Worsthorne Wandering

With my parents jetting off to Murcia for a few days, last week was spent home along and having to entertain myself. This gave me plenty of time to sit around and finish the coding for this new website, but I knew I couldn’t spend all of my day sat behind a screen, so one afternoon I timed a little amble with the setting sun.

Also, and during yet another little clear-out of my room, I’d found my old Praktica film camera, and noticed it was loaded with a film which had only been half-used. After not having used the camera for over a year, I took it with me during a trip to Clitheroe to finish the roll of film, and then proceeded to completely destroy the film: I’d forgotten how to use the thing on and accidentally opened the back before it had been fully wound on.

After this disaster, I decided that I was to cheer myself up by taking the camera out and allowing myself to use an entire roll of 24 snaps in one go. I did just that during the walk, and so this post is peppered with photos taken on the Praktica and from my phone. As you can see, the first couple I took on the Praktica feature some pretty cool light leakage…

Once I’d technically wandered out the the bounds of my village, Worsthorne, I was drawn over to a horse who was poking his head over a gate and into the road. I’m not usually a huge fan of horses –they kind of scare me– but this one seemed friendly and didn’t bat an eyelid when I wandered over. It did, however, start raring its head whilst I patted its mane, baring its teeth which allowed for some funny selfies when I decided to do the same.

The two of us bearing our pearly whites.

I also tried to take a couple of photos on film as I walked away, but both of them have come out slightly bizarre. The first was grossly overexposed, and the second was well-exposed but completely blue due to something beyond my control which I don’t understand. If you can explain why this might of happened, please do let me know!

I then continued my wander towards the neighbouring village of Hurstwood, taking a photo of some inquisitive sheep along the way. Once again, the mysterious blue haze descended, this time bisecting the image into a lighter and darker area. I quite like the effect it made, despite the attendant in the image processing shop warning me that “half of them haven’t come out quite right”.

Once I’d risked life and limb clambering down a wet and muddy embankment, I found myself crossing an old stone bridge over the confluence of two rivers. Here I took a few more photos, and my camera magically decided that it was going to ditch the blue tint halfway through one of the snaps.

Once I’d been chased by some ducks and sent a few silly videos to some friends to demonstrate how different life back home was to the big cities I’ve become accustomed to, the sun had begun to set and I had to pick up my speed in order not to get caught walking home in the cold and dark of dusk.

The last couple of photos that I got out of my film camera are of one of the strangest views along the way. Walking down one of the roads, you are presented with a view to the left which looks completely false: a smooth, undulating field bordered along the top with a dry stone wall and punctuated by a smattering of trees.

I took two photos of this scene using two distinct combinations of settings on the camera. The first is a much more accurate representation of how the scene looked in the fading light, but I do quite like the pinkish haze created in the over-exposed second shot.

After I’d snapped these, the advance film arm on my camera went limp and I knew it was time to head home. This all happened last week, of course, but just earlier today I had chance to nip into Burnley and pick up the developed photos.

The rest of this week will now be spent with my sister who has just returned from a busy week of university exams in Sheffield. I may have some updates as the week goes on, but failing that I have some big news which I’ll be sharing later this week – stay tuned for that!