City VII: Underground
The Canary Wharf metro station entrance, London.
City VI: Overground
Traditional London metro entrance sign contrasting against the glass and steel in the background at Canary Wharf.
City V: Skyscraper
There is something very harsh about the Canary Wharf architecture in winter. All of the colour and interest seems to have been driven underground in to the shopping centres, with mostly the industrial scale office blocks above ground – it is an interesting contrast with the more colourful buildings in the new developments around Barcelona (an extreme example being the Torre Agbar).
City IV: Bridge
Under a bridge near Canary Wharf, London. It was a pretty and cold and grim Saturday, and very dark. Fortunately it seems possible to hold the Leica steady enough for some relatively slow exposures, despite the lack of image-stabilisation or other fancy features (get off my lawn!).
City III: Glass and Steel
Slightly abstract architectural photograph from the area around Canary Wharf, London. Taken using expired Fuji C200 film.
City II: Canary Row
A view of Canary Wharf, London. I was gong to make a pun about “Canary Row” (Cannery Row), but it seems that someone did it much better a long long time ago…
City I: The Radishes of Time
The first of a short sequence of images taken in the City of London. The clocks seemed appropriate today – I can not think why. When I see this picture all I can think of is “beware the radishes of time” – probably because it is twenty past Noon. Leica M7, Zeiss C-Sonnar 50mm and expired Fuji C200 colour film, shot with stacked ND and polarising filters, and an ageing photographer.
Stratford V: The Whale
Part of the wooden outer structure of the Olympic Velodrome, Stratford, London. For an excellent panorama of the interior of the building, follow this link… Leica M7, Zeiss C-Sonnar shot wide open with expired colour film, and a stack of a 3-stop ND and polarising filters (to work around the maximum shutter speed limitations of the Leica and give a more curious colour).
Stratford IV
Publicity Tower from the Olympics, Stratford, London. Leica M7, Zeiss C-Sonnar, expired film and a polarising filter.
Stratford III
Urban architecture alongside Queen Elizabeth Park, Stratford, London. A rather odd image, but I quite liked the way that the lamp-posts framed the building.
Stratford II: Digs
The Stratford “ONE” student accommodation building, Westfield Avenue, Stratford. The amount of new building going on in Stratford is astonishing, and it very much follows the standard UK model of replacing older industrial units with expensive residential and shopping developments. Although somewhat architecturally controversial, I think that the building is more interesting for its implicit statement about British society.
Stratford I: Jonathan and the Giant Abacus
At least I think It is a giant abacus. I am not sure. Like an old computer, Its memory and display could well be One and the Same… Queen Elizabeth (Olympic) Park, Stratford. Taken with the M7 and Zeiss C-Sonnar, some very expired film, and way too much bokeh. It has taken much too long to upload these shots, taken over a long weekend in the UK. It is often stated that shooting film is a way to avoid time in the “digital darkroom” – but never have I had […]
The Fall of Night
Silhouette of St John’s Church, Hythe, constructed in the late 19th century. Amazingly, churches like this are still in active use. The much documented falls in UK church attendance seem more likely to be due to apathy and the emergence of less altruistic trends in British society – rather than an advancement in people’s willingness to think, reason and understand the world around them without recourse to superstition. Taken with the Leica M7, Zeiss C-Sonnar 50mm f1.5, some Kodak film that expired a decade ago (as opposed to the Fuji used previously), and a lot […]
Shore Road II
Another image from Shore Road, Hythe – this time looking over the mud-flats down towards the nearby Fawley Oil Refinery. Leica M7 with Zeiss C-Sonnar 50mm and lots of photoshop patching.
Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona
A picture of part of the ceiling in the Barcelona’s opera house, the Gran Teatre del Liceu. The theatre was rebuilt in the late 1990’s following a fire that destroyed the original structure. The style is a kind of post-modern baroque in deep red and gold. I always half expect (or perhaps hope for) the orchestra to lead with the Muppet theme tune, or spot spider-man swinging from the roof. This was taken at an excellent performance of Norma in February. While the choice of production is often a little too traditional […]
Parc de l’Estació del Nord, Barcelona
Back to Barcelona, and the park alongside the old north railway station. The station has now been recycled as a mixture of bus depot and a civic sports centre, and is flanked by a small park. The area is quite a nice example of urban regeneration. For example, the sports grounds built in to the old (and very wide) railway cutting: This is the first of a short sequence of shots taken to test out a new lens on the Leica – a Zeiss ZM 1,5/50 C-Sonnar, which I am hoping […]
Transient Eye 