The sides of this building are actually perpendicular, but not through the eye of a 28mm lens pointed slightly upwards.
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko AUTO-W 28mm f/3.5 & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins.
Taken 14 October 2023.
Twisted living
Tag: Leeds
Bridgewater Place – a windy Dalek
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).
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.
Olympus OM-1N, G-Zuiko AUTO-W 28mm f/3.5 & Ilford FP4+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 10mins.
Taken 14 October 2023.
Station stairs
Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins 30 secs @ 20°
Taken 25 March 2023.
Old and new
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.
Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins 30 secs @ 20°
Taken 25 March 2023.
Leeds Dock
A quick post today, but beefed up with three photographs rather than the usual one. All three were taken at Leeds Dock beside the Royal Armouries museum (after I left the museum).
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins 20° .
Taken on 26 February 2022
Almost beneath a bridge
This is the same bridge that featured in yesterday’s post (and also the post about Retropan 320 the day before).
This is my favourite of the three pictures – the wider angle and format shows more of the bridge’s structure than the 6×6 Yashicamat photo did, plus the people in the shot are well placed in the frame, have well timed gait, and also similar hairstyles, all of which contribute I think.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins 20° .
Taken on 26 February 2022
Beneath a bridge
I’m pretty happy with how this picture turned out. It was a spur-of-the-moment effort quickly taken when I spotted the girders and their reflections as I walked beneath this bridge over the River Aire in Leeds.
Apart from framing the photo as I wanted, my only real concern was that there might be some camera shake due to lack of light and my inability to control shutter speed or aperture on the little Olympus XA3. There was a railing just out of frame and so I leant on that to give a little extra stability. I was happy to see that the shot came out well, and better than I actually anticipated.
Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins 20° .
Taken on 26 February 2022
First time with Fomapan Retropan 320
A while back – last year I think, although it could have been 2020 – I got in touch with the film manufacturer Fomapan. I’d had some issues with a batch of Fomapan 100 that I’d bought which was resulting in a lot of small white speckles on the scanned negatives. This wasn’t dust, but some problem with the film that was becoming apparent when it was developed. A bit of reasearch online produced a number of other reports of the same probleM, some with the same batch number as the rolls I had, so I got in touch with the company to ask if they could do anything to help.
They provided some instructions on how the issue with the problem batch might be addressed, and confirmed that there had been an issue with some rolls of the film that had been produced. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any luck after following the special instructions and the next roll still showed the same speckles, albeit slightly lessened. In addition, Fomapan also sent me a few rolls of film to recompense me for my troubles, some Fomapan 400, and also a roll of Retropan 320.
I’d never shot Retropan before so was curious as to what it might produce. Unfortunately, thanks to the pandemic and various lockdowns, the film languished in the freezer for quite some time, awaiting its day in the sun. That day came a few weeks ago when I took a trip to Leeds for the day with my wife and her sister. They hit the shops while I went off to make photos (and also visit the Royal Armouries museum). I burdened myself with choice on the day, having three film cameras, plus my little Ricoh digital compact. The film cameras included the Yashicamat 124g (with the Retropan), my Olympus XA3 (with some HP5+), and the newly acquired RETO Ultrawide & Slim (with some Agfa Vista Plus 200 – some of the shots which have already been seen here on the blog recently).
I wasn’t massively enthused about shooting the Retropan, even though trying a new film usually means at least some excitement is to be had. Most of the photos I’d seen online from other people had a bit of a flat look about them, which isn’t something I tend to favour. I also looked into what speed to shoot the film at, having had issues with underexposure when shooting other Foma films at box speed in the past. The general concensus was to overexpose it by at least a stop, with one person suggesting that 80asa was the sweet spot. In the end I opted to shoot it at 125asa and develop it normally.
The experience of shooting the film went without hitch, and developing was likewise straightforward. The film felt quite thin, but went onto the spiral without any problem. As with other Foma films, I pre-washed it before developing and got the usual witches brew of green liquid when I poured the rinsing water away.
The photos are actually quite nice. Not the look I tend to go for, but there’s something there in the tonality that I find quite pleasing. There’s lots of grain present, but also good detail, and using my usual post-processing settings as a starting point soon got the scans where I was happy with them.
So, would I buy a roll with my own money and shoot it again? Honestly, probably not. I’d go for one of the other Foma line instead. But I wouldn’t turn down a roll that came my way for free. 🙂
Yashicamat 124G & Fomapan Retropan 320. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins 20° .
Taken on 26 February 2022
Steel City Snapper photography 