Turning Vintage

17-06-18

Looking through some old negative files I realised that some of them are becoming vintage, a bit like me. One of the sheets had some negatives from 1984, the camera I had at that time was a Zenith EM, with a 50mm Helios and a 30mm wide angle Pentacon lens.

1984

Red phone boxes, with a 3 wheeler Reliant parked beside them. There’s even a bank pre ATM days. The chemist was offering 24hr photographic developing and printing.

2018 (last Thursday)

The bank has gone along with the red phone boxes. Now it’s mainly bars coffee/beer and charity shops, but the chemist has survived.

The negatives also had some images from a trip to Lincoln.

Lincoln St Marks Station

The track and most of the station buildings have now gone.

Lincoln, Medieval City Gates

Woolworths no longer exist and Littlewoods have very few stores nowadays.

On the same roll a trip to Malvern, Worcestershire.

View Over Malvern

Old Benches

These were on the walk up the Malvern Hills.

Photography was relatively expensive back in the 1980’s so you had to be a bit more careful with the amount of shots you took, well I did as I wasn’t on a very big salary. Wish I still had that Pentacon lens, its pretty sharp even on the Fuji 400 of the day.

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Back in the Saddle

13-06-18

I haven’t been out on my lovely Marin MTB for at least 18 months. So this morning I got everything ready (water, banana, and new padded shorts!) and set off. The first group of people I encountered were school kids taking there cycling proficiency tests, they all shouted “hello”, and “look at him”, probably didn’t think anyone of my age would still be cycling, as I signalled to turn right the instructor said “now that’s how you do it”, gold star for me.

First Stop

This is an old Aerodrome (still operating today) that used to put on airshows in the 1980’s, one of the main sponsors was a printing company that I knew and I got VIP tickets, and food and beer in their hospitality tent.

Farm Track  

Turned off onto a farm track, it has some steep descents and is a lot rougher than the last time I rode down it. I was travelling at quite a speed (24 mph according to my phone app) when I saw a marker rope across the track, just managed to stop in time, it was there for the dairy cows going back to their field after milking. 

Being sensible I took a shortish route this time out, 8.8 miles (14km) instead of the 18 miles (29km) last time I went out, and which left me aching for days. As I neared home the kids were still taking their cycling tests, and I got a “hello again” from them, probably amazed I had made it back in one piece. I really enjoyed the short ride and feel much better for it.

Sitting Pretty

12-06-18

Fleur

Fleur looking pretty sitting on the table on my place mat !

Recovery

06-06-18

After having a tooth extraction on Tuesday, (it was and still is a bit painful) and visiting an old buddy in Stamford on weds/thurs, staying up till 4am drinking wine and cider (after a night around the town) I’m in recovery mode, this will be short lived as I’m out tonight with my printing buddies for a beer and curry night !!!!! On the Wednesday at Stamford we took a walk to the 16th century Burghley House (link to Wikipedia), can’t believe I haven’t visited before. Of course I hadn’t brought a camera with me so I had to use the phone for some snapshots, couldn’t see the screen most of the time.

The Lads

The driveway up to the house.

So Many Lovely Trees

First View of the House

The grounds were lovely, and there was a good cafe and shop where I nearly bought a hat. Must have a look around the house next time I’m over in Stamford, it looks really impressive.

Fomapan 400

03-06-18

Have been experimenting a bit with Fomapan 400, using different developers and filters.

Abbey Park

Olympus OM40, 24mm Zuiko lens, and Red filter, developed in Fomadon LQR. I almost always had a Red filter permanently attached to my lenses in the past as I had a liking for contrasty  Black & White images. I put this down to having worked in the Printing industry all my working life, and litho printed images by the nature of the process were quite contrasty. The Red filter in this image has darkened the sky and foliage and given some detail to the stonework on the bridge.

Willow

Olympus OM40, 28mm Zuiko lens, and Green filter, developed in Fomadon LQR. The Green filter lightens the leaves and foliage, it can look quite dream like with certain subjects.

I’m quite impressed with the Fomadon LQR developer and Fomapan 400 film, Kodak D76 developer does a great job too. For me one of the enjoyable parts of film photography is experimenting with different films and developers. Yellow and Orange filters next time, and it’s a good excuse to visit Abbey Park again.

Walk to Town

02-06-18

I’m writing this feeling sorry for myself, I have broken a tooth and it aches. If you shook me there would be a rattle from all the painkillers. Hopefully on Tuesday when I go to the Dentist it will all be over, got a feeling it will be an extraction, the penalties of getting old (long in the tooth)

Took a walk to town last Thursday, the weather was a bit dull but I needed the exercise and the cats needed some treats.

Wild Roses on the Way

Into the Park

I’m so glad this park is on my route to town, all that Green is good for the soul.

A bit of Variegation

In The Pink

One of my Favourite Buildings in the Town

Palais de Dance

This was the premiere dance hall in the city from the 1950’s to the end of the 70’s. It’s derelict now and about to be converted into apartments. I only visited it a couple of times (not my scene) in the late 60’s and early 70’s, I remember the ceiling complete with the prerequisite glitter ball had lots of tiny lights that looked like a starry night sky.

Canon 35MC

30-05-18

This is the third Canon 35MC that I have bought, the first two were really cheap off that auction site, neither of them worked very well, but I managed to make one goodish one out of the two, and was impressed enough with the lens quality to buy another from a dealer for £19.00 ($25.25 – 21.65 euro) The only thing amiss the dealer informed me was that the detachable flash wasn’t working, I have a working unit from one the others, not that I’m likely to use it. The camera looks brand new, with no signs of use. It needs two AAA batteries to work, at least these are easy to get. You set the film speed manually, there is a choice of, 64 – 100 – 200 – 400 – 1000 ASA, film loading and rewinding are automatic. The lens is a 35mm f2.8, 4 elements in 4 groups and focuses from 3 ft (0.9m) to infinity. It’s a clam-shell design so you slide the front cover (a la Olympus XA’s) to switch on the camera. The viewfinder shows the autofocus frame and a zone focus indicator which only registers the distance after you have taken the shot ! The automatic shutter runs from 1/8sec to 1/500sec, there is also a slow shutter speed warning lamp. The wind on motor is a bit noisy, typical of it’s era. What I like about it is the quality of the lens and it fits easily in a jacket/trouser pocket.

Loaded it up with some Fomapan 400 and took on a PhotoBuddies walk. I developed the film in Kodak D76 1-1.

Student Accommodation

Great Central

I remember catching a train from here to go to Nottingham Victoria when I was a lad in the 1960’s. The old Station building is being restored, and the area opposite is being developed (more student accommodation !!!!) and a Hotel.

PhotoBuddy

Not Sure What This Is

But I liked it.