A strange few weeks and 11 years blogging on WordPress

09-09-25

Three weeks ago last Sunday evening I fed my cat Claude and Henrietta, (the homeless cat) that I let come into the house to sleep if she wants to. The next morning (Monday) there wasn’t any sign of the cats, didn’t think too much about it as I thought they would be somewhere in the garden. I started to worry when by the evening they hadn’t put in an appearance. By Thursday they still hadn’t returned, I had asked around and called out for them in the garden, I was getting quite stressed and upset. I let it be known that I would be contacting Cats Protection, the RSPCA and the Police. Friday I went to the Social club to drown my sorrows and then on to a couple of bars with some friends. Wobbled back home on autopilot and went to bed. At 2am I heard the cat door, rushed down stairs and there was Claude closely followed by Henrietta. They both looked OK and unharmed, sat up until 3am with them. To say I was relieved would be an understatement. I have an idea what happened to them but this isn’t the platform to go into detail.

Claude slept a lot after his adventure.

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There’s something down there, Claude there isn’t.

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Henrietta, floof ball.

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Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!

You registered on WordPress.com 11 years ago.

Can’t believe I have been blogging for 11 years. Now that things have settled down with the cats (and me) I will hopefully be posting more regularly.

Chinon Bellami #1

12-08-25

This is only the second roll of film I’ve put through this camera, a roll of Kodacolor Plus 200, expired in 2019. I bought the camera at least 10years ago, think it cost me £12.00p or thereabouts. The lens trim ring is missing, but it works as it should. The wind on lever doubles up to open and close the barn doors that protect the lens, a nice 35mm F2.8, with manual focussing and a snapshot click stop marked in Green at 10 feet / 3 meters. It needs 2xSR44 button cells to work.

Glowing Tree.

All the images were taken on my walks, mainly to the social club. The film showed strong colour shifts and it was a bit of a ‘B’ to get the images to look ok. I normally scan with the Nikon scanner set to neutral, although it does have lots of adjustments and I had to use a few of them for this film. Probably didn’t help that I loaded this film into the camera in October2024 and it wasn’t developed until April 2025.

Liked the colours on these two.

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Pampas Grass.

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Autumnal alley way.

Lately I’ve had to engage autopilot on my way back from the social club and nearby bars. I keep meeting up with people I haven’t seen for ages, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

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Autumn Reds.

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PS. The album sleeve the camera is resting on is a 1967 mono recording titled OPEN, by Julie Driscoll, it has an amazing version of the Donavan song “Season Of The Witch.

Pentax Espio Mini #2

08-07-25

A few more images from the little Pentax Espio. Been trying to sort my garden out, but at the moment the garden is winning, hence the delay in posting. Also the weather has been really warm, hovering around 30deg over the last few weeks. My house gets the sun at the back for most of the day so I haven’t been sleeping too well. This has meant having to force myself to go and see lots of local bands and drink beer to cool me down and replenish lost body moisture.

Ghost sign spotted on the way to the pub !

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And another, this must have been an off licence at some time.

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The weather forecast for the next few days is hot again, so I guess I’ll be doing a good impersonation of a cast member from a zombie film.

Life drawing class.

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Look out, there’s a monster coming.

When I saw this it reminded me of an old Bonzo Dog song “Look out there’s a monster coming”

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The lovely Claude.

Used the built in flash for this one, really pleased with the result.

The cats have been sensibly hiding away in the shade to keep cool, only saw Claude late evening or when he was hungry. Been feeding them plenty of wet food and yogurt cat treats cooled in the fridge.

Pentax Espio Mini #1

22-06-25

I bought this little Pentax about 15 years ago, it’s in really good condition. They have gained a bit of a cult following now and the prices for them are quite high for what it is.

Well it’s been a while since I’ve posted on the blog. I have been taking photos but at a slower pace than normal, due to catching another virus that made my muscles feel like lead weights, and a lack of wanting to eat, great for the waistline, even managed to get into a pair of my old 32 inch waist jeans. Added to that the weather in the first half of this year was pretty grim in my part of the UK. So I loaded it up with a roll of expired Ilford HP5, that was in October 2024 and finished it in March 2025 !

It has a faux panoramic mode, so I thought i would give it a try . One of the few bright days.

The panoramic mode just masks part of the image frame, and a mask in the viewfinder shows the area that will be captured. This is helped by it having a semi wideangle 32mm lens.

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Waiting in the Gelato queue, it was very tasty.

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What to photograph when the weather is not so good and you are on the way to the pub, street furniture I thought.

GAS

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Sign of the times.

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Almost Hollywood

There will be more images to come.

Visit to Nottingham and the Make It Easy Photo Lab

01-05-25

14th March 2025, the first proper PhotoBuddies outing for sometime. I wanted to travel light so took along my old Sony S80 digital, and a basic Agfa 120 film camera.

