Adrenaline Buzz

23-04-22

I have been feeling in a low mood since my lovely cat Fleur had to be put to sleep, I miss her presence around the house so much. Her daughter Mimi is a great comfort, really glad she is with me. So when my best buddy phoned on Thursday and asked if I fancied a trip out in the country for a bite to eat and a walk, I jumped at the chance. Get your crash helmet and jacket ready, we are on the Triumph Tiger today. It must be about 4 years since I’ve been on the back of a bike.

Triumph Tiger

Wow, the Triumph certainly has some get up and go, my feet lifted off the footrests a few times under acceleration, felt very safe though, my buddy has been riding bikes since the late 1960’s.

Our destination was Thornby Hall in Northamptonshire, it’s a meditation centre that is set in beautiful grounds, the house is built from a lovely warm coloured stone and dates back to the 17th century. I took my little Olympus EPL1 digital camera with me and a 1956 film camera (more on that in another post) took lots of images of the grounds and house, but I like looking for the unusual, often tucked away round the back.

Waiting for Christmas

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I just liked the window and wall with the old Hall in the background

Felt better for the adrenaline rush, the walk around the grounds, and some good food and coffee in the café. As I’m writing this my cat Mimi is asleep on my lap, she’s lovely and warm, dreaming, and snoring quietly.

Thursday Doors

10-02-22

My contribution to the “Thursday Doors” over at Dan Antion’s excellent blog, check out the link https://nofacilities.com/2022/02/10/goodbye-wethersfield/ for more great doors.

The Crescent

All images taken on Agfa Parat Half Frame camera, Fomapan 100 @ 200asa, developed in Ilford Ilfosol 3

Apparently in the 1960’s they wanted to demolish these buildings ! thankfully they were repurposed and saved by a local businessman. I really like what we have left of the Georgian style of architecture in the city.

Thursday Doors

From a last September walkabout.

Not too many of these old style shops about anymore. (not Baker Street !)

Side of an old empty factory (now sold)

I took these images with a new to me Half Frame Agfa Parat camera, Fomapan 100 at 200 asa developed in Ilfosol 3. Was so pleased the camera worked as it should, its a fully manual camera so you have to estimate focus distance and exposure. I have the Paramat version too, that one sets the exposure automatically.

To see some more excellent Door photo’s pop over to Dan Antions page.

Thursday Doors

Georgian Style

Recently restored building in my hometown of Leicester. Sigma DP1 digital

In The Red

09-02-19

Loaded a colour film into my Pentax Z50p while out with my Photobuddies a couple of weeks ago and it promptly wound straight back into the cassette. So when I got home I decided to re-roll it into a spare cassette but with the emulsion the other way around to try Redscale for the first time (the light has to pass through the film base first before it hits the light sensitive emulsion) When I got to the end of rewinding the film some of the perforations were damaged so the Pentax feeling the resistance decided the film was finished and rewound.

I loaded the DIY Redscale into an Olympus trip that I haven’t used for ages. Wasn’t sure if I would get any results so just snapped away, the film was 200asa so I tried setting it at 100asa, 80asa when it was dull.

Straight From The Scanner

I always scan without any adjustments, then import into Lightroom for levels, colour balance and sharpening.

Adjusted In Lightroom

Having looked at some sample images of commercially available Redscale film this was the nearest I could get, so set it up as a preset in Lightroom.

Turret

The Last Plantagenet 

They do really reasonably priced Fish & Chips and have a good selection of beers, before it was a pub it was an upmarket furniture store.

If I shoot some more Redscale I will probably rate it at 50asa.

De Hickey’d #2

27-12-18

A few more images from around my hometown taken on the Olympus 35DC on Ilford HP5+ at 800asa.

War Memorial WWI 

I used the back light button (BLC) for this one, seems to have worked well.

Cherub

Old hosiery factory, the city was famous for it’s hosiery industry.

A Bit Of Modern

The Old Odeon Cinema

Art Deco style which the Odeon cinema group were famous for. Went to see “A Hard Days Night” there the first week it was released in July 1964.

Curve Theatre

Still haven’t been to see anything in Curve theatre as it’s mainly musicals ! But I quite like the architecture of the building.

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.

Buddies, Beer and Bonneville

06-05-18

Got a call from a buddy of mine on Sunday asking if I would like to go out on the bike (Triumph Bonneville) on bank holiday Monday (yesterday), yes please I said, where shall we go, how about visiting our buddy who has recently moved out to Stamford, Lincolnshire. I dug out my crash helmet and old motorbike jacket, the crash helmet was good but the jacket was a tight fit, it must have shrunk !!!!!!! so I had to wear my windproof cycling jacket, it only has one pocket so was restricted to carrying my mobile and some cash. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been on the back of a bike and I was a bit nervous, but it was OK, my friend is a very experienced rider. The weather was great, and we had a good time. Stamford is a lovely town with some exceptional architecture.

Albert Bridge (1881)
  

High Street

The Pub & All Saints Brewery

Very tasty. 

Browne’s Hospital (Built In 1475)

I still don’t feel that comfortable using my phone camera, but it was better than nothing.

3 Film Cameras #2

27-04-18

Konica Off Road/Workman/Site Supervisor

I bought this camera over 10 years ago, ran a roll of film through it and put back on the shelf, I wasn’t that impressed with the images, they looked flat and grainy to me. So I thought it deserved another chance to redeem itself. The camera has a fixed 40mm lens protected from the elements by a permanently attached glass filter, and a rubber covered waterproof/shockproof body. I loaded it with some fresh Fuji C200 and took it with me on one of my walks to the local arboretum and into town.

Fresh Pine

Vapour Trail

Old Eyes

Yuk

I have changed my opinion about the Konica, the results this time were really good. A lot of this has to do with the developing and scanning by FilmDev  their service is excellent and very quick, I opted for the smallest scans for these images. So if it’s raining (most likely) when I go out, I’ll take the Konica with me.