Two Cemeteries Photo Walk

In the first 50 years of the 19^th century London’s population more than doubled from 1 million to 2.3 million. With the increased population came the added problem of what to do with the dead. The parish churches graveyards had become dangerously overcrowded and there were incidents of decaying matter from overcrowded graveyards getting into the drinking water supply and causing epidemics.

The answer was to create more private cemeteries outside central London. In 1832 Parliament passed an act encouraging such cemeteries. Over the following decade seven new cemeteries were established. These were Kensal Green (1833), West Norwood (1837), Highgate 1839-1860), Abney Park (1840), Brompton (1840), Nunhead (1840) and Tower Hamlets (1841).

The group at the entrance to Brompton cemetery at the start of the walk. This is a digital image.

My setup for the days shooting. Olympus OM2n. Zuiko 35-105 f3.5 zoom lens. Zuiko 135mm f2.8 lens. Ilford Delta 3200 Pro film. (digital image)

Looking for a location for a walk with the London Film Photography group on Meetup I thought a cemetery might be good for some atmospheric images. It might seem a bit morbid to some but our old cemeteries are a great location for statues and textures on the graves. They can even be quite good for some nature shots.

So, this month we set off firstly to Brompton Cemetery. Designed by Benjamin Baud, it was designed to be an open air cathedral with an impressive central colonnade leading to a domed Chapel. Not the oldest but the 39 acres is full of monumental statuary and is the resting place for the suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst and public health pioneer John Snow to name a few. They also have a nice little cafe at the North Lodge entrance.

The weather held out for us with just a few spots of rain but it did mean we had some interesting cloud in the sky.

The equipment that I used was my Olympus OM2n and the Zuiko 135mm f2.8 lens and the Zuiko 35-105 f3.5 lens. I started off with the film that was already in the camera, a Fomapan 200, which proved to be a bit slow for the overcast weather. I also had with me a roll of Ilford HP5+ and a roll of Ilford Delta 3200 Pro. I was keen to try out the Delta 3200 and shoot it at 1600 iso as I thought the graininess of this fast film would suit the subject matter. It would also mean that I could use a filter on the lens to improve the sky rendition and the contrast. As I was using a telephoto lens I also wanted a fairly fast shutter speed. Al the imags in this article are shot on the Ilford Delta 3200, shot at 1600 and developed in Rodinal for 28 minutes at 20 deg c.

We spent an hour and a half at Brompton which proved to be not long enough to explore the 39 acres so it looks like we will have to go back again.

A lot of patience was required to capture the crows!

After lunch at the North Lodge cafe we set off further north for Kensal Green cemetery.

Built in 1833, Kensal Green is the oldest of the public cemeteries now known as the Magnificient Seven and includes in its now the resting place of HRH Duke of Sussex and his sister Princess Sophia. At it’s heart is the Greek Revival Anglican Chapel and the landscape includes 161 designated monuments and other structures.

We spent another hour and a half at Kensal Green but again this proved to be not long enough to explore a lot of it’s 77 acres of grounds. We ended our tour by going to a local pub before wending our various ways home after a very nice day.

Stand development test.

Equipment used

Camera: Pentax Spotmatic 35mm SLR. Takumar 55mm f1.8 lens.

Film: Fomapan 200 shot at ISO 100.

Developer: Fomadon R09 (same as Rodinal) diluted 1+200.

Patterson developing tank.

One of my more recent projects in the darkroom has been to explore further options on how to process my black and white film.

I would in the past just follow the normal method of a 30 second agitation and then 4 inversions of the developing tank every minute. This over the normal timing of somewhere between 8 to 16 seconds depending on film and ISO rating.

The dilution of the developer would be 1+1 of 1+3 for something like Ilford ID11. For Fomadon R09 or Rodinal it would be the normal 1+25 or 1+50 dilution. Temperature would be 20° Centigrade.

I have though seen mention of what is called Stand Development which is using a very dilute developer and just leaving the film tank standing for a very long time, usually about an hour without agitation.

I have in the past been put off by problems others encounter using this method such as bromide drag which leaves streaks on the negatives. It’s always seemed to me to make sense to create the situation where the exposed film emulsion gets influenced by active developer equally across the surface.

