Leeds Central Library

I hate the office I work in. It’s one of those typical open plan offices; you know, the ones that have bad air conditioning, are never at the right temperature, have carpets decorated in duck tape and that slowly suck all the life, energy and soul out of you. I tend to go wandering mid-morning to get some fresh air and re-vitalize my brain cells. every now and then, I take pencil and paper and go to the quiet room at Leeds Central Library to plan and write stuff without the phones distracting me.

The library is a fantastic building with some very interesting architecture inside, and being a council run building has a mixture of original fittings and typical council type touches.

These tiled patterns are all over the building, but on the top floor, there is this little section surrounded by white paint. I’m sure there is a rational explanation, but it does look a bit odd.

For black and white, the building is superb. There are so many different shapes, textures tones and details all over the building.

There are so many little details, one of the strangest has to be a pair of dogs, (Though one of them looks like a lion to me!!) Both look like they could use a good meal.

I didn’t spend too long taking pictures on this occasion, but it begs for another visit with a camera.

Technology is Wonderful Aint it!

Ansel Adams was one of those photographers who allegedly never fiddled with his negatives. (Except in one notable photograph – Winter Sunrise, from Lone Pine – where he quite rightly painted out a garish letter carved by students on the natural splendor of the scene.) I’m a little bit of a purist in that I like to get it right in camera. That said, I’m a big believer in using the curves tool to adjust the contrast, but I’ve always seen curves like the filters on an enlarger.

There are times, however, when the lure of Photoshop (or Gimp in my case) calls and more drastic touches are required, for example…

This kind of sums up our holiday that year, taken at Barrow-in-Furness, we were in the middle of no-where and rather than an idyllic escape, it proved to be cold, gray, windy and dull. So there we were on a pebble beach, lots of driftwood and photo potential. I capture a picture of my daughter and the tide washes ashore a pot noodle. Typical. Now, I can either accept the picture as a commentary on how scruffy the UK has become, or I can look at the pot noodle and be disappointed every time I look at it.

Thankfully, the clone tool comes to the rescue and after the obligatory tweak of curves, the image is saved. no pot noodle in sight. Cheers Gimp.

Leeds, part II

Well, the results are in and the F60 produced some nice results. It was clear that the low light of my early morning walk to work is too much, even for TMAX 3200, so I took some on my way home, as the light was fading slightly. With no clouds in the sky, there was plenty of light to play with.

I’ve often thought these would make an interesting image.

Looking East from Leeds City Centre.

I finished the film at Millenium Square, which has plenty of photographic potential. The Mandela Gardens are a highlight with water features and art work and well worth it. Another visit is in order I think.