FED KANDI - Leica-ish Allsorts from a 1953 Soviet Camera: Thorpe Meadows Sculpture Trail

The view from Platform 7 of Peterborough Rail Station, Crescent Bridge in the background

Loading up the new Baldessa with a full '36' of Fujicolor 200 was probably not the brightest idea in hindsight. I needed the film finished and developed ahead of a rapidly approaching trip to Derby, all the better to confirm my sneaking suspicion that the camera was in fact working. I guess it's camera testing like this that those otherwise inexplicable '8' exposure films are spooled for, but a 36 was all I had so clearly there was some work to do.

Cormorant by Elizabeth Cooke (2000)

So finding myself home-alone, and with a bit of a thirst, on what would prove to be a relentlessly grey day in late March, seemed a good enough excuse to take both cameras out for a run. Nearby Peterborough was the destination, and a long-overdue visit to the terrific Sculpture Trail at Thorpe Meadows on the outskirts of the town.

Whilst paintings of all types are probably my favourite visual art form, good contemporary sculpture comes a close second, particularly when it's set in an interesting landscape to give a bit of context (ie. not a Gallery). In fact I'm already planning an extensive (and probably very expensive) day out to Kew Gardens this year for the new Henry Moore exhibition, so a cheaper practice run at a location littered with modern sculpture would make for a good practice run, or so I thought…

The area known as Thorpe Meadows is effectively a Water Meadow, in fact the reason they survive as a largely undeveloped recreational area this close to the town is that they act as a substantial flood plain for the River Nene. So my advice to you is, do go and explore the Sculpture Trail, it’s a fine walk if nothing else, but also do take some regard to recent weather conditions. Needless to say I didn’t, and as a result found it a bit of a struggle to get around much of the trail, in fact some of the sculptures were only accessible with Wellington Boots.

The plan was to take three photos of each sculpture, one on the phone camera for reference, one general view on the Baldessa with Fujicolour 200, and one monochrome detail image using the FED and a roll of Kentmere PAN 100. And of course thoroughly enjoy splashing around in the mud and puddles for a couple of hours admiring the resolve of the rowers (below), before retiring to the Brewery Tap for beer(s) and a Thai lunch. As such, all went reasonably to plan...

Helios XVI by Barry Mason (1987)

The photographs in this post are all from the Baldessa, which I'm delighted to say performed admirably, and will probably perform even better under more favourable lighting conditions. These being the more general views of the sculptures, there's not a huge amount to say other than I was aiming merely for good focus, and as wide a depth of field as I could manage for any of the multiple pieces. The FED would be for the fancier stuff, unfortunate as it turns out because I have a slight problem with the Kentmere photos...

Whilst the Baldessa is a doddle to load, the whole back coming off the body so that everything is clear to see including the all-important workings of the Sprocket which helps advance the film. The FED has no such visibility, and for some reason the advance was slipping a little on each wind of this film. Having had it developed now, I can see that many of the sprocket holes have been 'shredded' or at best damaged, so clearly it hadn't engaged properly. Ho-hum! I've now taken to advancing a frame or two before putting the base plate back on, likely to lose an exposure or two in the process but at least I can be sure that everything's moving as it should do before I've taken important shots and it's too late.

Meanwhile, the exposed film resisted the efforts of my preferred developers to move through their scanner, so I currently have what looks like a good set of monochrome negative images, but sadly no scans as yet, something I'll be working on.