However, I thought it might be time to attempt this method on a roll of film exposed for this purpose and wouldn’t be missed if it all went wrong.

I have been reading the books ‘The Art of Black and White Developing’ by John Finch and ‘Ilford Monochrome Darkroom Practice’ by Jack H Coote.

I was keen to see if I could increase the acutance of the negatives by inducing something called the adjacency effect. This is where bromide, a by product of the action, collects at boundaries of high to low density.

This bromide inhibits local development along the line of these boundaries and creates what is known as a Mackie line which increases perceived sharpness along these lines. The one problem of this release of bromide is that it can also cause streaking on the negatives caused by the bromide falling to the bottom of the tank when it is left standing without agitation.

So, having thought I would give stand development a try I read in the ‘Art of Black and White Developing’ that Rodinal type of film developers are good for this style of stand developing.

It was recommended that the dilution was 1+200 and the development time be 2 hours so that is what I decided to use. I chose Fomadon R09 developer which is a similar type to Rodinal and the film I chose was Fomapan 200.

I stood the developing tank in a water bath at 20° centigrade so that the temperature wouldn’t drop too far during the 2 hour time.

I shot the film at 100 ISO rating to ensure good detail capture in the shadow areas.

The images were taken on some very dim and misty days in December and I was very pleased with the results and didn’t get any bromide drag streaks on the negatives. I will definitely try this method again.

The first series show the evening shots. I also took some on a very dull day on a walk along an old unused railway line.

Three Mills, shit and sugar – A lovely walk.

Having set myself a task of walking the 78 miles of the Capital Ring walk around London over the next year and setting my start point at Hackney Wick I decide it would be a good idea initially to do a walk around the area of the Olympic Park area. I wanted to explore some of the history and industrial heritage of the area. A good precursor for the start of the walk.

The walk of 3 miles started at Pudding Mill lane and followed some of the Greenway running through this part of London. The weather was dry but it had got colder than it had been recently.

Due to engineering works we had to get the train into Liverpool Street, then tube to Bank where we got onto the DLR to Pudding Mill Lane, the start of the walk.

Starting off on a North West direction under the railway we found a great cafe at the Olympic Park and started the day with a bacon bagel and coffee.

From there we followed the Greenway and Victoria Walk North West as far as the crossing of the Lea Navigation.

The Greenway, formerly known as Sewerbank, is following the course of the Northern Outfall Sewer which is part of the London sewage work carried out by Joseph Bazalgette.

Bazalgette built London’s first sewer network in the 19th Century and was responsible for wiping out Cholera in the capital. The sewers took 16 years to build and are still in use today.

Going down on the track to the left before the bridge over the Lea we then took a course South alongside the River Lea Navigation. At this point the sewer crosses the river overhead in an enormous steel construction.

The steel construction which supports the main Northern outfall sewage pipes over the River Lea.

The path was dry and there much to see with boats along the river.

There are many colourful and interesting narrowboats along the canal.

An interesting building across the others side of the river is the Bow Quarter which is the old Bryant and May match factory, redeveloped in the 1980s it is now flats and town houses.

Just before the Bow flyover we had to jiggle round the river at the point where the river splits to travel North East and becomes St Thomas Creek.

Crossing over to the other side of the river we go as far as Three Mill Lane where we cross the river again onto Three Mills Island.

There are references to mills on this site in the Domesday survey of 1086 which is considered to be the earliest record of a mill system in England.

The current mills were bought in 1727 by three local Huguenots. It was a good location for mills with the strong tidal flow giving eight hours of power per tide.

The mills are currently film studios with programs such as Masterchef being filmed there.

Continuing North we travel alongside Three Mills Wall River and stop off at Three Mills Green for a late lunch of sandwiches. East of us across the Prescott Chanel, a tributory of the Three Mills Wall River, are the original and new Abbey Mills sewage pumping stations, something we will be visiting on our next walk.

As we continue North we can see to the West of us Sugar House Island. The Island is named after a striking 19th century five-storey red brick warehouse which still stands on site.

