Autumn 2021 part 2 – Lydney, Beachley and Bristol Harbourside

By shendyNo Comments
These three sets come from some time off in September - we didn't go away, so I ambled out for some day trips. First up is Lydney Harbour - I'd noticed a sign for it when driving back from Westbury Court, so I looked into it and decided to visit. It's an interesting place, a bit bleak - but I quite like that. I was slightly surprised to find a bit of a marina there, which contains some interestingly dilapidated yachts. Definitely my sort of thing!The last two shots are of a derelict industrial site - I couldn't resist poking the camera through the fence. These are a mix of digital, Hasselblad film and Ondu panoramic pinholes. No colour negative this time - I more or less know what I'm doing with black and white film. The second set are from Beachley, which is at the Welsh end of the original Severn Bridge, and where the ferry from Aust used to dock. I've photographed...
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Autumn 2021 part 1 – Blaise and Westbury Court

By shendyNo Comments
These two sets come from the tail end of the summer and early autumn. After the photos I took at Cumberland Basin at the end of April, I didn't take any photos (other than a few on my phone, mainly food) until the end of August when I forced myself out to Blaise Estate, which is only really at the end of the road but which I've hardly visited. This trip out was also an opportunity to try out my latest camera - an Agfa Synchro Box from the 1950s. 1 shutter speed, two aperture settings, a very simple lens and a basic viewfinder. To be honest, the results weren't great - these are the best two, and they're not much to write home about. Hazel Brook | Agfa Synchro Box, Catlabs 80 film St Mary's Church | Agfa Synchro Box, Catlabs 80 film The second set are from a trip to the Dutch water garden at Westbury Court, over on the other...
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Spring 2021

By shendyNo Comments
It would appear that I didn't blog any photos during 2021 - OK, I didn't take a lot (actually the fewest in a year since I switched to digital), but I do have some to share. I'll share three sets here from Spring 2021. First up are images from a stroll round parts of Westbury-on-Trym in March - down the side of Henbury Golf Club, and then to the church in Westbury-on-Trym village.These are all on film - my dad's old Pentax MX 35mm and my new Ondu Panoramic Pinhole camera, also 35mm. The colours in the panoramic pinhole aren't great, but in my defence it was the first roll of C41 I'd developed. The second set are from an April visit to Abbey House Gardens in Malmesbury, Wiltshire - somewhere I have visited many times over the years, but usually for their clothes-optional days. This was a "normal" visit - I wanted to go earlier in the year than usual, and also...
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2020 Bits and Pieces

By shendyNo Comments
This is just a small selection of other photos taken during the year - for obvious reasons I didn't get out much. The one of the SS Great Britain was actually taken at the end of December 2019, the same day as I photographed Ezku (see Ezku – December 2019) - and is actually processed a lot less than you might think. The next two were just particularly nice sunsets I saw walking from work to the bus stop in January and February. I haven't even seen the office since the 16th March... The lilac was photographed in next door's garden, the squirrel on the fence just outside the living room window. Then two from archery, which was open long enough to have a Halloween special. The last one isn't by me - it's of me. In February I ticked off something from the bucket list by going to a life drawing class. As a model.One of the artists, Lila, very kindly gave me her...
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Cumberland Basin, July & August 2020

By shendyNo Comments
The photos here are from two separate visits to Cumberland Basin in Bristol, pretty much my favourite concrete place to photograph. The first, in July, was my first post-lockdown photographic trip out and was an all film affair - some of the shots are on the Hasselblad (mainly Fuji Acros, with a bit of Kodak Tri-X), while the others are from the Intrepid 5x4 large format (on Ilford Delta).These are fairly standard stuff, the sort of thing I take a lot of. For the second visit, at the end of August, I actually went out with a plan - I wanted to shoot a lot darker than normal, and to use shadow a lot more.I used the Fuji digital on manual mode (I'm normally on aperture-priority), and sometimes with an old Helios lens I bought. I also used my dad's old Pentax MX with some old Ilford Delta film. And I'm really pleased with what I took, it's quite different to what I...
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