Dorset Spring Fair

Back during the first May bank holiday I went to the Dorset Spring Fair. I’d not been to this event before, so wasn’t sure what to expect. In the event there was a bit of everything. There was a food tent with mostly Dorset food. There was a craft tent, some food stalls, a car show section comprising of about 10 cars. There were some animals too – a pig with piglets, a sheep with lambs, a cow, and there was a display of chickens and ducks. That was my surprise for the day – I never knew that to buy a live chicken was so cheap! About £20 – £25. My other surprise was how many eggs they might lay in a season. Somewhere in the order of 150!! Funny the things you never think about in life!!

Not sure at what I may see I was equally undecided what camera and film to take. In the end I decided on the Nikon F3, the lens was a bit more of a challenge as I didn’t want to take a bag of gear. My favourite 35mm may be a bit wide for anything in the arena, while a tele too long for up close. In the end I chose the 35-105mm Nikkor short zoom. It came to me with a camera purchase years ago. I don’t recall ever using it before, I tend to favour prime lenses, but in this case it was the perfect choice. I was also pleased with the results that it gave. It was a nice bright day so the lack of a wide aperture was no issue. I used it mostly around f8. I took two rolls of FP4 and 1 of Kodak Portra 160. I haven’t had that developed yet – so that joy is yet to come!

At lunchtime I consumed a foot long hot dog with onions – that was good and kept me going for the rest of the day. Later I got slightly conned into buying £15 worth of Turkish Delight. I went for the orange flavour to try something different. I may have winced at the £15, but it was perhaps the best Turkish Delight I’ve ever had! All in all a very enjoyable day out.

Chatter: Nikon F3, 35-105 Nikkor, with FP4 developed in FX55