I was leaving it late to shoot this months roll of Ilford HP5 with Baldy The Baldax, but it was worth it. Our friend Keith came to stay for a few days and he kindly took me to Kirkby Lonsdale for a photo walk around the town on the last Monday in February. It was good to get out and about somewhere different and we made the most of a dry afternoon in the historic market town on the edge of The Lake District, the Forest Of Bowland and the Yorkshire Dales national parks. We arrived at Kirkby Lonsdale at around lunch time and after getting Nedward, Keith's chariot, from the car we set about finding things to photograph.
Kirkby Lonsdale is an ancient market town with a market held regularly since before written records began. The buildings are mostly built of locally quarried stone and the local council are keen to ensure the character of the town is kept intact. Narrow streets and alleys abound and we were not short of things to photograph as we strolled around the town. I took a couple of light readings with my Gossen Trisix to help get my eye dialled into the conditions and it was a reassuring 1/125th of a second at f/8 - f/11 kind of day, depending where the clouds were. Nice.
Being on the edge of three national parks, Kirkby Lonsdale is a focal point for Ramblers as they explore the public footpaths and scenic vistas in the area. Most folk were happy to say hello and a few stopped and had a chat about our cameras. I was using Baldy The Baldax and a couple of cameras I bought for future blogs, a Minolta Hi-Matic 7 and an Agfa Isolette. Keith was using his recently purchased Kiev 4 rangefinder, Mamiya C2 and a Petri 35mm SLR. They were good talking points and folk were genuinely happy to see film photography still being enjoyed in the digital age.
We made our way to St Mary's Church in the heart of town and enjoyed a good wander around taking in the peacefull scenery of the churchyard. Spring is definitely here as there were plenty of Snowdrops, Crocus and Daffodils in bloom around the cemetery. I always find the first flowers of spring to be a magical sight as nature awakens from its winter slumber. Cemeteries may be a place for the dead to take the eternal sleep, but there's so much life at this time of year as early spring flowers bloom and the birds begin to build their nests in the trees and nesting boxes dotted around the churchyard.
The Church has been refurbished and rebuilt many times over the centuries, but it still retains some elements of its 12th century Norman architecture intermingled with 14th and 18th century repairs and additions. I'm not a religious person, but I do appreciate the skills of the craftsmen that built and maintained the Church over the years. It takes years to learn the skills to dress stone to a high standard and last many lifetimes longer than the original craftsmen who dressed the first stone blocks.
I had hoped to take a photo or two from Ruskin's View, a path above the River Lune that enamoured noted art critic John Ruskin and inspired JW Turner to paint it. Sadly nature has been taking its toll on the path as the steep slope down to the river has been seriously eroded by the flooding the area has endured over the last few years. A section of the slope has tumbled into the river and cracks are appearing on the path above which gave the local council no choice but to close it to the public. There is an ongoing effort to raise the money needed to stabilise the banking and save Ruskin's View for future generations. I hope it succeeds.
As is normal, Keith and I took a couple of cameras with us and we both shot a few rolls of film to document our afternoon walk around Kirkby Lonsdale. We had been so busy hunting compositions and trying each others cameras that it seemed like we had only been there for half an hour when it was time to head back to the car. Keith had paid for three hours parking time and we managed to load Nedward into the car and be on our way back to Wigan with a few minutes to spare.
I developed my roll of Ilford HP5+ 400 the next day using HC110 1+47 dilution E for 8 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry. I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi medium format film holder on my Pixl-Latr and A5 led light source. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.
We had an enjoyable afternoon of film photography in Kirkby Lonsdale. The weather was kind to us, the people were friendly, we shot half a dozen rolls of film between us and we didn't get a parking ticket. Result! I have placed a link below where you can find more info about the town and maybe help you plan a visit there yourself. Here's a few of my favourite photos from my February roll of Ilford HP5+ 400 for the Frugal Film Project 2024. As always I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project - 120 Medium Format album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.
Frugal Film Project 2024 - 120 Medium Format
Kirkby Lonsdale - Things To See And Do
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