In lieu of any content here’s a picture of a fern in Nottingham’s arboretum. Lots of stuff on at the moment with M208 TMA03, 2 audax gps routes to sort out (Lincolnshire Cross 200km, and “Moors and Wolds” 400km and lots of chances to spend longer than expected at work have contrived to make life a bit duller than expected. Hopefully sorting out the first 2 of those will provide some interesting posts, and unless I really want to become know for Dynamics CRM and SQL Server clustering, I’ll keep the last one to myself.
A photo from last year during a particularly wet night in nottingham, almost thought I’d broken my 50mm lens but thankfully it just needed a good drying out back at home.
This is one the reasons I’m moving Lightroom-wards. I scan my negatives in to 16-bit uncompressed TIFFs, which means Bibble won’t take them. So I end up having to work on them in Photoshop, which is fine for the images that need a lot of work, but most of the time I just want to adjust levels and curves and go.
Taken with a Canon EOS 300, Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 on Ilford HP5+ 400, developed in Ilford ID-11 and scanned on an Epson v500.
So which trusted construction material do you think this is?
Despite all appearances this isn’t wood. It is in fact concrete. To be exact it’s concrete somewhere on the Royal Festival hall. Looks like someone decided the concrete montser would look better if they tried to make it look like wood.
You can see some more of the texturing in this photo:
So, it looks like they decided to use it quite liberally over the whole building.
This weekend sees a jaunt up to Infest to take some band photos, it’s been a while so hopefully I can remember which end to point at the stage. Debating whether to take the film camera as well. And then there’s always the change of getting some reportage shots as there’ll be fuckwits protesting as well in the city centre.
(photos taken with Canon EOS3, Sigma 24-70 EX 2.8 on Ilford FP4+ @125 iso, developed in Ilford DD-X and scanned on an Epson v500)
Something (most likely a squirrel) appears to have been eating on top of this wall slab somewhere in Nottingham’s Mapperly park
More playing around with FP4+, again shot at ISO 64 and developed for 125. Lots of lovely detail in the gritted edges of the slab. And the bokehed highlights at the back look nice as well.
So while waiting for the abortive attempt to visit Exposure at Tate Modern I spent the day wandering along the South bank of the Thames with cameras trying to look for something different.
The foot bridges looked interesting, but covered in people using them (this was about 3 in the afternoon). So, not wanting to wait for 13 hours for sunrise I decided to see how well multiple short exposures would work to ‘ghost’ out the walkers. From the above it seems to have worked well.
I really like the first one of the Millenium bridge. The lighting seems to have worked out nicely and I like the slightly washed out tones. And the backdrop of St Paul’s works nicely. Just a bit of a shame about the fact that the trees aren’t planted symmetrically. Everyone seems to have disappeared, apart from the gentleman in the wheelchair playing the steel drum.
Hungerford bridge turned out a bit differently, definitely a bit more claustrophobic and darker. Was actually crammed into a little nook on the bridge itself so the ‘ghosts’ are more visible. Don’t think this one is quite as sharp, but I think that’s down to a cheap tripod and a little bit of bridge vibration (I did think about doing something similar on the Millenium bridge, but standing on it and remembering it’s vibration problems I don’t think it would have worked).
Taken on a Canon EOS 3 with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 lens on Ilford FP4+ @ 125ISO, developed in ID-11 @ 1:1 and scanned on an Epson v500.
Finally they’re up. Far too much stuff on at the moment, but here’s the photos from the Wormrot gig at The Old Angel all the way back in May. Top sweaty night of grindcore.
Tried something slightly different with the PP on these and it seems to have come out nicely, almost a selenium toning effect. Thinking that might have been helped that I shot them at ISO 800 and developed for IS1600 (Oops)
Been a while since I’ve seen Screaming Banshee Aircrew play (last time may well have been supporting The March Violets a couple of years ago (Pictures). There appear to have been some lineup changes (I’m sure I remember more than 4 in the band?) and a change in sound. There definitely seems to be a bit more of an edge to their sound these days. But it still sounds good, or at least as good as it can through ear plugs 12″ from the PA (my fault not theirs).
Took the EOS 30D out for a play as well for a bit of a change, so there’s some colour this time.
Black and white pictures take on a Canon EOS 3 on Ilford HP5+ @ 1600, some with flash, some without.
Not the greatest sight in Nottingham, but I do like the contrast and tones in this one. Would have been nice not to have to shadow cast by the central nut, but I didn’t have a flash on me and the EOS 3 doesn’t have a built in.
Wonder how this would work with filters? Another plan at some point is to head out with the tripod to find a suitable test subject and then work through trying out lots of filters to see exactly what they do. I’ve tried a red filter a couple of times, but it doesn’t seem to have made a major difference, which isn’t what I was expecting.
Canon EOS 3, Canon EF 50mm f/1.4, Ilford HP5+ @ ISO 400, developed in DD-X, scanned on an Epson V500
Another evening back at Nottingham’s Old Angel, with the camera in tow. This time to catch Merciless Terror tearing up the stage. In fact, fast enough that I could barely focus, so not too many keepers out of the lot.
Hopefully there are some more Angel shot’s to come from Wormrot’s nottingham gig, but I’ve realised I’d shot them at ISO 800 and developed at ISO 1600, so we’ll have to see how they come out.
Some bits of Nottingham don’t seem to be fairing as well as others. In facts bits of the Lace market seem to be crumbling pretty rapidly. Bit of a shame really, some of the old buildings are lovely sandstone monstrosities. but it seems that the clubs (or their landlords) aren’t too bothered about keeping the exteriors in a decent condition. Quite like the batlike shape on this one, and the fact that is eating through the ‘pillars’ is nice too. Shame about the no parralel lines but i can’t quite afford a TS lens or a view camera just yet.
Canon EOS 3, Canon EF 50mm f/1.4, Ilford HP5+ @ ISO400, developed in DD-X, scanned on an Epson v500
I love the really shallow Depth of Focus I can get with 35mm film and the 50mm lens. Just lets you pick out the parts of the picture you really want to emphasise. Though going through some of the photos I do notice the EOS 300 does have a tendency to focus a little nearer than I’m wanting. I’m guessing in this case the contrast on the bricks was just too enticing for it :)
Canon EOS 300, Canon EF 50mm 1.4, Ilford HP5+, self developed with Ilford DD-X, scanned on Epson V500
So finally I’ve taken some photos with my new camera, developed them and then scanned them. Here’s the first:
Pretty happy with that. There’s definitely something satisfying about working with film. There’s the mystery about what’s actually on the film after you’ve taken the shot and the timing and skill in getting the film developed properly. It’s almost a bit of an anticlimax once it’s been scanned, just a little bit of levels and sharpening to get over the film->image artifacts and it’s all done.
Anyway, a little bit of Nottingham urban decay with a tagged switch box at the top of the Forest Recreation ground. Not the most original compositions but the bright white tag caught my eye nestling in the trees.
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