With the demise of Jessops in Barnstaple I thought I was going to struggle to get my 35mm colour film processed – I found a place in South Molton so the panic is over.

The image above was taken with my trusty Pentax P30 35mm camera (no 3702885) using an out of date roll of Kodak Gold film (Kodak GT 800-4). There is something sad about motionless swingboats.

These are on Woolacombe Beach and I always look forward to them being re-erected after the long winter – their colours and painted swirls bring the promise of  hope to the desolate beach.

The winter population of Woolaconbe is very small (around 1,000), but during the summer large numbers of people come to the village for their holidays. Many are motivated to visit because of the excellent surfing conditions found locally.

Swingboats Woolacombe Beach, a photo by 35mm_photographs on Flickr.

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The Pentax P30, 35mm film camera  has a semi-automatic mode, which chooses most of the settings but allows for more creativity.

Pentax P30 has shutter speeds from 1/1000 of a second to 1 second. The automatic mode on this film camera chooses the best shutter speed and aperture setting for the natural light available.

In 1952 Asahi Optical introduced its first camera, the Asahiflex (the first Japanese SLR using 35mm film). The name “Pentax” was originally a registered trademark of the East German VEB Zeiss Ikon (from “Pentaprism” and “Contax”) but, as all Germans patents were annulled with the country’s defeat, the name “Pentax” was taken by the Asahi Optical in 1957. Since then the company has been primarily known for its photographic products, distributed under the name “Asahi Pentax” (equipment was imported to the United States from the 1950s until the mid-1970s by Honeywell Corporation and branded “Honeywell Pentax”). The company was renamed Pentax Corporation in 2002. It was one of the world’s largest optical companies, producing still cameras, binoculars, spectacle lenses, and a variety of other optical instruments. In 2004 Pentax had about 6000 employees.

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Jessops Europe Limited

Jessops Europe Limited, trading as Jessops, is a British photographic retailing company. It was founded in Leicester in 1935 by Frank Jessop and traded under the name of The Jessop Group Limited. The business entered administration on 9 January 2013 and all Jessops retail stores ceased trading on 11 January 2013 until the British entrepreneur Peter Jones invested several million pounds into the company and formed Jessops Europe Limited.

Six stores opened on 28th March 2013. The re-launch at Oxford Street in London on 28th March 2013 received a huge amount of media interest & was attended by celebrities including actor James Corden.