Batley Vintage Day 2014

The 31st of May saw Batley’s first Vintage Day event which was held in the town centre of the small West Yorkshire mill town. The event included a vintage market, live music and vintage vehicles from 10am to 5pm.

Gloomy skies overhead, but no rain!

Despite some clouds hovering over the centre of Batley, the rain luckily stayed away. I took the Mamiya C330F with me, along with FP4 for outdoors, and Delta 400 for the marquee areas and using around the market.

Out and about with the Mamiya C330F

The vintage market area looked excellent, filling the square in the centre of town with vintage stalls selling all kinds of items, from 78 records to clothing and accessories. I photographed the stalls from above using the FP4+, using the wider lens to fit in the vast amount of stalls present.

Batley town centre filled with many different kinds of vintage stalls during the day. FP4+ and the wider lens managed to capture the stalls selling their wares.

Pushing Delta 400 to 800 ISO

As some parts of the event were under cover, I needed a bit more sensitivity to capture images. I decided to use Delta 400 and expose at 800 ISO, rather than pull Delta 3200 down to 800 ISO. This worked surprisingly well, only losing a small amount of contrast.

Delta 400 pushed to 800 ISO was used in the marquee. Here, The Honeybirds ladies perform tracks recorded on their new album as part of the entertainment

The exposure under the marquee to photograph The Honeybirds (who have a new album out soon – you should go and buy it!) came out well, providing enough contrast and just as much sharpness as using at the native 400 ISO. Even outside in the sunlight the pushed film still responded well, even though I had to put the lens up to 1/500 and use a bit smaller aperture to get the correct exposure.

A gent with a cup of tea provided an excellent, character filled portrait in the gardens by the town hall in Batley. The slight loss of contrast provided a more genuine 40s look to the photograph.

I really liked this portrait of a gentleman with a cup of tea, as it had a slightly quirky, and ultimately very English look to it.

Back to an old favourite

After the Delta 400 at 800 roll was finished, I went back to the more traditional FP4+ for some outdoor portraits. This film always provides thick, contrasty negatives that print and scan well.

A lady dressed as a WW2 Nurse proved to be a great subject to photograph. The vintage cars and building in the background completed a image with real depth.

As part of my quest to photograph more ladies at these events, I was able to take a portrait of a lady dressed as a WW2 Nurse. I chose to move further back from the subject to have some of the vintage cars and building in the background, which added extra depth to the image. The waist level viewfinder also produced a pleasing look to the photograph, and captured all of the details on her outfit.

American army guys

The snazzy American uniforms are always popular with re-enactors, and the people at this event were no exception. A man dressed as a US Army photographer was an opportunity too good to miss, as I pottered around with the rather weighty C330F around my neck.

A man with a US Army Photographer outfit, striking a typical confident American officer pose.

As with photographs from the Haworth 1940s and Crich 1940s event photographing people with aviators sunglasses was a real treat. I can be seen in my attire taking the photograph in the reflection as the gentlemen posed for his photograph.

A sharp suit, hat and tie

Sharp suits were a frequent site at the Batley Vintage Day, providing a real sense of the fashions of the past. This gent with the ubiquitous pipe looked very authentic with his double breasted suit, plain collar shirt and Fedora hat.

A sharp suited gent with a pipe posing by Batley Library in the town centre. Authentic looking suit and tie, along with a smoking pipe created a great looking photograph.

Photographing couples at Batley Vintage Day

I haven’t photographed many couples at events such as these, but this photograph proved that it can work out well in the tight fitting 6×6 frame of the Mamiya C330F. The 80mm f/2.8 blue dot lens managed to capture all of the details in the ladies furs, and excellent tones in the gent’s black leather jacket.

A vintage couple provided a great photograph at the Batley Vintage Day. The Mamiya was more than capable of capturing the fine details of their authentic outfits.

Meeting people is always a great pleasure at these events, and they always ask lots of questions about my Mamiya C330F camera. If you are pictured in any of these photographs, please get in touch about getting a print.

A great day out at a new local event

The first Batley Vintage Day was a great little event, with plenty of interesting stalls and attractions to see at the event. There are already plans for another event next year, so check out the Batley Vintage Day website for more information.

Further viewing

I have an album of photographs from the Batley Vintage Day on Flickr where you can see a larger range of photographs from the event.

Posted in: 1940s, 6x6, Events, Film Photography, Medium Format