It only takes about 25 mins to get to Nottingham from my hometown. Luckily the weather was good.

1st stop, East Midlands Parkway, and a decommissioned power station.

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Nottingham Station.

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Managed to get an unposed shot of one of my photobuddies. We have been friends for a long time, both of us starting at Printing college in 1970, training in Lithographic Printing and Platemaking. He had some serious surgery at the end of last year, but is making a great recovery.

The people that run the lab were really welcoming and enthusiastic, sadly they are closing the business soon and moving on to new ventures.

We then went for a short walk for Coffee and Cake in Nottingham city centre.

There is some lovely architecture in Nottingham.

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A jumble of E’s.

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Waiting for the train home.

I still have a few frames left to take on the old Agfa film camera, hopefully I can finish the roll next week if the weather stays good.

Birthday Boy

27-04-25

It’s Claude’s 4th Birthday today. He’s had lots of treats, a lot of fuss, and is outside now soaking up the sunshine on a lovely warm day.

“Happy Easter”

20-04-25

Well I managed to catch another virus the week before last, different from the last one which was Bronchial, this one made my muscles feel like lead, and my appetite totally went for 4 days, bonus being I managed to fit into a pair of 32″ waist jeans I found in the wardrobe.

Last Monday (14th) I went to Nottingham with my PhotoBuddies, I wasn’t feeling 100% but we had a great time, paid for it the next day. Took a few images which I will post next week.

Spring in the garden

The weather has been quite good over the last week, bright but cold and breezy with it. The garden is really flourishing, the Lilac trees are in bloom and the Rhododendron is starting to flower early.

The Cat gang this morning

My lovely Claude

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The Homeless Girls

I took these this morning with my old Olympus E620 and 40-150mm lens.

Springtime

27-03-25

It really felt like a spring day today, warm and breezy, next few days are forecast to be the same. So I grabbed my old Olympus E400 and 40 – 150mm lens and headed out to the garden.

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The cats were really enjoying the warmth and sunshine, the black and white one (I’ve called her Beatie) she is an absolute sweetheart with loudest purr, and the long haired tabby is Henrietta, she sleeps in the house overnight.

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Claude was out all day soaking up the sunshine, only popping in for snacks.

Monochrome Monday (Holga 120N)

10-03-25

According to the Film Trackr app, I had loaded up the Holga with this roll on the 5th of October 2023 for a walk with my two Photo Buddies, didn’t finish the roll on the day and promptly forgot about it. One of my photo buddies was quite ill in 2024, but after surgery is now making a good recovery and we are looking forward to some photowalks later in the year.

This was the first time I had used the Holga 120N (I also have a 120S) Wasn’t expecting much from it because of the plastic lens. The film I used was Rollei RPX 100 developed in BelliniFoto RDL (Rodinal) in February this year.

Abbey Park Bridge.

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The Old Bandstand

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Park Pavilion.

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Former Tree.

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I bought the camera used from that auction site for £20.00p and it came boxed with all the items in the above image. I added some light proofing and matt Black paint to parts of the inside. taped up the body catches and film window.

I really like the softness of the lens, apart from removing some dust spots and sorting out the levels, (the film was a bit under exposed) that’s all I had to do. Next time out 200 asa film I think.

Monochrome Monday

24-02-25

According to the metadata I took these images in March 2011 on my Olympus E400 DSLR at the Great Central Railway in Loughborough. An old friend of mine who is a bit (a lot) of a railway nut persuaded me to go. I am of an age where I can remember steam trains running on the national network !

Man and machine.

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Home from Home.

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Old goods wagon.

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I still use the Olympus from time to time, it was my first DSLR, and has a CCD sensor which seems to be a thing at the moment. It also has a strong anti aliasing filter so the images are quite soft straight out of camera. Olympus colours are nice, be it CCD or CMOS sensor.

I’m just finishing off a roll of film in a half frame camera, it’s taking some time mainly because the weather has been pretty awful in my part of the UK for the last 2 months.

Back in the land of the living

05-02-25

Eventually managed to shake off the Flu/Bronchitis/Covid or whatever nasty it was that decided to infect me. I’ll get a flu jab this year, have only ever had one, and that was in 1969 when the firm I worked for paid for all the staff to go to a private doctor. Felt a bit flat over the last few weeks, two of my friends have been having a bit of a tough time, and the weather hasn’t helped, been mostly dull, wet and cold. I have 3 cameras loaded with film and 2 rolls still sitting in the fridge waiting to be developed. Managed to get out to the social club a few times to see my friends band play, and met up with an old mate for a pub lunch, a nice 2.5 mile round trip. Travelled light so only took an old Sony Digicam and my phone.

Typical of the weather we have been having, the little Sony did Ok.

