, for much of the early 20th century, the largest and best-known canal transportation company in England. They went into liquidation in 1948 but the name lives on in a smaller pub next door to The Canalhouse.

Monochrome Monday… Calver Weir

Calver Weir, March 2020Calver Weir, March 2020
Nikon FE, Nikkor 50mm f/2, 1/250s, f11 – Kentmere 400
Developed in Ilford DDX at 1:4, 11½ mins at 20°c.

Another image from the recent roll of Kentmere 400 I used to test a Nikon FE.

Calver Weir on the River Derwent in the Peak District, photographed during a ‘Photography Friday’ walk with Rachel a few weeks back (although it seems like forever ago now…)

Nikon COOLSCAN IV ED scan with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day… Crich Memorial Tower

Crich Memorial Tower-20190428cCrich Memorial Tower, April 2019
Fujifilm X-T10, thingyfy 11mm Pinhole Pro S, 0.4s, f79, ISO 200

Another image taken with my thingyfy Pinhole Pro S ‘lens’.

An image from last year’s Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. This is Crich Stand, a memorial tower dedicated to the memory of the soldiers from the Sherwood Foresters Regiment who died in World War I and World War II*.

In the current situation I’m not sure I’ll get chance to shoot any pinhole images on WPPD (which is today) this year…

*The memorial is also dedicated to those who died serving in the Sherwood Foresters Regiment from 1945 to 1970, the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment from 1970 to 2007 and the Mercian Regiment since 2007.

Monochrome Monday… Land Rover

Land RoverLand Rover
Nikon FE, Nikkor 50mm f/2, 1/250s, f8½ – Kentmere 400
Developed in Ilford DDX at 1:4, 11½ mins at 20°c.

This Land Rover Discovery has been in bits for a few months now and I’d been meaning to photograph it for a while, finally doing so a couple of days before the Coronavirus lockdown began… It was also the last shot on a roll of Kentmere 400 film that I was testing a recently acquired Nikon FE with.

This is the first roll of Kentmere that I’ve developed in Ilford DDX and I rather like the results, much more contrast and seemingly finer grain than with my usual developer, Ilfosol 3.

Nikon COOLSCAN IV ED scan with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.

Throwback Thursday… Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)
Nikon Coolpix 885, Zoom-Nikkor 8-24mm f/2.8-4.9 at 24mm, 1/250s, f4.9, ISO 100

What was I photographing on this day in previous years?

17 years ago it was this Small Tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae). The pic isn’t wonderful quality but I think this was the first time I’d composed an image on a LCD screen at arm’s length to avoid disturbing a skittish subject…

A 3.2-megapixel sensor is laughable these days but in 2003 the Nikon Coolpix 885 (replaced in October 2002 by the 4-megapixel Coolpix 4300) was still regarded as a very capable camera!

Born on this day – Robert Doisneau

‘I like people for their weaknesses and faults. I get on well with ordinary people. We talk. We start with the weather, and little by little we get to the important things. When I photograph them it is not as if I were examining them with a magnifying class, like a cold and scientific observer. It’s very brotherly. And it’s better, isn’t it, to shed some light on those people who are never in the limelight.’

Robert Doisneau (French photographer) – April 14, 1912 – April 1, 1994.

Slide Film Sunday… Chevrolet 3100 Pickup

1956 Chevrolet 3100 pickup1956 Chevrolet 3100 pickup
Nikon F75, AF Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6D at 50mm, 1/160s, f11, Kodak Ektachrome E100

I hadn’t used slide film in almost 20 years until I bought a couple of rolls of Kodak Ektachrome E100 from Analogue Wonderland last summer.

This gleaming 1956 Chevrolet 3100 pickup was photographed at MFN‘s ‘American ‘n’ Classic Car ‘n’ Truck ‘n’ Bike’ show in August on the fantastically compact and lightweight Nikon F75 SLR fitted with the very underrated AF Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6D lens…

I loved the results from the Ektachrome, the images are sharp, contrasty and so very colourful, hopefully I’ll be able to shoot some more this summer!

Scan by AgLab with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.