As we arrive at the A118 High Street we cross over to continue our walk back in a Westerly direction to the end at our start point at Pudding Mill Lane DLR station. Before continuing though we stop on the A118 to admire the old Yardley box factory and offices.

Photographing an event. Cressing Vintage Fair.

The Vintage Day at Cressing Temple Barn in aid of Helen Rollason Cancer Charity.

Back in January 2020 I enrolled on a Street Photography course with Magnum Photos. See: https://www.magnumphotos.com/shop/learn-with-magnum/

Little did I know that within three months we would be all locked down and unable to travel far. Well, that put a stop to my course. I’d gone as far as Martin Parr teaching how to photograph an event only to be at a point where there were no events taking place.

Jump on about 15 months and I had an opportunity to go along to a vintage fair in aid of the Helen Rollason Cancer Charity and photograph the event. The Vintage fair is now in it’s 11th year. I had been involved, along with some other members of our local camera club, in photographing events put on by this charity. This was an ideal opportunity to catch up with my course and make some images of an event and also try to make some money for the charity. We would take the photos and then supply them to the charity so people who attended the event could buy them from the charity web site.

As it was a vintage event I also thought it a good opportunity to try out a recently acquired vintage camera. A Mamiya C330 ‘Professional f’ twin lens reflex (TLR) which was produced from 1969 and using Kodak Ektar 100 colour film. Maybe the colour film was a bit recent for some of the eras portrayed at the event but I was anticipating some colour in the attire and the classic cars on display. I wasn’t disappointed!

The Mamiya C330 Professional f camera used to photograph the event. I used Kodak Ektar 100 colour film.

Many of the visitors dressed in period costume.

The girl singers, the Harmonettes were performing at the show.

More visitors entering into the theme of the show.

There were also may vintage cars and motorbikes on show.

I had anticipated there being a few old vintage cars around at the event and had thoughts of trying to get some close up views of the colourful cars. With the Mamiya TLR you have to allow for parralax error because the image taking lens is below the viewing lens. When you get up close the image taken isn’t quite the same as that which you are viewing. The Mamiya C330 gets round that by having a line move down the viewfinder showing the top of the image that is captured. It seems to work very well as I got the shots I was after.

There were some interesting old motorbikes there too!

After getting through a couple of rolls of colour film I tried out the camera with some black and white film. I used Ilford fP4+ which I was able to process myself at home.

The band provided some great music for people dance to whilst maintaining social distance.

An interesting V-Twin engine in a Morgan three-wheeler.

A great day out with many photo opportunities. Think I’ll have to go back next year.

Helen Rollason Charity: https://www.helenrollason.org.uk/

Film Test

Rollei RPX 100 with the Pentax P30.

Having just loaded up my Olympus OM2n with a roll of Rollei RPX 100 it has prompted me to write up my results from the last time I used this film

Back in 2019 I had a couple of days out with my Pentax P30 and SMC Pentax-M 50mm f1.7 lens and loaded with a 36 exposure roll of the Rollei RPX 100.

One day was spent through Bishops Stortford and the second day was Saffron Walden which is a lovely town in Essex, and a favourite of mine.

I developed the film in Ilford ID11 diluted 1:1 for 12 minutes at 20 deg C.

**The camera that I used for the test.**

My first location was on a walk through Bishops Stortford.

Bishops Stortford.

The Gourmet Turk restaurant which used to be The Boar’s Head pub.

The multi-storey car park. Bishops Stortford.

My second location was the lovely town of Saffron Walden.

On the corner of Freshwell Street looking up Bridge Street toward High Street

Looking down Bridge Street Saffron Walden.

Looking up Bridge Street, Saffron Walden.

I scanned the negatives using a Plustek 8100 scanner and was very pleased with the results. The negs have good tonal variation and contrast so it’s prompted me to stock up with some more of this film.

A day at the Fort with the Pentax Spotmatic.

An interesting trip out a while ago with my favourite retro camera of the moment, the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic SPII. We drove up into Suffolk to the end of the promontory where Felixstowe Docks are located. There is an old Fort called Landguard Fort built in the 1500s originally but the present construction dates much later. Being an overcast day and the Fort a very grey concrete construction I thought it would make an ideal subject for black and white film. So, I loaded up with a 36 exp roll of Ilford HP5+ and put a spare in my bag. I took my 55mm f1.8 and my 105mm f2.8 Takumar lenses fitted with a yellow filter for an added bit of contrast.

