Lots of verticals in this horizontal shot. Nicely composed.

These sort of shows are always fun to watch and photograph.

Love all of your beautiful shots, capturing this wonderful scenery, but these two stand out the most... Just stunning in every way. Love the light and tones and appreciate your ability to capture those scenes and frame them perfectly! 👍

Do you remember those "One-hour-photo lab machines" around 40 years ago? I actually don't because I wasn't alive, but supposedly this lens was used in one of those... Still got no idea which manufacturer used those interesting and unique Schneider lenses originally.

From silver halide to silver leaf... by simple.joy, auf Flickr

This one, from Zeiss Jena did exactly what its name (Dokumar) suggests... because it was used to capture images of big documents (like newspapers, maps, technical drawings etc.) on microfilm.

The race to unbutton is on! by simple.joy, auf Flickr

Not sure what the Stasi-employees in the former GDR, who probably used this device a lot, would have thought about my capture of this button on the run.

Ziggi

I asked to take her photos and she was very positive. I sent her photos and she liked half body portraits more but I liked the close ups more.

A nice happy set. I think the close up shots are the best, but I think she probably wanted to see her street fashion.

These old unusual lenses have character, that you just cannot put your finger on. I think these German lenses have a certain rendering that the more clinical modern lenses do not have.

You have put them to good use.

Photographs? of a brave new world. Cool.

Harsh light but the shot makes me want to be there.

Both nice shots but the second is just that little bit different.

I like them all but I think the lovely smiles in the last two lift the shots.

Lovely portraits. I bet she was pleased.
I like number 5 best, followed by the close up in number 1

Hello, Wormsmeat. As I'm sure you know, dpreview did not vanish. Did anyone invite you back? If not, please let me issue the invitation. I miss your This Week thread in the micro four thirds forum.

Dale Head via Yew Crag Quarry

As I alluded to in my earlier post, I spent Saturday afternoon having a mini adventure in The Lake District.

I had been planning a trip to Todmorden as, when I checked the forecast on Friday the Lakeland weather was looking somewhat apocalyptic, with heavy rain and gale force winds, a typical August in northern England you might say, yet Todmorden was looking mostly dry and a little less windy and therefore appeared to be a safer bet. But on Saturday morning things had flipped around a bit, with Lakeland looking mostly dry after lunch and the winds looking a little less hostile, so the decision was made to head North and return to the fells for the first time in ages.

I was recently gifted a book about Honister slate mine and, having read with interest about the long abandoned gravity incline tramway on the side of Dale Head I knew exactly where I wanted to go.

I'd noticed the tramway and mine workings a few years ago when walking over Fleetwith Pike, but didn't know anything about it or even if it was accessible to the public, but thought it looked interesting.

When I arrived at Honister slate mine I completely forgot to take an overview picture, but dug this out from a hike I did back in 2018 to give you some idea of the challenge that lay before us.

It's a formidable climb and, in restrospect I think you'd need to be a bit mad to attempt to climb something like this unless you're extremely comfortable on unstable scree and spoil. Talking of madness, I think I got a bit carried away with the selective colour saturation in this one. Yes, the slate is blue, but perhaps not quite this blue.

The Climb Begins

Having crossed the pass in front of the Honister Slate Mine centre/shop thingy, we quickly found the soft turf of the path leading to the foot of Yew Crag quarry. Strangely enough, we were the only ones going this way. I wonder why? This picture was taken part way up the lowest part of the tramway as it heads up towards the first level shown at the bottom of the previous picture. For this part, it's mostly slippy grass. The old steel cables are lying on the ground, but aren't something you'd want to grapple with unless you've recently had your Tetanus shots.

Tim Burton's Cave

At the first level we came across this funky looking cave entrance, which wouldn't look out of place in a Tim Burton film. As we were both armed with head torches we felt a quick look within was required. So, donning our torches and protective baseball caps we stepped into the dark.

The tunnel runs level and straight(ish), leading some way deep into the side of the rockface. On reflection, I can't really estimate how deep it went and thinking about it, I had a small laser measuring tool in my pack that would have been ideal here, but never thought to use it. There's a couple of inches of water on the floor, but nothing you can't easily work your way around.

This shot pretty much shows the full depth of the tunnel. I'm sure that large chunk of slate on the floor didn't fall from the roof and was instead carefully placed there at some point in the distant past for some unknown reason.

Admiring The View

Back out in the relative safety of the abandoned quarry and enjoying the view in the direction of Grey Knotts.

Looking in the opposite direction you'll find Fleetwith Pike looming large on the left and bearing a fair few human inflicted wounds on its rugged face, with Buttermere stretching off into the distance beyond, with just a hint of Crummock Water visible behind the rising form of Robinson.

Top of The Tower

After a bit more scrambling and careful path finding we arrived at the level of this still standing cable tower. As I only had the 24-70 and 100-400 with me (the latter just coming along for the ride as it turned out, with its 1.5Kg bulk never leaving the bag), I had no wide angle option, so I resorted to shooting a few hand held panos of which this is one. You can see the Honister centre in the distance where we started this oddyssey.

The Winding Drum

At the very top of the incline stands the winding drum, replete with a pylon that appears to have drunk too much. The incline tramway was gravity driven with loaded carts pulling the empty ones back up the slope as they descended.

