Blox

Blox, oh Blox… This building leaves me torn. On the one hand, I think its one of the aesthetically worst additions to Copenhagen in the last decade, but on the other hand, it houses one of my favorite places in the city: The Danish Architecture Center. So despite my mixed feelings about it I come here quite often, not least because of their annual “Capture Your City” photo contest which I have a recurring habit of participating in.

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/250 sec f8 ISO1600

An older shot showing the Blox building on the harbor - its the huge glass monster, if you were in doubt.

The reason I wanted to drop by was to have a look at a specific new addition to their space - an actual functioning indoor slide. Now I’m not gonna ride it, because I’d either get stuck in the middle or make it crash down in a hail of fire and brimstone, but I did rather like the look of it. The only photo I’ve seen of it was from the inside of the building (check it out here), and I wanted to see if I could get something cool from the outside. And its not like I had a choice, because the place isn’t open just yet and I don’t have VIP access. In fact, in several of the photos you can see the staff and various reflectors, as I think they might have been doing some press shots.

I tried a couple of different angles on it. First I tried something from afar:

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/60 sec f4 ISO 200

This I don’t think worked at all. I liked the idea of getting some bikes in the shot to capture some elements form the traffic thoroughfare that runs through the building, but it just fails to capture the swirlyness (is that a word?) of the slide. Okay, so next I tried getting close up.

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/160 sec f8 ISO 6400 / 1/250 sec f8 ISO 4000

Its better, but not quite there. The first shot is just dull, with the straight on angle, so I could quite quickly discard that. The second one I was more enthused by. I think the fact that you can see one of the employees in the background lit from one of the large windows really adds a lot to it. But I wasn’t really satisfied. Its certainly the best shot so far, but it again failed to capture the swirly goodness.

So what is a surefire way to capture some swirly goodness? A McFlurry you say? Naw man, it’s a fisheye lens! So I cracked out my Samyang fisheye and gave it a go. And it definitely did what I needed it do.

So here is my pick du jour, from this quick little expedition to Blox.

X-Pro w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 400

This photo certainly does what I wanted to. It shows off the swirly shape, it even has employees on the ledge to provide some sense of scale AND it has a reflection of a bicycle to include the thoroughfare. Score!

I also quite liked this one, with the silhouette of the pedestrian off to the left, but I still think the fisheye shot is the stronger image.

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/220 sec f2 ISO200

4 days later…

I went back when DAC opened, because I needed to see this slide thing up close. And holy moly it is it cool. I want one. Never mind that we live in a 2-bedroom one-story apartment on the 1st foor, I want one. Here are some shots from the inside:

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/60 sec f8 ISO6400

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/125sec f5.6 ISO6400

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/60 sec f8 ISO2500

X-Pro w. XF23mm f2 @ 1/60sec f8 ISO1250

X-Pro w. XF23mm f2 @ 1/125sec f8 ISO5000

X-Pro2 w. Asahi Pentax Super Takumar 50mm @ 1/250sec f2 ISO1600

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/60 sec ISO2500

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/60sec f8 ISO500

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/60sec f8 ISO640

Here are some other shots from Blox, that aren’t focused on the slide:

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/1400 sec f4 ISO200

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm fisheye @ 1/75 sec f8 ISO 6400

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm fisheye @ 1/105 sec f8 ISO 6400

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/250 sec f8 ISO 200

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm fisheye @ 1/125 sec f8 ISO 250

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/250 sec f8 ISO 640

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm fisheye @ 1/640 sec f5.6 ISO 200

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm fisheye @ 1/2900 sec f5.6 ISO 200

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm fisheye @ 1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 320

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/60 sec f4 ISO 640

Karen Blixens Square - Copenhagen

Karen Blixens Square is a relatively new public square in the city, part of the University of Copenhagen. I went there the day after it opened, but I didn’t really get the sort of shots I wanted. Boo freaking hoo. So instead of admitting defeat, a few days ago I went back there. I had hoped for a massive success, but alas, not really. I got a few shots that are okay, but looking through my camera roll there wasn’t anything that really jostled my jimmies.

The first shot I grabbed was at the square, but on the way. I saw this little house at the end of the pedestrian crossing, and took this shot:

Fuji X-T3 XF10-24mm @ f9 1/200 sec ISO 320

It’s an alright image, but nothing to write home about. There’s just something lacking the colors, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. So I switched to the Acros film simulation, to have a go at it in black and white. Still no dice. I have this of not spending more than 5 minutes at any given spot if I’m not feelin’ a good vibe, so I hopped back on the bike and headed for my intended destination.

I got a phone call on the way, and had to hop off to take it, and happened to do so in front of the university building. This big ugly glass covered beast reflecting the blue of the sky. I have a love/hate relationship with these sorts of building in that I hate how they look, but I love the reflections they can produce. So I grabbed this shot:

Fuji X-T3 XF10-24mm @ f8 1/280 sec ISO 400

It’s an decent shot I guess, but without a human element it just doesn’t really do it for me. So back on the iron horse again, and onwards to the square. I was looking for geometry, lines, or curves, and finally settled on trying to capture something with the curves of one of these burrows that function as bicycle parking:

Fuji X-T3 Samyang 8mm @ f8 1/1000 sec ISO 640

I first saw a jogger coming around to head over one of them and was convinced she’d be the one to supply the human element. But it didn’t work out. I wanted to have the entirety of her shadow in the frame, but then the composition just didn’t work:

I was about to move on, but then I could hear the whirring of bicycle tires, and thought why not, that might work. And sure enough, a kid came whizzing by and supplied just what I was looking for:

Fuji X-T3 XF55-200mm @ f8 1/5000 sec ISO 640

It’s not the best image, but I was reasonably happy to come away from my visit to the square with it. I wanted something that wasn’t light and airy - because I’ve seen a lot of shots from this place that has this vintage overexposed feel - and I didn’t want to just do another to add on the pile. So far, so good.

Right next to the square is one of the more interesting looking buildings in the area - the Tietgen Student Housing. I’ve taken plenty of shots of it before, but I had 10 minutes spare, so why the heck not.

My first inclination was to do a shot with the curves of the surround path, but I didn’t quite feel it. Maybe if the two dude on the path had been closer, it might have worked out better:

Fuji X-T3 Samyang 8mm @ f8 1/480 sec ISO 320

I remembered there’s a body of water just in front of the building ,so I was gonna go for a reflection shot, and that turned out pretty good:

Fuji X-T3 Samyang 8mm @ f8 1/800 sec ISO 320

I was prepared to end it there, but as I was chimping on the camera like a chump, I noticed I had a curious onlooker. I’m sure he was just looking for someone to chuck some food at him, but instead he was immortalized in my frame, in both color and black and white:

JPEG Straight ouf of Camera - Fuji X-T3 Samyang 8mm @ f8 1/800 sec ISO 320

Color version edited in Adobe Lightroom

Black and white version edited in Adobe Lightroom

I think the color version is my pick of the litter for this short little outing.