Steaming pinholes!

One day back in September I treated myself to a day out and a spot of slow photography at the Nene Valley Railway. Sadly there were no steam trains running that day, but I did get a ride on an old Intercity 125 and there were some nail-biting moments watching a newly engine and tender being unloaded from a truck so I had plenty of photographic opportunities!

A slow self portrait as the Intercity 125 took us back to where we started.

Scenes from around Wansford Station

After we arrived in Peterborough I took a stroll along the by the River Nene in search of some lunch in the city,

My other photographic companion that day was my trusty Olympus Trip 35 so I took some lensed photos too.

Photos taken 1 September 2023

In search of slow photography

Every so often I feel the need for some slow photography - my cue to get a pinhole camera out and find a suitable location for some low-tech imagery. Back in August I decided to follow my nose and ended up at Debden Church.

I had a few frames to finish off with my 6x9 camera so I used these in and around the churchyard, before heading inside to take some square format photos with my 6x6 camera.

A ghostly self portrait in the church porch.

The view of the chancel

Click on any image to see it enlarged.

A final glimpse of the porch before I set off for home.

Photos taken 4 August 2023

Bridging the Humber

I’ve stopped and taken photos of the Humber Bridge on my to Yorkshire before, but this time I went with a different intention - to capture this amazing structure and the local area with a pinhole camera. Although it was low tide, the local boatyard offered some interesting possibilities, with acres of wrinkled mud as a backdrop, while the wide focal length of my camera created a very dramatic shape when placed directly beneath the bridge’s span.

Photos taken 6 August 2023

Classic motoring

We’ve had a busy summer with numerous car shows. At some I’ve used a digital camera to take pictures, but at Welwyn I plumped for my pinhole camera. The advantage of this is I have relatively few photos to select from when the films are developed so I’m not left wading through hundreds of digital files!

Photos taken 1 July 2023

Sunday activities

Last month we spent a Sunday at home, catching up on jobs around the house. I decided I’d document them using my pinhole camera, starting off with Kevin washing my car.

From there I did a spot of gardening, a huge pile of ironing and eventually we sat down to watch the Grand Prix on TV - an active day in slow motion, pinhole style!

Photos taken 23 July 2023

A walk in the woods

One hot summer’s afternoon I decided that if I was going to have my daily walk it would need to be somewhere shady, so I headed for Alsa Woods.

Naturally I took a camera along and on this occasion I decided on some slow photography. I had no fixed ideas about what I wanted to photograph, but just kept an open mind and looked for interesting subjects and views through the woods.

There was barely a breath of wind but I wanted some movement in this photo, so I created my own by blowing across the leaves during the 45 seconds the shutter was open!

A ghostly self portrait on the footbridge crossing the M11 motorway.

I intended to take another ethereal self portrait sitting on the tyre swing, but I found a teenage boy sitting on it next to his bike. It struck me this might be even better than my planned photo and fortunately he didn’t mind me including him in the photo!

Photos taken 24 June 2023

Colour or mono?

It’s very rare I use colour film in my pinhole cameras but for my trip to Wales in June I loaded up a roll of Kodak Ektar.

Castell Coch

Getting really close to the daisies on the platform at Cynghordy Station.

Frustratingly the rest of the film didn’t quite live up to expectations. Pinhole photography often induces colour shifts because of the longer exposure times, but on this occasion the colours were completely crazy! I didn’t want to throw the photos away so instead I experimented with converting the negatives to monochome instead.

To my astonishment they work much better in mono than colour. I guess, with strong sunshine, I should have realised it was really a black and white sort of day so at least I’ve learnt a lesson!

Photos taken June 2023

Church crawling

After my pinhole photography binge in Scotland it was a couple of weeks before I got round to finishing off my final roll of film from our holiday. During my travels for work I kept an eye open for interesting locations and my last five photos were all taken around churches I discovered along the way.

My first stop was the redundant church of St Michael and All Angels near Caldicot in South Wales, now cared for by the Friends of the Friendless Churches. It’s tucked away in the corner of a working farmyard so it was no surprise to find I had the place to myself - it’s not as if you’re going to come here by accident!

Looking out from churchyard to farmyard!