I'm not entirely sure how this was set up, but from the look of this drum it originally had two drums on the axle, so perhaps two cables wound in opposition were attached to each drum, with each cable bearing its own set of carts? It impressive that it's still standing, but the harsh conditions have taken their toll and I'd be surprised if the surviving drum and wound cable last more than another handful of decades. In the last few years of the mines life, the upper level was abandoned and the tramway was disconnected from this drum and instead driven with an electric motor at the bottom of the incline and cable run around a sheave wheel further down the slope, which makes me wonder if the missing drum was actually removed while the tramway was still in use? More research required here.

Detail shot of the exposed boards of the drum. I love the texture here.

Close up of the fraying steel cable on the drum.

A decaying length of cable slowly unravels on the floor below the drum.

Just chillin' and enjoying the view after surviving defeating the worst of the ascent.

...and what a view.

A wider pano shot comprising the view from Grey Knotts the Fleetwith Pike.

Continued in part 2 due to the 16 shot limit.

Dale head via Yew Crag Quarry

part 2 continued from above

Beyond The Quarry

Even though we'd reached the top of the incline, Yew Crag still had more to offer and we set off up the much easier and safer (no, really, this was a doddle compared to what we'd just come up) path to find the next treat.

On the way we passed this cave with agonisingly twisted looking rocks around its entrance, but we were clearly getting weary, so the idea of investigating this geological orifice never crossed either of our minds and we plodded on up the hill...

... where we found the accommodation level. These abandoned buildings provided shelter and sleeping quarters for the miners working on site.

Dale Head Summit

After a mooch around the ruined huts, we continued on up the hill towards the summit of Dale Head, eventually arriving at the summit cairn a good 50 minutes later. Curiously, this cairn is placed right on the edge of a steep drop and with the wind blowing from behind me (as this was taken) we were forced to shelter on the far side to eat our sandwiches and enjoy the view looking into the Newlands valley.

And what a view it is. The ridge on the left is Robinson and the one on the right runs from Catbells to High Spy, before swinging around to join Dale Head where we were.

The last time I came up here (some years ago), the summit was thoroughly in the clag with no view at all. It was also a couple of feet deep in snow. Despite our famous English summers, I'd have been surprised to find it snowing, but the 43MPH gale, rolling mist and 16C temperature seems about par for the course in the middle of August.

Personally, with my recent heart diagnosis, I was glad that I could make it up this 2,438ft mountain with no real issues, other than it being harder work and taking a lot more time than it would have pre-pandemic due to the bucket fulls of medication I'm on.

Of course, any sense of achievement was quickly quashed when a group of young fell runners appeared from the direction of High Spy and briefly stopped for a chat and to ask me to take a photo of them (with a phone! Oh the humanity!). We asked them where they were running to and apparently they were just doing the horseshoe, i.e. pretty much all you can see in this picture then. I decided it might be best not to mention that we'd just spent three and a half hours tackling a meagre 1,251ft of ascent spread over a puny two miles. Fellrunners. They're just something else.

So, all in all, a fantastic mini adventure exploring the quarry and incline tramway. For anyone thinking of having a go at this madness walk, I would say only attempt it if you're completely comfortable scrambling up long stretches of loose scree on a steep incline and negotiating some minor bits of climbing where there's no practical way up the tramway itself or around the partially demolished structures. To put it in context, there were even bits of climbing where I felt it necessary to put a lens cap on. Yeah, it was that serious!

As it turns out you can visit the upper part of the quarry including the huts and winding drum quite easily if you pick up the branch from the main Honister to Dale Head summit path, but it's not marked on a map and although we found it easily coming up from the quarry, it might be a bit trickier to find in the opposite direction as it's not heavily frequented.

All in all, I took around 550 images on this trip, I think I got a little bit over excited, but managed to pare that down to 180 for editing and then picked 60 from that which I further pared down to the 20 you see here. There are way more images that would help to tell the story, but I felt I was pushing it a bit with 20 images, so apologies if I've bored anyone with this episode.

All images taken with the Nikon Z7 + 24-70 f/2.8S. Processed from individual raw files in Capture One Pro 23, except where noted with the panos, which comprise of several images stitched in Capture One.

Well, I knew about DPR continuing but felt it morally right to stay here and support the guys that have worked so hard to set up this site. But the thread seems to be diminishing week-by-week so my interest is waning a little too.

Outstanding work Steve. The images have beauty and are well-composed but are also utterly fascinating.

Sombody started a weekly thread there and it has less interest than this one. It is summer and people are away. Maybe if they start doing some article and stuff as Bob planned, interest in this site will improve.

I hope they make it work here as I do not miss the questionable moderation at DPR

Interesting shots from this adventure! Love this one in particular.

Even though I might not be a regular in this thread, I really hope you‘ll stay here - I‘m sure it‘s highly appreciated by a number of people, even though some seem to be away at the moment!

I‘ve decided to give this new platform a real chance by actively contributing myself and using the opportunities to really be heard in the process of its creation! The size of and activity on dpreview might be tempting in the short run, but I think it might be worth it to stick around here and be open to the idea of doing things a little differently.

Believe me, I know how low participation can impact motivation (I‘ve started a thread around the idea of sharing 5 of your favorite shots in celebration of World Photography Day here recently - dprevived.com/t/world-photography-day-celebration-showing-of-your-images/4855/ - and only a single person responded… 😅), yet I still think it‘s worth it to try.

Thanks for sticking around and @JosephS - since you already have an account here as well, here‘s an invitation to to you give this small but dedicated community a chance as well! 👍