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