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.

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.

You’ve got to feel sorry for Fujifilm

At the CES this week Fujifilm revealed their mirrorless system camera with 3 prime lenses and on paper, it does look rather good. Sticking to the retro look that made the X100 one of the most desirable compact cameras of last year is a masterstroke that I cannot believe other manufacturers haven’t cottoned on to yet. Prime lenses, a body that looks like a rangefinder, hybrid viewfinder, and image resolution on a par with a full frame sensor look promising. Indeed the sample images show some nice colour and not so much noise, even if they don’t look too sharp. Already people are talking about the X pro 1 as the poor man’s Leica. (They do like to stick pro at the end of their camera’s don’t they!) People are also talking about potential problems such as the price point and the auto focus issues that came with the X100, but I reckon that people will look back at the X pro 1 as one of those landmark cameras. Retro is the new black, or something like that!!
So why feel sorry for them?
Despite the buzz you’d expect, everyone seems to be talking about Canon and Nikon. The D4 has got opinions divided. (Personally I think it looks like a pretty amazing camera and hints at even cooler things for the D800 and D400) But the big star of this week is Canon’s G1 X. An updated G12 with a bigger sensor. Funny really; you unveil your SLR killer with dials and the whole world would rather talk about an updated compact camera with a bigger sensor.
And if you feel sorry for Fujifilm, then really do have to feel sorry for Kodak. With all the troubles they’re having, they released a few underwhelming compacts that no-one even noticed. It really does suck being Kodak right now.
Despite the big two hogging the limelight, I think Fujifilm will be having the last laugh….for a bit.