Hi Martin,

400 posts so far on this topic, well done

Back in the days of film cameras some would have used a perpective control lens to keep the National Trust's posts vertical although you could also do it at the printing stage with a tilting film holder and masking frame. Bit easier these days though.

The care taken in the execution of the dog gate is pleasing. Just hope there aren't any overweight dogs round those parts

Rob


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Thanks Rob. I remember tilting the masking frame on the enlarger, and fiddling with bits of blu-tack under the negative holder to tilt it back into focus. Never got it to work very well.

That one was accepted on RP, see:

 http://85a.co.uk/forum/view_topic.php?id=3399&forum_id=5&jump_to=26852#p26852

 http://img.radioparadise.com/slideshow/720/63023.jpg

It's a shame that after asking for up to 4K resolution, Mike has now taken to resampling them down to 720p, since introducing the mobile App.

cheers,

Martin.

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One of my dogs made a new friend at the park today, mine is the one at the bottom



Rob


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A nice day today. Walking around Shrawley this evening:



camera at  SO 80644 65156




camera at  SO 81154 66543

Martin.

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Martin Wynne wrote: It was a fine day today, but I didn't feel up to a long walk two days in a row, so I took myself down the road to Witley Court instead, for the first time in several years.If anyone finds themself at Witley Court, don't miss Great Witley Parish church - a veritable hidden baroque gem..... The interior was "snapped up" at a bankrupt sale when the Duke of Chandos lost out in the South Sea bubble - as the building was a "standard Wren design" the interior, including an organ played by one G F Handel, fitted in the new location.....

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Richard_Jones wrote:If anyone finds themself at Witley Court, don't miss Great Witley Parish church - a veritable hidden baroque gem..... The interior was "snapped up" at a bankrupt sale when the Duke of Chandos lost out in the South Sea bubble - as the building was a "standard Wren design" the interior, including an organ played by one G F Handel, fitted in the new location.....
Thanks Richard.

Note also that the church is alongside but not part of the English Heritage/Witley Court attraction, so there is no admission charge, and the garden tearoom is a non-profit in aid of church funds:

 https://www.witleytearooms.co.uk

cheers,

Martin.

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Agricultural geometry.


camera at SO 78388 68134


Yellow evening with village school.


camera at SO 78622 68036

Rapeseed must be a profitable cash-crop judging by the way this part of the world turns yellow at this time of year. Is this lot going into margarine, or biodiesel?

Martin.

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Martin,

It's not just in your neck of the woods that goes yellow, a fair bit of Devon does too!

Phil.
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The yellow was a bit different our way in late February:



And Pepper enjoying what he likes best:







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Around my way it's meadow buttercups on Chpping Sodbury Common. On the better grass land they are out now in patches with dandelions. But I wait for one large area of poor scrubland which doesn't get grazed by the cattle on the common. There the meadow buttercups can grow to 12" - 15" and on a good year the area is transformed into a sea of yellow in June. The last good year was three years ago and I hope that this year might be one again.

Jim.
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Whilst looking for some other pictures this morning I came across pictures of the meadow buttercups which I had forgotten I had taken.








The area is about one mile north of Chipping Sodbury - the upper picture is facing due north-ish towards the Cotswold scarp and the lower facing due south-ish towards Sodbury and Yate.   Here's a link to the area in Google Maps.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chipping+Sodbury,+Bristol/@51.5550022,-2.3810422,333m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x48719dad2999bb5d:0x50d8b23d4978e10!8m2!3d51.5351659!4d-2.3909379

Jim.

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Walking at Berrington Green this afternoon. It was chillier than it looks -- a flask of soup would have been welcome.



camera at SO 57532 65740



camera at SO 57612 66526


One for Radio Paradise:


camera at SO 57664 65579

Martin.

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The BBC are saying we need rain, but not here.

My walk around Astley yesterday was very muddy.



camera at SO 78840 66435



camera at SO 80840 67132



camera at SO 78823 66397

Martin.

