Captured on a 65 year old mechanical camera
I have been stuck in doors for days after a relentless chesty cough, so was eager to fill my lungs with fresh air, get some warm rays on my back, and test my new camera, a recently reconditioned vintage Leica M2. If you are a camera geek like me, here are my recent thoughts on it.
So, with a roll of Kodak Portra 400, I hit the road, and made a b-line for Sheffield.
Grade II listed glass pavilions. by Benjamin Broomhead Taylor, restored and reopened in 2003
I rarely see images of gardens that include people, especially in publications. Public gardens are for the public, and so I waited for this lady to come into shot in front of the impressive Grade II listed glass pavilions. Aren't they spectacular!
What would gardens be without people, and what would people be without gardens!?
What touched me the most was the number of people going about their day in a beautifully tranquil green space. The gardens felt less like a garden to visit occasionally, but that it was rooted in their lives. A young man that was feeding Monkynuts to some Squirrels shared how he regularly comes to spend time with the Squirrels.
People were milling around, some were 'people watching' whilst sat enjoying time out on one of the garden's many glorious Victorian seats. Regulars were taking a lunch break, and others were watching their children expend energy. Volunteers were attending to flower beds and boarders. Sheffield Botanical Gardens felt very personable, and I loved that.
Such a beautiful, tranquil space for the people of Sheffield, and external visitors like me to enjoy.
There is something about the way analogue conveys glass and water that gives me great pleasure.
I called in briefly to see what my new found friends Doug and Charlotte of Arcadia Landscape Gardens were up to. Their particularly unique and interesting garden is perched on a north facing hillside on a private piece of land overlooking Sheffield, with
the eastern foothills of the Pennines beyond.
Discover a little about their story over on my blog post HERE from when I first visited Arcadia in Autumn 2023, plus 'Friends of The Botanical Gardens Sheffield' HERE.
Film developed by Matt of Exposure Film Lab, Herefordshire.