Category: Black & white

Monochrome Monday… Trent Lock

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Barges on the Cranfleet Canal, February 2018Barges on the Cranfleet Canal, February 2018
Nikon FE2, Nikkor 35mm f/2 – 1/125s, f8, – Lomo Lady Grey 400 rated at ISO 320

Trent Lock is a major canal navigation junction on the borders of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, south of Long Eaton. Here the 11½ mile Erewash Canal from Langle Mill and the River Soar meet the River Trent. The Cranfleet Canal (or ‘Cut’) allows boats to access the Trent heading downstream/east (avoiding a weir) and boats heading upstream/west soon arrive at the beginning of the Trent & Mersey Canal at Derwent Mouth, the point at which the River Derwent flows into the Trent.

Trinity, Erewash Canal, February 2018Trinity, Erewash Canal, February 2018
Nikon FE2, Nikkor 35mm f/2 – 1/125s, f8, – Lomo Lady Grey 400 rated at ISO 320

The area is still home to a couple of boatyards and a dry dock facility is available on the Erewash Canal immediately north of lock no.60 (the last lock before the River Trent). Visitors can also enjoy the Lock House Tea Rooms and the Trent Lock and Steamboat Inn public houses… (the food and beer in the latter being particularly good!)

Erewash Canal, February 2018Erewash Canal, February 2018
Nikon FE2, Nikkor 35mm f/2 – 1/125s, f8, – Lomo Lady Grey 400 rated at ISO 320

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

Single frame… Café.Bar.

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Café.Bar.Café.Bar. Nottingham, December 2017
Nikon FE2, Nikkor 45mm f/2.8P – 1/1000s, f4, – Lomo Lady Grey 400 rated at ISO 320

A snapshot taken while passing the Nottingham Contemporary art centre in the Lace Market area of Nottingham. I must confess that I’ve never been inside the building but funnily enough have managed to enter the deconsecrated church next door that’s now the Pitcher & Piano pub!

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

Single frame… Canal Cottage

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Canal Cottage, February 2018Canal Cottage, February 2018
Canon Sure Shot Sleek, – Kentmere 400

This cottage stands beside the Cromford Canal in Derbyshire, at the point where the ‘Nightingale Arm’ meets the main canal. Built by Florence Nightingale’s uncle the arm served a lead smelter at the village of Lea Bridge. Known as ‘Aqueduct Cottage’ (due to the proximity of the Leawood Aqueduct over the River Derwent) it was originally home to the Nightingale Arm’s lengthsman (the worker responsible for the maintenance and repair of a section of canal).

Another shot from my first roll of Kentmere 400 film, one of three that was a Christmas present from my wife, the Canon Sure Shot Sleek was yet another charity shop find.

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

Monochrome Monday… The Gallery Café, January 2018

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The Gallery Café, January 2018The Gallery Café, January 2018
Pentax MZ-30 + SMC-A 28mm f/2.8 – 1/45s, f4, – Kodak T400CN

One of my projects for 2018 is to become more comfortable with street photography, a genre I’ve never had much success with (one of many if truth be told…)

This is one of my recent attempts, taken in the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield during a trip to view the exhibition of images from last year’s Photo Marathon Sheffield.

With hindsight a camera with a waist-level viewfinder might be a better bet for future attempts… less obvious than holding an SLR to the eye.

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

Single frame… Kodak T-Max P3200

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Eddy Morton, The Fishpond, 1999Eddy Morton, The Fishpond, 1999
Nikon F-801s or F90X, AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 or AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 – Kodak T-Max P3200

Following Kodak’s announcement yesterday that the much-missed black & white film T-Max P3200 is to make a return I thought I’d post another pic shot on that film… (for others see here and here).

This is what I mainly used it for, concert photography… In this case Eddy Morton performing with The Bushburys at The Fishpond in Matlock Bath back in 1999.

I’ve got no notes regarding development but do know that the film was rated at box speed and remember the negatives being surprisingly easy to print.

I’ll definitely be ordering a few rolls…

Monochrome Monday… Turntable

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Turntable, February 2018Turntable, February 2018
Pentax MZ-30 + 35-80mm f/4~5.6 FA at 35mm – 1/180s, f8, – Kodak T400CN

Another shot from the Midland Railway-Butterley in Derbyshire, this time taken on my last roll of the much missed Kodak T400CN film.

The turntable was used to turn steam locomotives at Chinley railway station (also in Derbyshire) and is a 60ft diameter, hand-operated type built by the Midland Railway. It was dismantled in 1973 and stored for a number of years before arriving at the MR-B’s Swanwick Junction site in 1981. Sadly, 37 years later it is still awaiting reconstruction…

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

Monochrome Monday… Tin Tabernacle, February 2018

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Tin Tabernacle, February 2018Tin Tabernacle, February 2018
Canon Sure Shot Sleek, – Kentmere 400

A shot from my first roll of Kentmere 400 film, one of three that was a Christmas present from my wife, the Canon Sure Shot Sleek was yet another charity shop find.

St Saviour’s Church dates from 1898 and was originally built with support from the Midland Railway in Westhouses, Derbyshire, a village that grew up around the company’s locomotive shed there.

Now relocated to Swanwick Junction station at the Midland Railway-Butterley in Derbyshire, the ‘Tin Tabernacle’ is now used for various events including the occasional wedding blessing.

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

Single frame… Leawood Pumphouse

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Leawood Pumphouse, January 2018Leawood Pumphouse, January 2018
Fujifilm X-T1, Fujinon XF 18-135mm f3.5~5.6 R LM OIS WR at 24mm, 1/105s, f8, ISO 400

Leawood Pumphouse was built in 1849 to supply water to the Cromford Canal in Derbyshire. A Watt-type beam engine draws water from the River Derwent through a 150 yard tunnel to a reservoir in the basement and then up 30 feet and into the canal.

The pump’s piston has a diameter of 50 inches, a stroke of 10 feet and works at seven strokes per minute and is capable of moving 39,000 tons of water in 24 hours! The immense size of the pump is due to the fact that there were restrictions on removing water from the river, doing so was only allowed between 8pm on Saturdays and 8pm on Sundays.

The pump house closed along with the canal in 1944 but it was restored in 1979 and is regularly steamed.