Tag: Architecture

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Bridgewater Place – a windy Dalek

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Two views of Bridgewater Place, a residential and office building in Leeds, UK.

It stands beside the River Aire, alongside which I was walking on the day of my visit. The 32-story building was completed in 2007 and within a month of its opening had been nicknamed “The Dalek” after the race of fascistic aliens made famous by the Doctor Who TV show (because of the building’s shape, not because it contains fascists).

Bridgewater Place

While crossing the road in front of the building I noticed some strange metal structures by it’s side. I didn’t pay these any heed, thinking they were perhaps some sort of architectural flourish. It was later that I discovered that they are actually wind baffles. You see, it was found that when the building was completed it was causing a significant wind microclimate with gusts being recorded comparable to hurricane speeds when the wind was blowing from the west.

These gusts resulted in a number of injuries and accidents, including a woman suffering a torn liver when being thrown into a wall, a pushchair containing a child being blown into the road, someone being lifted off their feet and deposited across the street, and most seriously, a man being killed when the wind caused a lorry to overturn on him.

As a result, a wind mitigation scheme was put in place, with various structural changes being implemented, as well as a re-routing of high-sided traffic on occasions when the wind speed was high. Although the architects were found not liable for the death of the pedestrian, they were made to pay over a million pounds to the council to cover the cost of the traffic measures that had to be put in place.

One of the wind baffles is just visible in the bottom right of the first image and there are warning signs next to the building telling of danger from gusts of wind.

Backlit Bridgewater Place

Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko AUTO-W 28mm f/3.5 & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins.

Taken 14 October 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A view of San Giorgio Maggiore

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Of all the photos I took while in Venice, I think this might be my favourite. It’s the view east to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, and it just looks so wonderfully Venetian. It has the lagoon, the architecture, gondolas and moorings, and even some of those smart looking wooden speedboats (which always remind me of the chase sequence from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – even though that was filmed in London’s docklands area), and just enough people to add interest but not make it look too crowded..

I was very happy when this one came off the scanner.

Venetian scene

Olympus Trip 35 & Colorplus. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 6 May 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

St Mark’s Campanile

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This tower is one of those that doesn’t look as big in pictures but which is huge when you get up close and personal. On my last visit to Venice I went up to the viewing balcony (without my wife, who isn’t keen on heights), but this time I just admired it from its base and the surrounding area.

I didn’t realise until recently that the tower completely collapsed in 1902 and the tower in place today was completed in 1912.

St. Mark's Campanile
Mighty Campanile

Olympus Trip 35 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 6 May 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Living on stilts

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This interesting building sits atop the EuroSpar supermarket in Lido di Jesolo. It was pointed out to me that it was designed by Stefano Pujatti of ELASTICOFarm. This doesn’t mean much to me being somewhat unfamiliar with the world of modern architecture, but I was happy to see more pictures of the structure and find out more about it via this link: https://www.elasticofarm.com/architecture/le-batiment-descendant-lescalier/

I had no idea that the swimming pool was there on the occasions we visited the supermarket!

Above the EuroSpar

Olympus Trip 35 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 5 May 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Old and new

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I thought the juxtoposition between the ages and styles of these two buildings made for a good picture. The older chapel has the detail and the history, and the tower provides a sence of modernity and scale. I think they work well together.

The throat infection continues to improve, although not as fast as I’d like. I’m managing to consume more solid foodstuffs now, but there are still limits – an attempt at some bread was not favourable – and I have a constant feeling of nausea and fatigue, the former probably a side-effect of the antibiotics, the latter because I’be been eating well under a thousand calories for the past few days now. Hoperfully the next day or two will provide a marked improvement.

Old and new

Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins 30 secs @ 20°

Taken 25 March 2023.

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Using branches to fill a gap

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Another University of Leeds building today, the one on the left is the Office of Wellbeing, Safety & Health.

I’ve noticed that I have a bit of a trend of using tree branches to fill in empty parts of photographs where I can. I like the effect it gives and, while the sky isn’t uninteresting in this picture, it would help to mask it if it were.

Day 5 of the throat infection and I think I’m feeling a bit better today. Not well – I still feel pretty ill – but not as bad as I did yesterday (and certainly much better than I felt on Thursday or Friday when I was more or less incapacitated). Hopefully I will start to feel noticeably better in the next day of two. Maybe I’ll even be able to swallow food properly again and perhaps eat something solid with enough calories to sustain me. As of today I’ve lost half-a-stone in weight since this began last week!

Terrace

Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins 30 secs @ 20°

Taken 25 March 2023.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Architectural mish-mash

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This picture was the last frame on the roll and had been cropped by the lab (presumably where it had been clipped as part of the developing or drying process), which it is why it’s not the standard 35mm ratio. Despite the crop, it’s quite a satisfying photograph, I think.

I like the contrasting styles of architecture, whether it be moderm, more classical (any architects reading this, please excuse my ignorance of building styles), or the remnants of industrial walls in the centre of the frame.

Architectural styles

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Fujifilm Superia X-tra 400. Lab Developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken 5 February 2023.

4x5 Large Format · Film photography · Photography

The old school

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Being eager to shoot more pictures with my 4×5 camera I visited this old school which I had passed by before.

Previously it was looking run down and somewhat bedraggled but, in the interim, it has been renovated and turned into homes (or maybe one big, fancy home). While this re-purposing of the old structure is good, from a photographic standpoint it doesn’t look half as interesting as it did before. Still, having driven up there I decided to make the shot anyway.

The old school

Chroma 4×5. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 & Fomapan 100. Fomadon R09 1+50 9 mins @ 20°

Taken February 2023. (I can’t remember the specific date. I normally look at my Google Timeline to check such things but remember that I forgot to take my phone out with me on this occasion so it didn’t record the trip).