Huntingdon & Mac’s

09-08-19

The times I’ve passed by Huntingdon on the A14 on my way to Stanstead Airport and said to myself I must stop off and visit this place. Well yesterday along with my PhotoBuddies we did. A couple of weeks back we dropped off one of the PhotoBuddies old Apple Mac’s at a repair specialist just the other side of Cambridge (it’s great to have a car again) We collected the newly refurbished Mac and stopped off at Huntingdon on the way home. I took a film camera with me and my digital Sigma DP1, these are some quick snaps from the Sigma.

It was the sight of this lovely medieval bridge that made me want to visit Huntingdon. The old bridge was built in the 1330’s and was the main crossing point of the Roman Ermine Street. Huntingdon was also the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell.

The Slightly Less Lovely A14 Bridge !

The A14 has some major roadworks at the moment and 40mph average speed camera restrictions. It carries a lot of traffic and is one of the main routes to the ferry port of Felixstowe

This derelict house fronts onto the river (The Ouse) The garden was overgrown and has become a bit of a haven for wildlife, It’s earmarked for redevelopment. It saddens me that so many areas throughout the country are built on without any regard for nature, I fear we might regret this later on.

Overgrown Jetty’s In front of the Old House

Teasels

A bit of messing about in Analog efex pro.

Old Town

There are some lovely old buildings in the old town, it really deserves a much longer visit.

All in all a great day out in a lovely old town. I’ll post the film images when I get them processed.

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Solar Flare #2

28-07-19

After fitting new light seals to my Minolta X700 film camera a trip out was needed to see if I had managed to cure the light leak or if there was a more serious problem with the shutter. So now having the luxury of a car I took a drive out to one of my favourite country parks “Bradgate Park” I really needed the exercise too, felt like my legs were seizing up, been way too hot for walking.

Bright Bracken

There are odd patches of lighter coloured Bracken, and with a Red filter on the front of the lens this darkens the Greens and makes the lighter colours pop.

Double Oak

Protected #1

Cones

Used the 35-70mm zoom for this with an Orange filter.

Protected #2

Not So Bright Bracken

No Way

Ruins Of Lady Jane Grey’s House (the nine day queen)

It is said to be haunted !!!!

I used Kodak TriX 400 for these shots and developed the film in Ilford ID11 1+1, still got loads of specks on the film, I can only think its the wetting agent I use in the final rinse, it’s quite a few years old, a new bottle is on order.

Well it seems the new light seals have sorted the flare problem, so glad it wasn’t the shutter.

Solar Flare

24-07-19

It’s been really hot and humid (I can do hot but not humidity) in my part of the UK, approaching 30C (86F) and according to the BBC weather forecast it could reach 34C (93F) tomorrow.

In The Shade

Fleur spent most of the day inside sleeping on an old camera bag, just getting up for some wet food from time to time. Mimi (her daughter) was in the garden under a shady shrub and like her mum just coming in every now and again for food.

The solar flare was leaking light seals (hope it’s not the shutter) on my Minolta X700 film camera, can’t complain really as it only cost me £4.99p a few years ago. This came to light (pun intended) last week after developing a film I had just ran through it.

Operating Table

It didn’t take too long to replace the seals, just a bit messy cleaning off the old ones.

Caterpillar Cafe

Wildflowers

Clingy

These were fine as it was quite shady where I took them.

Light Leaks

The last two images were taken in brighter conditions, I quite like the building shot though.

Went out yesterday and put a roll of film through the camera to test out my light seal repair. Was hoping to develop the film today but the developer was at 30C (90F) The plan is to get up early (if I manage to sleep) tomorrow and hopefully the developer will be at a more manageable temperature.

20-20 Vision

10-07-19

20-20 vision, I’m not sure if I have ever had that level of eyesight, it’s about 14-15 now, the joy’s of getting older. I bought a couple of lenses from that auction site for my Minolta X700 film camera, couldn’t resist, they were from a charity seller (excuse) The lenses were a Minolta MD 35-70mm f3.5 zoom and Minolta MD 50mm f1.7. Took them with me on a couple of walks last week to test them out.

Without Specs

Minolta X700 – Minolta Md 35-70mm – Ilford HP5+ – Ilford ID11 developer.

The image above reminded me of what my eyesight is like if I haven’t got my contacts in or my glasses on. I deliberately focused on the foreground with the lens wide open to see what the bokeh was like in the background.

PhotoBuddies Day Out 2

01-07-19

Went out with the PhotoBuddies last Thursday (27-06-19) for our second mini road trip, just a few miles from the last one. The weather was just right 22C. – 71F. we haven’t had the heatwave that most of Europe has been experiencing although it did nudge 30C. 86F. on Saturday.

We drove out to Beacon Hill (wiki link), a place I haven’t been to for years.

View From The Beacon

Looking towards Loughborough and Nottingham. A bit of a panorama shot on my Olympus EPL1.

Took this one with my phone.

Beacon Marker and Viewpoint

Another Phone image.

Chainsaw Carving

I believe this was carved by a local artist, Peter Leadbeater.

Tree & Rocks


Just liked the natural colours and shapes on these.

Volcanoes

According to the information board the rocks on this site are about 600 million years old, some of the oldest exposed rocks in England and Wales, David Attenborough (grew up in Leicestershire) mentioned them in one of his programmes.

That black spec upper left is a Bee !

Weathered 

Black & White

Tenacious 

Sit A While

Shady

There’s a nice wooded area as you head down towards the car park.

Yet another place to pay a return visit to. I also took an old 6×6 film camera with me. and last night I mixed up some Ilford ID11 developer, I like to leave it for a couple of days so it’s not so fierce. Will probably develop the film on the weekend, hopefully some shots will turn out.

PhotoBuddies – Day Out #2

25-06-19

This Morning !

The summer weather seems to be bypassing us this year, though according to the latest weather forecast it should brighten up on Thursday, good job as I’m out with the PhotoBuddies.

#2 of last weeks outing to Bradgate Park, I thought the images suited converting to Black & White.

This old tree reminded me of a dancer.

If Summer ever arrives I’m looking forward to photographing more of the park, It would be good to give the old Rolleiflex an outing.

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.