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Secret Station by Eilis O’Connell

January 3, 2021 By James G. Leave a Comment

Secret Station by Eilis O'Connell, 1992
Hasselblad 501c | 80mm Zeiss Lens | Exposure f22 @ 60 seconds | © James Gray

Link to artist’s page: Eilis O’Connell

Taken in the early 1990s when the steam function still worked, now it’s long gone. Situated on one of the busiest roads into Cardiff Bay, the site was ideal for boosting the image of the new Cardiff Bay development that began in the late 1980s and continued throughout the 1990s. It was commissioned by Cardiff Bay Arts Trust in 1992.

I took the picture as part of a Black and White Landscape course at Ffotogallery, the national development agency for photography in Wales. In the space of a couple of years, I’d done several City & Guild courses that also included darkroom printing. Using a darkroom was something I’d never done before, and the thrill of watching your print appear in the chemical trays captured me from the off. Doing these courses helped me gain access to the Ffotogallery darkroom, and I did another class at a college in Copenhagen a couple of years later while living there. An opportunity presented itself when I moved back to the UK in 2006, and I built a darkroom in my house. My home darkroom lasted a couple of years before I switched to digital. If money and space were no object, I’d go back to a darkroom today in a heartbeat. But, you can’t deny the attractions of digital and being able to make images so quickly and cheaply.

This image of Secret Station was taken on a Hasselblad 501c and an 80mm lens. The film, a favourite, was Ilford Delta 100asa, which was great for long exposures as I could usually get a couple of seconds for an exposure even during the day. I used to expose at 80asa and extend the development in ID11…those where the days!

Penarth Pier

December 20, 2020 By James G. 1 Comment

Penarth Pier, tide out in the early morning light
Hasselblad 501c | 50mm Zeiss Lens | Exposure f22 @ 120 seconds| Ilford 100 Delta | © James Gray

Taken at first light, from memory around 2007 on film, Ilford Delta 100asa, and probably at 6 am. I remember well because I must have set up my tripod and camera at 5.30 am or something like that and by the time I’d finished taking pictures the lights on the pier suddenly went out. I think that it was 6 am, and it felt as though it was great timing. The starlight from the lampost would have been missing if I’d arrived later than I did. I wouldn’t have known either..! and for me, it helps make the picture. The mist from the waves rolling in was also something I hoped to photograph. It is why I used an exposure of about 2 minutes at f22. I’ve not been back to Penarth to re-shoot this on digital, but looking at it again tonight as I write this, I’d like to get out and re-shoot it. I need to make sure I look up the tide times and arrive early knowing that the tide is out and that it needs to be at low tide around an hour before sunrise. So there are quite a few ducks you need to get into a row before you can be sure that you can bag a great picture. This visit though was pure luck. I got lucky, but sometimes that’s how it goes. :o)

Taken with a Hasselblad 501c with a 50mm wide angle lens.

Bronica SQA | 80mm Lens | Exposure f16 @ 60 seconds | Fuji Velvia | © James Gray
Penarth Pier – 1992/3

Edit: I’ve dropped in a picture of the pier that I took a few years before, this time though it was on Fuji Velvia 50ASA, and again was captured at sunrise in the summer, from memory this was about 4:30 to 5am. Also, this was taken with the standard 80mm lens, which is why you can only see the end of the pier.

Storm Clearing Hørsholm Lake, Denmark

December 10, 2020 By James G. Leave a Comment

Reflections in Hørsholm Lake, Copenhagen, Denmark
Hasselblad 501c | 80mm Zeiss Lens | Fuji Velvia ISO 50 | © James Gray

A few years back I lived and worked in Denmark, and had the good fortune to live around the corner from this lake in Hørsholm, a suburb to the north of Copenhagen. Then, I used to walk around the church and enjoy the peace and tranquility, nowadays I’d probably go into the church. But this part of Denmark was generally a very peaceful place to be and in winter all you can smell in the afternoon and evenings is the wood smoke.

Traditional Buildings Opposite Hørsholm Lake, Copenhagen, Denmark
Hasselblad 501c | 80mm Zeiss Lens | Fuji Velvia ISO 50 | © James Gray
Hørsholm Church Lake

The views at all times of the year were sublime, and I remember a day when it was a heavy snowstorm, so I went out for a walk around the lake. Half way around, the storm stopped and the clouds parted and the sun came out. My rooms weren’t far, so I ran back to grab my camera and then raced back before the clouds closed up and it start snowing. I went through a roll of film, 110 because i was using a medium format camera at the time, which weighed a ton especially as it had to be put on a tripod. But, it was worth the effort. It’s a favourite contact sheet that is colourful to look at.