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My legs said they didn't want a long walk two days in a row, so today I took myself to Arley station on the SVR and sat in the sunshine in the picnic garden to eat my lunch. It's a beautifully kept station:








I know that signal well. 57 years ago I visited Arley station on my bike. That was at the end of BR days, when the station was semi-derelict. Traffic on the line was down to a bare minimum, although the coal trains from Alveley Colliery continued for a few more years. After poking about in the yard, I climbed that signal -- as any self-respecting 14-year-old boy would do. The station seemed to be deserted, so I was a bit surprised when a formidable woman appeared from the station house and gave me a good telling off.

Nowadays kids playing on the railway line is treated far more seriously. I suppose it's progress.

Years later James Boyd explained to me that climbing a signal perfectly illustrated the difference between Britain and Ireland. In Britain you got a telling off for trespassing, in Ireland you got a telling off because the post wasn't safe.

Martin.

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Arley is my favourite station on the SVR,Martin thanks for the photos.

Phil.
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Looks like a model railway, even down to the correct colours of the station furniture, and the bridge disguising the exit to the fiddle yard!

Was at the site of another station on Friday, Strata Florida, where the line out over Tregaron Bog is now part of the Ystwyth Trail.





Nigel

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Bewdley North Box in evening sun:


camera at: SO 79131 75360

Martin.

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More reaching for the sky in Bewdley.


camera at SO 78583 75429 looking NE

Martin.
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Bewdley South's Down Distant in the sunshine yesterday. The red sheen on the fields is a sea of poppies:


camera at SO 80817 74616 looking SE


Looking back at the signal just visible in the distance:


camera at SO 80406 73995 looking NE

Martin.
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Broken chain.
 

camera at SO 43054 83588 looking E

Martin.

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Stanford-on-Teme
 

camera at SO 70239 65734 looking NE

Martin.

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Walking on Clee Liberty earlier this week. The sunshine was a bit hazy for most of the day, but the visibility improved in the evening.

In the distance, those blue remembered hills:


camera at SO 57498 84229 looking NW


Titterstone Clee from Nordy Bank hill fort. Lots of green. I like green, it's good for the brain:


camera at SO 57499 84649 looking S

Martin.


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Walking near Tenbury Wells yesterday evening.


camera at SO 59701 64580 looking NW

Martin.


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No walking today -- here's the rain radar just now:



And here is where that map is coming from -- the Met Office weather radar on Clee Hill (the small dome on the left -- the main buildings are NATS air traffic control):



Here's some info:

 https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/research/library-and-archive/library/publications/factsheets/factsheet_15-weather-radar.pdf

Martin.

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After several rainy days the sun finally came out of hiding.


camera at SO 78453 68119 looking SE

Martin.

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My knee is acting up a bit but here's the view above my shed today.

 
The dodgy looking fir on the left is a Larch. They drop their needles in the Winter.



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"Good afternoon, Martin! There seems to be a spring in your step today."

"Yes, I'm quite pleased with myself. With a good breakfast inside me, I managed to get the metafiles working in Lazarus."

"Oh well done! That's marvellous news. I'm sure he will be pleased. What did you have for breakfast?"

"Scrambled egg, grilled tomatoes, and a kipper."

"Well I'm not surprised you got the job done! If you had a kipper for breakfast."

You meet the nicest people on a walk.













Martin.

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Been missing out on my Elan valley trips of late, so with a bit of sun promised amongst the showers I headed over there yesterday. Some interesting lighting; here's a few:










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Nigel Brown wrote: Been missing out on my Elan valley trips of late, so with a bit of sun promised amongst the showers I headed over there yesterday. Some interesting lighting; here's a few:Hi Nigel,

Thanks for those. Some great lighting there.

It's months since I was last in the Elan Valley, I must make another trip soon.

By the way, I have changed the settings on the image gallery. It now resizes down to 1580 wide so there is no need to resize smaller than that if you don't want to. The images are automatically shrunk when viewing on smaller screens or mobile phones. It will accept uploads up to around 4000 wide, so no need to resize at all if your originals are smaller than that.

cheers,

Martin.

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Hi Martin

That's fine. These are the same images that I put up on Geograph, so are sized to the Geograph maximum display size of 1024px.