I love this old camera. It seems to fit my hand so well and I like the weight of it which has a feel of quality. The shutter sound too sounds really great and makes you feel you have an instrument of quality in your hands. The Takumar lenses are brilliant as is the Zeiss 29mm one.

It was a rather grey and overcast day so it was a little difficult in places accommodating the low light levels but all in all I was very pleased with the results.

Legacy glass on digital Part 1.

Carl Zeiss Jena 29mm f2.8 Lens.

I do like the quality and feel of the old legacy lenses created for the old film cameras. To my mind they are built to a higher standard than the modern lenses made for the consumer market.

I recently saw a Carl Zeiss Jena 29mm lens advertised on ebay and was tempted and was surprised that no one else bid on it. So, I got myself a nice lens of good condition for £31.

There is a lot written about the company of Zeiss Jena and the fact that it was situated in the Eastern part of Germany after the second world war. The company Zeiss originated in Jena but after the war the Americans moved most of the staff and manufacturing to Oberkochen in the West of Germany. Optics were continued to be manufactured in the original factory in Jena and in some cases using the original technicians who chose to stay. Some would say that the quality of the Jena lenses doesn’t match that of the ones produced in Oberkochen but I think there is an element of snobbery in that statement. It may be that the quality control was a bit more relaxed at the Jena works but if you get a good example they are certainly good lenses.

You are, of course, stuck with manual focus when using these lenses on a digital camera but that doesn’t bother me at all. I often use manual focus with my digital lenses. On a Micro Four Thirds camera the focal length for this lens is 58mm which is a good focal length for Street Photography. The lens also has a close focus distance of 0.25m which is better than my Leica 25mm digital lens. I also like the way these old lenses have all the distance scales etc etched on the lens. It’s very handy for when you’re doing zone focusing, again, not something easy to do on a lens with no distance markings.

The lens fitting is the 42mm screw fit so I had to purchase a new adaptor for my micro four thirds cameras (Olympus OM-D E-M1 and Lumix GX8).

I chose the K & F Concept adaptor as I had purchased others in the past and some had been problematic and fitted the Lumix camera but not the Olympus. The one I chose was the Pro version which is a couple of pounds more expensive but was of excellent build quality and finish. It fitted both cameras very accurately without any play.

The lens and the adaptor look very good mounted on my Olympus OM-D.

Olympus OM-D M1 fitted with K & F Concept adaptor and Carl Zeiss Jena 29mm f2.8 lens.

I mounted the lens to my Lumix GX8 and went out for an afternoon photographing in a small town called Saffron Walden in Essex. These are some of the results. All jpgs straight out of the camera with no post processing:

Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire.

Built in 1650, Wimpole Hall is a neo-classical building and is Grade I listed. The estate itself is Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Owned by the Chicheley family for 250 years the house passed through a number of familys before passing into ownership by The National Trust.
As the National Trust are now opening up access to their properties we were able to book a visit there a few days ago.
I took it as an opportunity to do some photography using one of my 35mm SLR film cameras.

Camera: Olympus OM2n 35mm SLR

Lenses: 35mm f2.8 Zuiko. 50mm f1.4 Zuiko. 135mm f2.8 Zuiko.

Filter: Hoya Orange (G) filter.

Film: Ilford FP4 rated at 125asa. Developed in Ilford ID11 diluted1+1 for 11 minutes @20degC.

Scanned to digital using a Plustek 8100 scanner.

Wimpole Hall. Walking across the parkland at the rear of the house toward the Folly.

The park was “naturalised” by Capability Brown. The North Park is particularly attractive with its belts of woodland, gentle rolling hills with individual trees and clumps of trees. The central feature of the North Park is the Gothic Tower known as The Folly and the restored lakes in the valley below.

The folly is designed to resemble the ruins of a medieval castle. It was built on the grounds of Wimpole Hall in the mid-1770s

Single-arch timber bridges were often called ‘Chinese’ in the eighteenth century, probably because they were reminiscent of the bridges shown on Chinese porcelain, lacquer, silk and wallpaper. It was designed by Lancelot Brown and was rebuilt in the mid 20th century.