Still Lake at the front of the Hørsholm Church, Hørsholm, Copenhagen, Denmark,
Hasselblad 501c | 80mm Zeiss Lens | Fuji Velvia ISO 50 | © James Gray
Hørsholm Church in Winter

Parts of the lake were still frozen but the reflections in the lake made the pictures. Despite it blowing just a short time earlier was now completely still.

Tiger Bay, Cardiff

December 6, 2020 By James G. 1 Comment

Hasselblad 501c | 80mm Zeiss Lens | Ilford Delta ISO 100 | Exposure f22 @ 60 Seconds | © James Gray

In the 1900s Welsh coal was known throughout the world, it was considered the best of the best. Ships from all over the world would come to Cardiff to fill their holds with the stuff. Roll forward a hundred years, more or less, and things have moved on. The area is in ruins, and the coal is gone, and the ships retired. All that is left is the murky mud flats visible twice a day at low tide, and the old wooden remains of what used to be the quays that the ships loaded up alongside.

To regenerate the area in the 1990s, the UK Government pumped money to transform from the industrial past into a vibrant future based on shopping, tourism, restaurants and bars. One part of this major plan that has seen Cardiff rise in the ranks to become one of the top cities to live and work in the UK was the building of a barrage across the mouth of the River Taff to form Cardiff Bay.

At the same time, I was doing a City & Guilds photography course on Black and White Landscape.
I wanted to take pictures before the flooding of the mudflats for posterity. I wanted to contrast the old with the new. A new hotel by the Rocco Forte Hotel group was in the process of building Cardiff’s first 5-star hotel, and the mudflats were in the foreground, making a great composition. I took the photograph of the Norwegian Church at the same time, and a few others that I’ve still yet to scan and upload…but I will, in time.

I took this with a Hasselblad camera mounted on a tripod for a long exposure of around one minute at f16/f22. I wanted to set the aperture right down to get as many star lights as possible, and luckily the lights on the hotel construction provided just that.

The clouds provide just the right amount of movement, and there’s plenty of drama in the foreground, and the two cranes were in perfect position.

It was always one of my favourite pictures and looking back on it; it still is..!

Norwegian Church, Cardiff Bay

November 15, 2020 By James G. 2 Comments

Hasselblad 501c | 80mm Zeiss Lens | Ilford Delta ISO 100 | Exposure f22 @ 60 Seconds | © James Gray

Taken in 1997/8 a few years after the Norwegian church had been moved in order to save it from almost certain destruction. Shut in the 1970s, the church was in a poor state of repair, but efforts by Roald Dahl, who was born in Cardiff and baptised in this church, helped to ultimately save it. It was put in a prominent position overlooking the planned Cardiff Bay development that was taking place around the same time.

Several cities across the UK were getting the same redevelopment treatment, including London Docklands. Cardiff was no different. The Cardiff Bay Area had suffered industrial decline for a number of years and the area was almost completely derelict. The boost that followed was very welcomed indeed. It has since transformed Cardiff and put us on the map, again.

The Norwegian church was built to serve the large number of sailors that came through the port of Cardiff in the port’s heyday. Scandinavian sailors were one of the largest groups that came through. At one point, Cardiff was the largest port in the world.

That’s the history of the church, but for me, it was a good looking building, since it had just been painted, there were three new trees in the front and I managed to catch some starlights from the lamposts at the side. I put my camera onto a tripod so I could take a long exposure, and from memory this would have been about 30 seconds to 1 minute. To brighten up the front area, I ran around firing a flash several times. This was originally taken on Ilford Delta 100 film, and I remember with great pleasure developing this image in a darkroom and printing enlargements.

The area around it has changed slightly and it has been extended. I like to think that I captured it at its best.

Sony A7R | FE 28mm f2 Lens | ISO 100 | Exposure f2.0 @ 1/640 | © James Gray
Norwegian Church in the Background
Sony A7R | FE 28mm f2 Lens | ISO 100 | Exposure f11 @ 1/125 | © James Gray
Norwegian Church 20 Years On | How the Trees Have Grown…
Sony A7R | FE 28mm f2 Lens | ISO 100 | Exposure f16 @ 1/125 | © James Gray
Norwegian Flag Flying Proudly | Cardiff Bay
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About Me

Marketer. Born, bred in Cardiff. Worked abroad long enough to develop serious taste for Danish pastries/proper bread. Married w/2 kids & dog. Loves F1, photo, outdoors.

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