two days in derbyshire
August 16, 2006
On Friday I went up to Derbyshire for a couple of days for Peter’s stag party. It was a nice celebration, quite mellow by stag party standards. We went for a walk in the hills round Ashbourne (a Fairtrade Town, apparently), to a pub for supper, and then to the house of one of Peter’s friends in Derby for a party. It was the first time I’ve spent a night away from London since I got back (still haven’t made it up to Edinburgh yet…), and also gave me a chance to play with my new toy: a medium-format Russian Lubitel camera that I got from a secondhand shop a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t taken a whole film yet (you only get 12 shots per film, and developing costs are high, so got to be a bit careful what you shoot), but hopefully will have something to put here when I do…
The eerie clay heads (below) were sprouting up from the ground around the base of a tree. Apparently they commemorate a group of prisoners of Derby gaol who were shot in the streets after escaping.
Posted by mayee — August 16, 2006 at 5:16 am
these are beautiful pictures Nick! did you capture them with your Canon-Kiss? i should get my manual camera out just to remind myself how much i like the slr… esp. now that i have got some film, finally!
next time i go home to singapore, i should try to fish out our old Lubitel-like camera that my big brother used to play with as a kid… i wonder if they still sell the film…
Posted by lva — August 16, 2006 at 10:24 am
Hi May. Yes, both these pictures were taken with the Canon Kiss (which, for unknown reasons, might instead be called a 350D or even Rebel XT where you are — same camera, three names…) I haven’t had anything from the Lubitel developed yet, so can’t vouch for its quality, but it’s certainly fun to play with, and very different from a digital camera. No light meter and very ropey viewfinder mean you just have to point it the right way, guess approximately the right settings, and cross your fingers! If the roll comes out ok I’ll put a couple of shots from it up here.
Posted by Dan H — August 29, 2006 at 6:00 pm
And in case you were wondering, it is true that everyone in Derbyshire has a flat head.
Pingback by lva » pictures from the old box camera — December 16, 2006 at 12:48 am
[…] From top to bottom: (1) Cows drinking from a trough near Ashbourne, Derbyshire (taken at Peter’s stag weekend); (2) A field near Ashbourne, Derbyshire; (3) Eerie clay heads in Derby; (4) The British Library Reading Room, British Museum, London. […]