Trellick Tower

September 24, 2021 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

Trellick Tower is an apartment complex built back in the early 1970s, designed in the brutalist style by Ernő Goldfinger as it was falling out of fashion. Like many similar housing complexes, it became a site of crime, drug use and other misdemeanours. Over time however it found favour and crime was reduced by a number of measures, including the formation of a resident’s association, and it became a desireable place to live. The tower was given Grade II listing status in 1998.

The building has featured on TV and in movies on many occasions and is a structure I instantly recognise due to its distict shape and “outrigger” design. Despite this, other than it being in London, I didn’t really know where it was so I was pleasantly surprised when I turned a corner while visiting Portobello Road market and it appeared right before my eyes.

Brutalist buildings
A design for the future
Or so people thought

Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Lab developed in Xtol.

Taken on 19 August 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Sheaf Quay

August 14, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I’ve been out all day today at a steam rally and after walking around the place (and the four hours of driving there and back) am pretty tired, so just a couple of quickly published photos in this post.

It’s hard to think of
A haiku when you are tired
I hope this will do

Nikon F80, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 24 July 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

The old synagogue

July 28, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The interesting building seen in this picture used to be a synagogue and cloister’s chambers, originally built in 1872. As with so many buildings in the city, it has been re-purposed and now serves as student accommodation.

As time moves along
New uses for old buildings
Places recycled

Nikon F80, Nikkor 50mm f/18 AF-D & Fujichtome Velvia (expired 2003).

Taken on 13 June 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

City living

July 25, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A picture of one of the many apartment blocks that have risen across Sheffield city centre in the last couple of decades. Th university seems to throw up ne buildings on a contant basis, but I believe this one is private accomodation. I’m not sure if the building shown here has a specific name, but it stands on Blonk Street right beside the river Don just above to point where the River Sheaf merges.

Velvia colours
From a roll of expired film
Vividly azure

Nikon F80, Nikkor 50mm f/18 AF-D & Fujichtome Velvia (expired 2003).

Taken on 13 June 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Sharp lines from the XA3

June 15, 2021 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

I’ve been very impressed with the quality of the images from the tiny Olympus XA3. Given the zone focus system I wondered if they might not have the sharpness I might expect in comparison with a camera that allows full focusing and control of aperture, but it makes tack-sharp photos.

I’ve often heard said
That you might find some good things
In small packages

Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 16 May 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Straight lines and curvy lines

June 11, 2021June 14, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I’m still in my “don’t feel like posting” mood today, although not so much as before. I didn’t have an extra-long day at work today, as with the previous two, plus the report I had to deliver has now been sorted and presented, so that’s out of the way and off my mind to a large degree (although there’s still further work to be done as an outcome). I don’t think the warm weather we’re having at the moment is helping much either, even though it’s not unseasonably hot or anything, rather we’ve had a run of colder-than-expected temeratures and now it’s bounced back to normal it feels like a heatwave in comparison.

The weekend beckons though, and while the usual chores are waiting to rob me of my time (the grass needs cutting again) I should have enough time to at least try and relax and do something I enjoy. This weekend, if the sunshine holds, that will hopefully include a walk to try out some expired Velvia 50 that I have four rolls of. This will be my test roll and give me a good idea of how the film performs given it’s age and give me confidence (or not) as to it being useable. I have some Sensia 100 received from the same person and the first roll of that looks fine (although I haven’t scanned it yet).

Anyway, I’m supposed to be averse to posting at the moment, so I’d better bring things to a close with some photographs. A couple more from my XA3 test roll.

The first photo is looking up to the large block of concrete that is the O2 Academy, but which will always be the Roxy nightclub to people of a certain age. It sits atop a large NCP car park and, while not to everyone’s taste, is quite a distinctive structure.

The second shows a much older building in the shape of the NSPCC building. It’s surrounded by more modern structures, but the curve of the block-paved roadway leading up to and around the building makes for a nice image.

Drinking and dancing
Loud music and toilet floods
That allright f’yers?

Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 16 May 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Modern monolith

June 5, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Like a Borg Cube descended to Earth, this angular structure sits adjacent to the River Don behind Savile Street. The circular “portholes” and horizontal bands break up what might otherwise be a plain and undistinguished structure. I like the way it looms in the picture both above and below the water.

Angular it stands
A monolith by water
Blue and grey tower

Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Kodak Colorplus.

Taken on 9 May 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

What If?

December 29, 2020 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

Today’s photos show the side of the Sheffield Hallam University building. The poem was added in 2007 as part of the “Off the Shelf” literary festival that took place. It was written by Andrew Motion, the British Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009.

The poem is partially obscured in both these shots due to the trees and the temporary buildings, but the full piece reads as follows:

What If?

O travellers from somewhere else to here
Rising from Sheffield Station and Sheaf Square
To wander through the labyrinths of air,

Pause now, and let the sight of this sheer cliff
Become a priming-place which lifts you off
To speculate
What if..?
What if..?
What if..?

Cloud shadows drag their hands across the white;
Rain prints the sudden darkness of its weight;
Sun falls and leaves the bleaching evidence of light.

Your thoughts are like this too: as fixed as words
Set down to decorate a blank facade
And yet, as words are too, all soon transferred

To greet and understand what lies ahead –
The city where your dreamling is re-paid,
The lives which wait unseen as yet, unread.

Andrew Motion

Fujica GW690 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 20 December 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

The Pennine Centre

November 27, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The Pennine Centre is Sheffield’s largest office complex. Construction completed in 1975, having taken two years.

For many years, the structure was the home of the HSBC bank (or Midland Bank in its earlier years), but they have recently cacated the premises to move to new office space in the city centre. The service centre where I used to work did so much business with the bank that some members of staff were permanently on-site.

The building is currently vacant, but expecting new tennants. I spoke briefly with a security guard before making this photo and was impressed to hear that there are several floors of underground parking beneath the structure.

Yashica Mat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 1 November 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Globe Works

November 24, 2020 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

Globe Works is a former cutlery factory situated in the Shalesmoor area of sheffield.

The building has a Grade II listed status and was renovated in the 1980s. The building is now home to a number of businesses, creative endeavours, and start-ups.

The works dates back to 1824 and was one of the largest specialist steel-making facilities in the world at the time, and possibly the first ever custom-built cutlery factory. As well as cutlery, they produced scissors, tools, and even specialised in the manufacture of Bowie knives for the American market.

The building has seen off a number of threats through its history, including a bombing by union activists in 1843, an attempt to remove the listed status by the town planning committee so it could be bulldozed to make way for a road, and, most recently – in 1978 – an arson attack that left the site derelict until the restoration work took place in the 1980s.

Long may it last.