A few days later I found myself near Salisbury and had a little time to while away before work. I stopped off at the church in Coombe Bissett, where I’d stayed the previous night, and caught this image as the stiff breeze wafted the tree branches above my head.

It was too dark to take any photos inside the church (each image would have taken about an hour!) so I continued on my way and stopped in Bishopston for a walk around the church there. Again, the interior was too dark for pinhole photography, but I found this intriguing mausoleum on the exterior of the church which was the perfect way to use up the final frame of my film.

Photos taken May 2023

Pinhole day on steam

The last Sunday in April is always a red letter day for pinhole photographers as it’s Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. This year it happened to coincide with our holiday in Scotland so I was sure to find some good photo opportunities.

Our chosen destination for WPPD was the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway - a heritage steam railway on the south coast of the Firth of Fort. I decided to take just my pinhole camera and tripod so I could focus all my attention on slow photography. We hopped on the first train of the day and I couldn’t resist taking a selfie as we steamed through the Scottish landscape. Old steam trains rarely move quickly. but this one minute exposure makes it look like we’re traveling at warp speed!

A trio of platform scenes from Bo’ness station. Click on any image to see it enlarged.

I’d also taken my table top tripod along so I was able to get down really low if I wanted to.

Views of the station and tracks from ground level and up on the bridge.

The restoration shed is home to several ongoing projects, in various states of decay/rebuild.

The museum sheds over the bridge were full of interesting engines and carriages but most were too dark to contemplate taking a pinhole photo. I’m prepared to wait for a few minutes, but when the exposure time runs into half an hour or more I usually admit defeat!

In the post train it was only going to take four and a half minutes to take a photo so I decided to have some fun. I settled on one of the seats and patiently posed as though I was sorting post into the cubby holes, shifting every minute or two so I could show the passing of time. I had no idea if this would work, but it’s come out just as I’d hoped!

I made sure I was up on top of the bridge ready for the arrival of a train back in the station and this is what it looks like as a steam train passes directly beneath your feet. Just as I closed the shutter I was engulfed in steam!

The engine steams gently as the water tank is refilled, ready for its next journey. One of the joys of heritage railways is that nothing happens in a tearing hurry so I was able to plan all my images and then still had time to dash to the other end of the platform to catch it manoeuvring to hitch back up to the carriages.

I caught the left hand image as the freshly refilled engine steamed out from beneath the station canopy and then had just enough time to wind my film on before it reversed up from the points to rejoin the carriages.

The engine team were fascinated by my pinhole camera and kindly posed for a team photo!

My final two shots were captured as the train went out on its last journey of the day. I realised I’d just got time to take two photos but didn’t quite wind the film on far enough so I ended up with an accidentally overlapping double image. A complete mishap but I rather like the result!

Photos taken Sunday 30th April 2023

A Scottish pinhole adventure

During our recent Scottish holiday I took a two pronged approach to my photography - sometimes I’d use a digital camera, while on other days I focused on pinhole photography. On our first day we walked across the causeway to Cramond Island and on this occasion I did a little of both, taking a couple of pinhole photos as we crossed and from the derelict guard’s station.

A day or two later we visited the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies - both places I’ve photographed before. That gave me the opportunity to take a different approach, using just my pinhole camera.

We caught the first boat trip of the morning on the boat lift and it was quiet enough that I was able to capture a couple of images while on board. Travelling on a canal boat is a slow process at the best of times, but the slower pinhole exposures made it look positively speedy at times!

After our trip we returned to the top of the boat lift, this time on foot to admire the elegant aqueduct and look at the locks on the canal above. While we were there the next tour boat came through and I timed it just right to catch it apparently speeding along the aqueduct - in reality it was probably doing no more than two miles per hour!

The bottom lock, from above and below.

Just before we left I was able to catch the wheel in action and I was delighted to be able to capture a sense of the motion as it turned slowly. My final image shows the wheel at rest once again, but if you look closely you can see the blur of a canal boat emerging.

From here we travelled on to the Kelpies - a pair of astonishing metal sculptures on the outskirts of Falkirk. They’re thirty metres tall, but thanks to my camera’s wide angle of view I was able to get remarkably close and still fit them in whole.

The pools which surround the Kelpies gave me some great opportunities for reflections too.

Photos taken April 2023