Wimpole Farm is one of the UK’s largest rare breed centres and they play a key role in conserving rare and traditional breeds of livestock.

Walk – Wareside – 3.25 miles.

A very pleasant walk from The Chequers pub in Wareside and along the River Ash. This route follows in part along the old Buntingford branch line which went from St Margarets to Buntingford. Opened in 1859 and closed in 1964.

The walk starts at the Chequers pub in Wareside. If it’s not busy you can park up in the village hall car park beside the pub. Leaving the car park you walk down and turn right beside the pub along the B 1004. Just after this you turn right up the lane signposted to Babbs Green.

Start of the route in Wareside. Turn right just after the cottage on the right.

Looking back at the start at The Chequers pub.

After a few yards up this lane you have to decide whether to turn left up the narrow path immediately to the right of the Bourne Cottage. Alternatively you can continue up the lane to the next set of crossroads where you turn left. Ths time we walked up the lane to the crossroads. Immediately opposite is the old Wesleyan Church, now turned into houses. This property has some history for me as it was purchased by an uncle of mine in the mid sixties after attendance to the services had dropped to an all time low. It was converted by him to houses and remained in the family for some time.

Wesleyan Church (former), Wareside now Wesleyan House.

After turning left at the crossroads you continue up the narrow road and eventually the footpath mentioned earlier and the road join. At the small triangular green turn right and continue up the road until you arrive at Morley Pond. Morley Pond Cottages have another connection with my family as it’s where my grandmother once lived. It’s a pity I couldn’t get a photo but there was a number of vans parked out in the drive obscuring the cottage. At this point continue straight up next to and left of the cottages along a rough surfaced lane. This lane continues on between hedges. In due course the lane drops downhilll and comes out near a couple of farms. Continue on bearing left along the farm drive with Newhole Farm on your left.

The view looking North East just after Newhole Farm.

The road continues on until you get to the B1004 where you cross over and continue on down another farm track. Continue down this track toward Watersplace Farm. Just before the farm turn left to follow track down the right hand side of the field toward the river Ash.

Follow the hedge to your right and then at the end of the hedge turn back on yourself round the hedge and walk back with the river on your left until you reach the bridge.

Cross the bridge and continue straight across the field ahead of you to the gate.

Looking back toward the bridge over the River Ash,

After going through the gate turn left and follow the track of the old railway.

Looking right as we walk along the old railway track.

Part of the old railway road bridge. This is close by where the old Mardocks station was which served Wareside.

Just before the old railway road bridge turn right to descend down to another bridge that crosses the river. The turn left through a gate to walk along fields on the right hand side of the river. You go through another gate and field and then the path turns left over the river and returns across allotments back to the village.

The life of a Street photographer during lockdown.

Another day of restricting ourselves of travel. Another walk locally.

We are able thankfully to walk in areas of open space at the edge of our estate and keep ourselves away from others. This walk through the tracks and lanes of the countryside has become my new ‘Street’.

Around the turn of the 15th Century, Thorley Manor acquired one of its most illustrious Lords, Sir Richard Whittington. As the legendary Dick Whittington, three times Lord Mayor of London, he made most of his fortune lending money in the City of London. His name, however, now lives on at Richard Whittington School and on Whittington Way. Popular folk lore likes to adopt the successive cats that frequent the church as the local descendant of Dick’s famous cat!

Our walk starts at the local church of St. James the Great, Thorley Church.

Originating in the 13th Century the church gained it’s most prominent feature, in the 15th century. The the church tower, built in the Perpendicular style. The evidence that church towers were still thought of as defensive locations is shown by the ornamental battlements and the extra heigh provided by successive storeys. Thorley’s design of tower with a thin eight sided spire or spike rising direct from the tower is a church feature peculiar to Hertfordshire.

The use of the top of the tower as a vantage point has a modern significance. It was used in the Second World War as a look-out place to watch for the night-flying Lysander aircraft returning to Sawbridgeworth airfield at Allen’s Green less than two miles away.