Brian Parkin, QPSA
August 2026 - The Old Wellington
About the Image(s)
My camera club had a 'film camera' day, where half a dozen of us went into Manchester to exercise our old film cameras. I'm very much not into 'street' photography, but I think that this image captures the spirit of the day.
Shooting details:
Camera: Nikon 'Nikomat' FT2 (c.1975), 50mm at f/8, shutter speed - something fast (it was a sunny day)
Film: Kodak T-Max 400 - expired in 2017, so shot at ISO320
No post-processing other than resize after scanning.
5 comments posted
This does make me want to go and spend some quality time at The Old Wellington. I understand this is a film photograph, but it is then scanned, correct? Which means you can then manipulate it digitally? If so, I'd consider straightening a bit and cloning out the bush or leaves in the middle foreground. I like that you were shooting in black and white. That was the right choice I think. Wikipedia says: "The oldest half-timbered pub in Manchester city centre, The Old Wellington Inn was built in 1552..." Impressive! Posted: 08/02/2026 13:31:40
Bollin - one of the 'rules' of our film-camera day was that we could only digitally manipulate anything if we could have done it in the darkroom. I could have straightened it a bit, but that level of cloning was a bit beyond what I would have done in the 1970s when I had a darkroom!
The history of the Wellington is quite interesting - I'd quite forgotten that it had moved twice. Posted: 08/08/2026 07:44:42
The history of the Wellington is quite interesting - I'd quite forgotten that it had moved twice. Posted: 08/08/2026 07:44:42
A great image and thanks for the explanation on the club rules for the assignment. I agree with Bollin's comments, and also like the tonal range the camera was able to catch. Posted: 08/18/2026 14:25:04
Brian, always enjoy B/W photos. The rules for the day give a "older look" to this image. Great idea to have a group to do things like that. Posted: 08/21/2026 15:17:49
Brian, beautiful image, it brings the audience back in time. It does have the "old time feel" to it. I love the building in the background and how the tree branch comes in to add interest to this image and provides a sense of depth.
One thing that I found to be distracting was the front center blurry image in the foreground (likely a plant) - wish it was not there in the image. The bollard next to it was a good foreground though....
Posted: 08/24/2026 04:03:33
One thing that I found to be distracting was the front center blurry image in the foreground (likely a plant) - wish it was not there in the image. The bollard next to it was a good foreground though....
Posted: 08/24/2026 04:03:33