Monochrome Monday… Middleton Top

Middleton Top, January 2020Middleton Top, January 2020
Nikon F, Nikkor-S.C. 50mm f/1.4, 1/125s, f8, Kodak Tri-X rated at ISO 200
Developed in Ilfosol 3 at 1:9, 7½ mins at 20°c.

Another image from the roll of Kodak Tri-X shot in a borrowed Nikon F…

Middleton Top engine house (in the background here) houses a preserved steam engine that used to haul railway wagons up the 708-yard long, 1 in 8&frac12 gradient Middleton Incline on the Cromford & High Peak Railway (C&HPR) that linked the Cromford Canal at High Peak Junction and the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge. The incline closed in 1963, with the rest of the line following suit in 1967 and the trackbed now forms The High Peak Trail.

The railway wagon stands at the top of the incline and is VERY securely chained down to the track!

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

Monochrome Monday… Ruined cottage, Derbyshire

Ruined cottage, Derbyshire, January 2020Ruined cottage, Derbyshire, January 2020
Nikon F, Nikkor-S.C. 50mm f/1.4, 1/250s, f8, Kodak Tri-X rated at ISO 200
Developed in Ilfosol 3 at 1:9, 7½ mins at 20°c.

I’m fortunate enough to have been loaned a beautiful Nikon F and Nikkor-S.C. 50mm f/1.4 lens (thanks Simon!) and I’ve been shooting some Kodak Tri-X with it.

This cottage is about a 20 minute drive from home and I’ve been meaning to photograph it for a while…

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

Monochrome Monday… Spiral staircase

Spiral staircase, New Year's Day 2020Spiral staircase, New Year’s Day 2020
Fujica GW690 – 1/30s, f4, – Kodak T-Max 400
Developed in Ilfosol 3 at 1:9, 6 mins at 20°c.

I’ve been developing film again… a roll of Kodak T-Max 400 that had been hanging around for a couple of weeks until I plucked up the courage to wrestle it into a developing tank (I find 120 film so much more fiddly to feed onto a spiral than 35mm).

I’m chuffed to bits with the results, especially considering the grotty weather the film was shot in on New Year’s Day!

Epson 4870 Photo scan with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.

Monochrome Monday… Marie, Isle of Whithorn, October 2019

Marie, Isle of Whithorn, October 2019Marie, Isle of Whithorn, October 2019
Fujica GW690 + Y15 yellow filter – 1/250s, f11, – Kodak T-Max 400

Another Fujica GW690/Kodak T-Max 400/Y15 filter image from last year’s Scottish holiday…

Taken during a gentle stroll around the village between a full Scottish breakfast and a lunchtime pint at The Steam Packet Inn… Now that’s a holiday!

Epson 4870 Photo scan with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.

A few frames from… Expired Film Day 2019

Yachts, Bridlington, March 2019Yachts, Bridlington, March 2019
Olympus μ [mju:] – II – Kodak Gold 100 (expired 1996) rated at ISO 25

A very quick post today as I’m off to Bridlington tonight to see The Red Hot Chilli Pipers perform at the Spa!

Back in March one of mine and Rachel’s ‘Photography Friday’ jaunts coincided with Expired Film Day and these images were taken on a very battered Olympus μ [mju:] – II compact camera that I managed to pick up in a charity shop a few weeks before for a mere £1.95!

I was pleasantly surprised by how well these films performed, especially the Fuji Super G Plus 200 that was 22 years out of date!

Shark SelfieShark Selfie
Olympus μ [mju:] – II – Fuji Super G Plus (expired 1997) rated at ISO 50

Single frame… Narrow boats on the Macclesfield Canal, Marple, July 2019

Narrow boats on the Macclesfield Canal, Marple, July 2019.jpgNarrow boats on the Macclesfield Canal, Marple, July 2019
Fujica GW690 – Exposure unrecorded, – Kodak Ektar rated at ISO 64

I haven’t posted anything shot on my (borrowed) Fujica GW 690 for a while but yesterday I had six sets of negatives arrive in the post from Ag Photo Lab so here you are!

The narrow boat chugging its way along the Macclesfield Canal at Marple has just come off the Peak Forest Canal (which is on the other side of the bridge in the background) but whether it had traversed the 16 lock Marple Flight or not I don’t know…

Epson 4870 Photo scan with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.

Monochrome Monday… Lone tree, North Yorkshire

Lone tree, North Yorkshire-19970917aLone tree, North Yorkshire
Nikon F-801s, Tokina 20-35mm f/3.3-4.5 – Kodak T-Max P3200

This lone tree featured on the blog in April 2018 in an image dating from 1999. Today’s images were taken during my first visit to Malham two years prior to that in September 1997.

The few notes I took at the time don’t mention it but I vaguely remember using a red filter on the (borrowed) Tokina 20-35mm lens. I also remember repeatedly dislodging the lens hood so quite a few of the images shot with this lens suffer from uneven vignetting…

Lone tree, North Yorkshire-19970917bLone tree, North Yorkshire
Nikon F-801s, Tokina 20-35mm f/3.3-4.5 – Kodak T-Max P3200

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

Square Saturday… Jervaulx Abbey, May 1998

Jervaulx Abbey, May 1998Jervaulx Abbey, May 1998
Minolta Autocord – Kodak T-Max T400CN

I spent a few years (what seems like a lifetime ago now) working in the photographic retail trade and one of the ‘perks’ was the occasional loan of equipment that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to get my grubby little mitts on!

To be honest I’d completely forgotten ever using a Minolta Autocord until I found a sheet of negatives earlier this week but unfortunately I have no idea which model it was.

Jervaulx Abbey is somewhere I really should return to, it’s a beautiful, tranquil place in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.

I think this is the remains of the Monk’s Infirmary, on the south east corner of the site (I really need to keep better notes!).

Epson 4870 Photo scan with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.