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Just up the road, this gallery had some very expensive art on display

I liked this piece, bit above my price range though

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It’s always worth looking up

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My poor car, well frozen

Good job I was walking to the social club that day.

Abandoned single seater mercedes AMG

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Arrived at the social club a bit early, the band were still setting up, gave me time to quietly enjoy my first pint of Cornish pale ale before the crowds arrived.

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Claude and the homeless cats are all doing well at the moment. I’ve been giving the homeless gang lots of food during this cold spell, and a lot of fuss.

Claude making the most of a bit of sunshine

“Happy Christmas”

Just a quick post to wish everyone “Happy Christmas” and “New Year”

I’m recovering from a really bad Fiu infection, was my first time out of the house for over a fortnight yesterday, a quick trip to town for some bits and pieces.

I had one really bad night with the infection, nearly called the paramedics, but Claude came up to the bedroom and made sure I was OK, bless.

I haven’t felt like taking any photographs or developing the 2 rolls of film that are sitting in the fridge, maybe next week. Hopefully be going to the social music afternoon on Friday, will be so good to meet up with friends after a 2 week absence.

Here are a few images from early autumn in the garden when I tried out some effects filters, diffuser and prism on my digital Olympus EPL1 and old 50mm Zuiko lens.

Best wishes for Christmas and New Year.

Claude to the Vets, Autumn, and Burning the candle both ends.

14-11-24

It’s been a few weeks since I last posted on the blog. I’ve been busy redecorating the front room, I’m ashamed to say the last time it was decorated was 32 years ago, but I did a good job back then. Been putting it off for years mainly because of all the moving of books, CD’s, vinyl albums, HiFi system, and furniture. It’s nearly done now and looking much better.

Sleepy Lad Claude.

Had a bit of a fright with Claude last week, he wasn’t lifting his tail, so took him to the vets, they gave him a thorough nose to tail check over. Couldn’t find anything obviously wrong with him, the vet thought he had probably strained or pulled a muscle, he loves chasing squirrels, never catches them. He was such a good lad at the vets even though he was prodded and poked. A liquid painkiller was prescribed and after a couple of days his tail was back up in the air, and I could sleep again.

Today in the garden (camouflaged with a leaf on his head) looking for squirrels.

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Unfortunately the music pub I go to has closed as a music venue, so over the last few weeks I’ve gone down when I could (lots of late nights) to see local bands playing. The last evening at the venue was really good and really sad. The demographic of the city I live in has changed drastically over the last 5 years and many pubs and clubs have shut their doors. The city is not a place I like to visit anymore, there is very little that interests me in the town now. The one bit of good news is a nearby social club is letting my friends band play on Friday afternoons, went to the first one last week, it was well attended, lots of my friends were there, the beer was good, and the band sounded great.

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Some Autumn images from the garden today.

Winter Flowering Jasmine.

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Two October Garden Visitors

I have 2 rolls of film to develop and hope to be blogging more frequently when the decorating is finally finished.

Lens Artists Challenge – “Looking Back”

14-10-24

My first time posting to a “Lens Artists” challenge, this one set by Sofia Alves who has posted some lovely images on the theme of “Looking Back”. The timing worked out just right for me as I have been scanning in some old film negatives, I took these images in 1992 on my Rolleiflex TLR camera. I haven’t used the flatbed scanner for quite some time, the hardest part was getting the colour to look OK. The film was Fuji Reala 100.

Isle of Eigg, Volcanic Rocks and the Sgurr.

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Looking towards the Isle of Muck.

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Rocks and Clouds.

The weather was really scorching for our visit, unusual for the western isles of Scotland. The Isle of Eigg is a wonderful place to stay, it’s so quiet and peaceful, the first time I have really experienced silence, there is always a background hum on the mainland.

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The Church of St Mary and St Hardulph, Breedon on the Hill, Leicestershire.

This last image is much nearer to home, and I took it to finish off the film in the Rolleiflex when we arrived back from Eigg. It’s a lovely old church with a long history (Wikipedia) and the views from Breedon Hill are really good, must visit again.

Minolta 70W Travel Zoom #3

13-10-24

A few more images from the Minolta compact camera. I haven’t posted for a while as I’m still slowly trying to redecorate the front room, and then managed to get a cold/virus which I probably didn’t help by going to the music pub, and staying on to see the band playing in the evening as well as my friends band in the afternoon. Sadly the Pub is closing as a music venue, more on that in another post.

Hindu Temple.

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Sheltering from the rain waiting for a friend to turn up.

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Teddy Bears Picnic. Taken a couple of hours after the previous two images.

The weather has been really changeable over the last few weeks, we have had a lot very wet days. Autumn has only just started to make an appearance, hoping to get out to the countryside when it does.