Cheers
Nigel

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Back to a sunny day in 1969. This one for Rob, I think:



At least, the neg says 1969. I wonder if it might be later? The building dates from 1965. The hexagonal building on the left is a wartime pill-box.

Martin.

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A forlorn-looking flower tub shares the platform with some weeds, Lichfield City, May 1990:



Martin.

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A wet day in Rugby, 1978.






Martin.

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Hi Martin,
This is supposed to be a train forum not a car one Can you post a higher resolution version of the pillbox pic ? Maybe I can give you a better idea on the date and have some fun looking at the cars closer up.

The shot of Rugby with the five cars in the car park shows some of the changes in car buying habits with the Audi 100 and Volvo 244. Never mind Michael Edwardes was about to rescue the Birmingham car industry soon - with the Metro The video tells part of the bad story here



Rob


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Rob Manchester wrote: This is supposed to be a train forum not a car one Can you post a higher resolution version of the pillbox pic ? Maybe I can give you a better idea on the date and have some fun looking at the cars closer upHi Rob,

Here you go. You should be able to fix the date by checking the tax discs:








Here is a link to the full scan if you have a widescreen monitor:

 http://85a.co.uk/images/raven_st_cars_2498x1728.jpg

It was scanned 5 years ago. Since then I have a higher-resolution scanner, so I will look out the neg and scan it again. Which may not show much more other than confirm the size of grain in the emulsion (FP4/Acutol).

cheers,

Martin.

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p.s. Here is the modern Google view:

 https://goo.gl/maps/KJj8AGBP4TLJFLC66

It's interesting that parking is no longer permitted down the middle. Are cars now bigger, or have parking skills deteriorated?

The pill-box is long gone.

Martin.

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Martin Wynne wrote: Rob Manchester wrote: This is supposed to be a train forum not a car one Can you post a higher resolution version of the pillbox pic ? Maybe I can give you a better idea on the date and have some fun looking at the cars closer upHi Rob,

Here you go. You should be able to fix the date by checking the tax discs: Well no earlier than 1968 with the G reg in the foreground and it's looking a wee bit tatty,  so early 70s.
Jim.

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Martin Wynne wrote: Are cars now bigger, or have parking skills deteriorated?
Yes, and yes!
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Hi Martin,

Thanks for the more detailed pics of the car park. Cars are generally much bigger overall these days within each segment. Cars are easier to park than they used to be mainly because of the cameras and parking sensors - not that people seem to bother learning the basics anymore.

The car at the front of the middle line is a Sunbeam Stiletto with an odd design of wing mounted mirrors. The car was produced by the Chrysler/Roots ( later General Motors ) group and was based on the Hillman Imp. The rear engine didn't work out too well - fingertip steering due to all the weight being at the back. You had to listen to the weather forecast before taking one on an exposed road in case there was any wind due

The white car on the right hand row with the 'C' plate is a Renault 8 and to the right of it a Ford Corsair. Third from the far end of the top row is an Austin, probably an A60, one of the few cars around that were available back then with a diesel engine.

Plenty of BMC Mini's on show including Traveller versions. I think the date of your negs is probably about right.

The lens seems much less sharp on the left hand side, see the reg plate on the Mini Traveller on the left.

FP4+Acutol was excellent. 2/3rds of a stop extra film speed very high sharpness.

Now where was I with wrapping the Christmas presents........

Rob


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Wow, thanks Rob. You certainly know your motoring history. By the time I've counted the wheels I've reached the limit of my knowledge.

I don't know if the lens is less sharp on the left, or is it just the focus depth of field? Most of the stuff in the distance is unsharp, look at the fence for example.

I mostly used FP4+Acutol, although I think I tended to give them a bit too long in the dev "just to be sure". With the result that they are grainier than I would like. It didn't show at the time with my enlarger lens, but now that we have high-res scanning it does. I can see the difference with a few I did in PanF+Acuspecial, but PanF was too slow for regular use. Interesting page here:

 https://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Paterson/Paterson_Acu_Range.html

cheers,

Martin.

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