PhotoBuddies – Day Out #1

19-06-19

Now I have my new set of wheels I went out for a drive with my PhotoBuddies to Bradgate Park (interesting Wiki link) It’s been ages since I last visited the park, and I really missed going there.

I took along a film camera and my old Olympus E620 Digital with the standard zoom. We were lucky with the weather yesterday, well it was dry and warm at least. It’s been like late autumn over the last few weeks (it is today) dull and wet, will we ever have a summer this year ?

Tree & Dry Stone Wall

Bracken

I suppose the one plus point for having so much rain recently is that everything is very green and fresh looking.

Foxgloves

Dry Stone Wall Detail

Wild Flowers

Old Rocks

With PhotoBuddy

Some of the exposed rocks in the park are an incredible 560 million years old.

There are some lovely old trees in the park and I can’t resist photographing them, I’ll put them in the next post.

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Seeing Purple

12-06-19

The weather in my part of the UK has been absolutely awful, it hasn’t stopped raining for days with the added joy of strong winds, there were over 30 flood warnings countrywide  yesterday. The purple I’m seeing are the tips of my fingers and toes, so cold that I got a coal fire going to warm the house up, and my cats have been taking it in turns to sit on my lap to get warm. So I haven’t been out to take any photographs, looking through the archives I found a few images with a Purple theme which prompted me to write this post.

Out West

Took this on a walk with the PhotoBuddies last year, it was so hot, and it reminded me of America for some reason.

Just Down The Road A Bit

Handsome Purple !

Purple Hair

Olympus OM40 – 35mm Zuiko – Agfa Vista 200

Lonesome Purple

Nokia Lumia 930

I worked with a guy who suffered from Chromophobia, Purple in particular made him quite aggressive, probably not a thing to have if you are a Litho Printer, he controlled it quite well, but I never risked wearing a Purple tie.

Back On The Road

04-06-19

At last I’m back on the road, managed to find a car that hadn’t got spaceship mileage, been used as a minicab or had multiple owners, can’t believe it’s been over 3 years since I was behind the wheel. Picked the car up on June 1st with some trepidation, could I still drive OK, shouldn’t have worried it was as if it had just been a few days since I last drove.

Golfing

To celebrate I took a drive to Launde Abbey  just a short 30 mile round trip, it was so nice to travel through the countryside, all lovely and green with the rain we have had lately. Took a few images while I was there, wasn’t really in a photo mood, too excited about being on the road again.

Day Of The Triffids

In The Walled Garden

Caterpillar Heaven

Launde Abbey is such a calm and peaceful place, I can see why people visit and go on retreat in the cabins they have in the grounds, also it has a really good Tea Room.

Painting The Town

28-05-19

Met up with the PhotoBudies last week to have a walk around the cultural quarter of the town, and have a look at the new street art going up. Because of the variable weather we have had recently (I guess) they had only just started their artwork, but it was a lovely sunny warm day and it was great to just walk around. I took along a film camera and my Sigma DP1.

Back Of The Funfair

Waves

They were setting up a funfair on the park that I walk through to get into town.

Town

Sticker

I have no idea what this sticker is about, hopefully it’s not too contentious.

The Look

Keep Clear

Be Warned

Shadow

Magpie

Hopefully the film shots will be ok, if so I will post them when I get the film developed. Anyway we have another excuse to visit the town and see the new street art and drink lots of coffee.

MODS

10-05-19

Met the PhotoBuddies in town yesterday, not for a PhotoWalk (the weather has been pretty dismal over the last week) but to have a look at the MODS exhibition at the New Walk Museum. A bit of nostalgia for the old folks.

There wasn’t much light so I had to use 1600asa on the Olympus EPL1, being an older digital camera it does introduce a bit of noise to the images.

Fashion

I was still at school when the MOD scene hit, I had various pairs of hipster trousers which looked great, but were made from a wool blend of material, I can’t wear wool next to my skin, it makes me itch, a bit like prickly heat, but I put up with it just to look cool !

I loved this style of boot.

Scooters

Apart from the clothes, and music, scooters were the main statement of MOD culture. After borrowing friends scooters I decided they were not for me, felt far too unsafe on the road, so I bought a motor bike and changed over to be a rocker. The Beatle boots looked great with bell bottom jeans.

Never went this far, just the bell bottom jeans, a leather jacket, T Shirt, and white silk scarf.

Pinball

Used to go to a bikers cafe to play the pinball machines, very similar to this one.

Autochanger

Someone gave me one of these a few years ago, I would love to get it it restored to play the old 45’s I’ve got from the 1960’s.

Il Rondo

After seeing the Easy Rider film in 1969 I decided the Hippie life was for me, so fickle. The Il Rondo was a music venue in the town centre, saw some great bands there, Genesis, King Crimson, Barclay James Harvest, Jethro Tull, and Caravan to name just a few. The building is still standing having gone through many reincarnations, mainly restaurants.

Really enjoyed the exhibition, and found I knew some of the contributors.

Places I’ll Never Forget #7

30-04-19

Moki Dugway  & Natural Bridges National Monument – Utah

It’s been quite a while since I posted on this subject, think these images were from 1992 my first visit to the USA, but could be 1995 when I visited this area again (wish I’d kept better notes)

Moki Dugway UT

The Moki Dugway is quite some road, it’s a steep dirt road, and driving an automatic gearbox car (I’m used to a manual box) added to the excitement, not to mention trying not to look at the view which is absolutely incredible. So much space, nothing quite like it in the UK.

Natural Bridges National Monument UT

Would have loved to have explored this area but needed to be on the road to the next destination, so just stopped long enough to get a few images.

Camera, Olympus OM2n, Kodak TMax 100 Film.

Ilford SFX 200 – And The Spinney

23-04-19

I had the Olympus OM2sp CLA’d a few months back but after using it I noticed the selector lever for the exposure modes was loose and getting looser. So I sent the camera back and they adjusted it foc, and it’s now working as it should. Took it with me to Dams Spinney last week loaded with Ilford SFX 200 (expired 2009) with just one lens a Vivitar 19mm wide angle with a Red 25A filter attached to try and bring out some infrared effects, because the film was so expired I wasn’t sure what I would get. Developed the film in D76 stock solution and was pleasantly surprised by the results, good job as I have another 2 rolls in the egg compartment of the refrigerator. 

New Growth

Fallen

Stand

Atmosphere

Next time I use this film I’ll try an R72 filter to get more of an infrared look. Really enjoyed using the Oly OM2sp, it has a lovely big viewfinder and spot metering, which I used for most of the film to help with the tricky lighting in the spinney. And best of all the negatives were really clean, I filtered all the chemicals before pouring into the developing tank and added a little bit of IPA (not beer) isopropyl alcohol to the final rinse.