Minolta 70w Travel Zoom #2

25-09-24

It has been a while since I posted on the blog, apologies, I have been attempting to re-decorate the front room, I can’t remember how long ago it was since it last had a makeover. So it’s taking a long time just to get the prepping done. Anyway here are a few more random images from the Minolta 70w compact film camera.

The stripey lad Claude asleep in my spot on the old sofa.

This was the first image on the roll, I thought I would give the built in flash a blast (didn’t wake Claude up) I don’t like flash very much but this wasn’t too bad.

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Don’t know why but I just liked this composition.

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Custom Land Rover.

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Church window, great brickwork on the surround.

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Reserved for the Ivy.

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Mixed light, the camera did well on this one.

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There are a few more images to post from this camera, hopefully it won’t be so long between blog posts.

Minolta 70w Travel Zoom #1

10-09-24

I picked up this camera about 10 years ago for a really cheap price (see the connection to the above photo !!! ) when there wasn’t so much interest in film photography. It’s a small camera with a 28-70mm zoom lens, and auto everything, fortunately you can turn off the flash with a couple of press’s on the flash mode button. It fits easily into a pocket and is lightweight but nicely made, ideal for my walks to the music pub and meetups in town. Not wanting to make things easy for myself I loaded it with a roll of expired Rollei RPX 400, and developed the film in Bellini Euro HC, neither of which I have used before.

If you need a hand.

Didn’t quite get the framing right on this one, used the wrong closeup frame lines.

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Easter Island Vibe.

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One of my friends Raleigh, Sturmey Archer, bitza pub bicycle.

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Spider from Mars.

The film could probably have done with 30 seconds less in the developer, but I’m impressed with the sharpness of the film and the camera.

Catmint (Nepeta) Garden and Cats

28-08-24

It was a bit of a week last week, an old friend of mine (since 1970) who lives in France passed away. It wasn’t unexpected but it really saddened me. I used to visit them such a lot prior to the outbreak, and had many wonderful and memorable times, they always made me feel like part of the family. There was an impromptu wake at the music pub on Friday afternoon, lots of people turned up and we celebrated his life with good music and beer, I know he would have approved.

I have been taking a few photos, mainly on film, but didn’t really feel like posting on the blog last week. Here are a few digital images from the week before.

Nepeta.

I saw some Nepeta (catmint) plants at the local supermarket and thought the cats will like this. Within a minute of placing the plant outside all the cats surrounded it and Claude started nibbling at the leaves.

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Snowberry.

The flowers on the Snowberry are tiny, but the bees seem to really like them.

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Hanging on by a thread.

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Claude spotted something, probably a spider.

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Henrietta having a good stretch.

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The three homeless girls are all doing well at the moment, I do make sure they are well fed so they don’t have to leave the safety of the garden.

Nottingham October 2023

12-08-24

I had forgotten about the film that was sitting in my Olympus OM2sp since October 2023. It was the photobuddies outing and the three of us went to the “Analogue Spotlight” event in Nottingham, really enjoyed the day. Only got around to finishing off the film and developing it last month. It’s been a really warm sultry day here (Midlands, UK) and we had a short thunderstorm. Claude and the three homeless cats stayed in the garden, the lightning and thunder claps didn’t seem to bother them. I’m writing this listening to JJ Cale’s “Naturally” album, so laid back and suited to today’s weather.

Molly Kate and Hamish Gill were welcoming visitors to the event. It was great to meet them in person, that’s one of my photobuddies on the right closest to the camera.

Some of the visitors to event. What a great day, so looking forward to the next one.

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There are some lovely buildings in Nottingham, the Photobuddies are planning another day trip there very soon.

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I finished the roll off with a few images around my garden. First is Honeysuckle and the last is one of the homeless girls, I put a short telephoto on the camera and still had to crop the image, if I got any closer she would have come up to me expecting food.

I used Kentmere 400 for these images pushed to 800 asa, and developed the film in BelliniFoto EURO HC (110) first time for me with this developer, quite impressed.

Sunday Morning Gardening

11-08-24

We had so much rain earlier this year that I have been struggling with keeping on top of the garden work. But at last I can see a bit of progress, trying to do a couple of hours each day. Didn’t quite happen yesterday as I went to the music pub Friday lunchtime and didn’t get back until 10.45pm ! in my defence a lot of friends turned up that I hadn’t seen in awhile and I got persuaded (wasn’t difficult) to stay on and see the band that was playing in the evening. It was a Beatles song night, and the band were excellent, and the beer too. I was 11 years old when I first got into the Beatles when they released their single “She Loves You”, and one of my all time favourite films is “A Hard Day’s Night” So yesterday was a rest day.

Rosebuds

It was quite pleasant and temperate last week, but today it has really warmed up, and the forecast for the next few days is for the temps to climb. My cat Claude and the 3 homeless cats have been sleeping the day away in the shade, very sensible.