Single frame… Carr Wood, January 2021

Carr Wood, January 2021Carr Wood, January 2021
Minolta X-700, MC W.ROKKOR 28mm f/2.8, 1/60s, f4 – Ilford HP5 Plus rated at ISO 320
Developed in Ilford DDX at 1:4, 9 mins at 20°c.

Another shot from the (correctly) repaired Minolta X-700, this time using a lens I’ve had squirelled away for a while. The MC W.ROKKOR 28mm f/2.8 was one of a pair of Minolta lenses found in a charity shop a couple of years ago for a measly £10 (the other is a MC ROKKOR-PF 50mm f/2) and it’s finally getting used!

Digitised using Nikon D5500 & AF-S Micro-NIKKOR 40mm f/2.8, pixl-latr and Negative Lab Pro plugin with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.

Single frame… To err is human…

Chevrolet 3100 truckChevrolet 3100 truck
Minolta X-700, MD ZOOM 35-70mm f/3.5 at 70mm, 1/60s, f8, – Ilford HP5 Plus rated at ISO 320
Developed in Ilford DDX at 1:4, 9 mins at 20°c.

All photographers make mistakes.

Over the years I’ve made plenty but this is a new one for me… A couple of years ago I acquired a Minolta X-700 that was missing its focusing screen and just before Christmas I finally got hold of, and fitted, a replacement.

All seemed to be going swimmingly until I took the camera out of my bag and before putting it to my eye noticed the focusing ring was set to infinity… so why was my (distant) subject totally out of focus? I twiddled the focusing ring, my subject sharpened but now the lens was set to its minimum focusing distance, something was definitely wrong!

I eventually worked out I’d fitted the new screen upside down! 🙄

Two minutes with a pair of tweezers and we were back in business! 😊

Carr Wood, January 2021Carr Wood, January 2021
Minolta X-700, MD ZOOM 35-70mm f/3.5 at 70mm, 1/60s, f8; – Ilford HP5 Plus rated at ISO 320
Developed in Ilford DDX at 1:4, 9 mins at 20°c.

Digitised using Nikon D5500 & AF-S Micro-NIKKOR 40mm f/2.8, pixl-latr and Negative Lab Pro plugin with minimal cropping and tweaking in Lightroom Classic CC.

Monochrome Monday… Railway Viaduct, Mansfield

Railway Viaduct, MansfieldRailway Viaduct, Mansfield
Konica Big Mini – Ilford HP5+

A pic from the archives today… This railway viaduct spans the Nottinghamshire town of Mansfield and has featured here before.

I love the sense of scale provided by the gent sitting on the bench in the sunshine.

The Konica Big Mini is one of my all-time favourite compact cameras, it’s currently loaded with JCH Street Pan 400 film and is often in my pocket…

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

Monochrome Monday… National Coal Board Fife Area No.19

National Coal Board Fife Area No.19National Coal Board Fife Area No.19
Nikon F3HP, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI-S – 1/60s, f8, – Ilford HP5+ rated at ISO 320

This Hunslet Engine Co Ltd ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST locomotive was built in 1954 for the National Coal Board (NCB) and spent its entire working life in Fife, first at Michael Colliery and then at Comrie Colliery until the latter’s closure in 1986 when it was purchased by the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway (B&KR).

I only took one pic of the loco during my visit to a steam gala at Bo’ness in November 2018, I was too busy riding up and down behind it!

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

Monochrome Monday… Mossdale

MossdaleMossdale
Nikon FA, Nikkor 85mm f/2 AI-S – 1/125s, f2.8, – Ilford HP5 Plus rated at ISO 320

Mossdale is a wooden ‘Mersey Flat’ cargo vessel, built in 1860 by William Speakman of Chester and is currently undergoing restoration at the National Waterways Museum (NWM).

Originally owned by the Shropshire Union Canal Company and named Ruby she often unloaded her cargoes of general goods, grain and margerine at Ellesmere Port where she was eventually found abandoned in 1970.

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

Monochrome Monday… Holy Island, September 1998

Holy Island, September 1998Holy Island, September 1998
Contax G1, Carl Zeiss T* Biogon 28mm f/2.8 – Ilford HP5 Plus

Saturday saw another madcap round trip to Scotland so that my pal Mark could go to a football match, this time in Edinburgh.

The journey gave us good views of the Holy Island of Lindisfarne and that reminded me that somewhere I’d got some black & white pics taken there in 1998 (filed away so safely that it’s taken me all afternoon to find them!)

The couple of days I spent on the island were marred by awful weather and the negatives are lacking in contrast, something I could’ve improved upon had I processed the film myself…

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

Monochrome Monday… ‘Purveyors of High Class Meat’

Purveyors of High Class MeatPurveyors of High Class Meat
Olympus OM-2 Spot/Program, F-Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 – 1/125s, f8 – Ilford HP5 Plus rated at ISO 640

A fantastic ‘ghost’ sign, spotted in Belper, Derbyshire in January this year… Although now a kitchen and bathroom showroom I do vaguely remember this building being a butcher’s shop.

Another image from the first roll of film through my Olympus OM-2 Spot/Program.

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