"STEEL STREET"

THE OLD QUARTER, HANOI

Image number 886

Hanoi's Old Quarter boasts thirty six streets dating back more than a thousand years which, by tradition, specialise in separate commodities, including silk, paper used in funerals, jewellry, shoes and, in this case, stainless steel.  In these streets most shops sell the same products.  The steel street is very noisy and has a special character.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 400. Exposure of 1/35th of a second and aperture F2.8.  80 mm Schneider Kreuznach lens with a leaf shutter. The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.  

STREET VENDOR

HANOI, VIETNAM

Image number 880

In Hanoi, no matter where you are, you can easily get anything you need from the street vendors. They can make money by carrying a “quang ganh” (two baskets slung from each end of a wooden or bamboo pole), riding a bicycle or staying on a street corner.    The street vendors are up before sunrise, especially the flower sellers who sell actively at dawn.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 200. Exposure of 1/6th  of a second and aperture F4.5.  80 mm Schneider Kreuznach lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.  

SHOPS IN THE OLD QUARTER

HANOI, VIETNAM

Image number 853

As the oldest continuously developed area of Vietnam, Hanoi's Old Quarter has a history that spans 2,000 years and represents the eternal soul of the city.  Because inhabitants of each street came from the same village, streets developed a homogeneous look. Commoners' homes evolved out of market stalls, before streets were formed. Because storekeepers were taxed according to the width of their storefront, storage and living space moved to the rear of the buildings. Consequently, the long and narrow buildings were called "tube houses." Typical measurements for such houses are 3 meters wide by 60 meters long.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 50. Exposure of 1/10th of a second and aperture F10.  80 mm Schneider Kreuznach lens with a leaf shutter. The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.  

 

COLONIAL ICON

THE METROPOLE HOTEL, HANOI

Image Number 840

The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi boasts a rich history. Its doors first opened in 1901, when it was constructed in a French Colonial architectural style.   The hotel has seen string of eminent guests - Charlie Chaplin celebrated his honeymoon in 1936 (his suite is preserved); Graham Green wrote The Quiet American at the hotel and Somerset Maugham wrote The Gentleman in the Parlour.  The hotel boasts spectacular restaurants, some orginal rooms and corridors of museum photos.  It even has a bomb shelter where Ho Chi Minh took refuge during the American bombings.  It is by far the most expensive hotel in Hanoi, but is well worth the experience.  Atticus loved it.

These Citroen cars dating from the 1950's were not part of the original fleet.  They have been fitted with other engines and they are used to drive hotel guests.  But they add greatly to the romance.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 1.8 seconds and aperture F12.  150 mm Schneider Kreuznach lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.  

HOTEL REX

SAN FRANCISCO, USA

IMAGE NUMBER 650

Inspired by the art and literature of the 1920s and the 1930s, this boutique centrally located hotel is located in San Francisco's Theatre District, four minutes' walk from Union Square.    Like other early 20th century buildings in the precinct, it has a spectacular fire escape which makes no apology for being front of house. The fire escape becomes  an artwork in its own right.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 1/100th of a second and an aperture of F6.3.  28 mm Schneider Kreuznach wide angle lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.  The image has been cropped but has been straightened using Capture One. to correct the verticals - the shot was simply taken from across the street.  

 

CASA BATILO

BARCELONA, SPAIN

IMAGE NUMBER 775

Casa Batlló is a renowned building in the center of Barcelona and is one of Antoni Gaudí’s masterpieces. A remodel of a previously built house, it was redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí and has been refurbished several times since.  The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), as it has a visceral, skeletal organic quality. 

It is only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, has unusual tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work. There are few straight lines, and much of the façade is decorated with a colorful mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles (trencadís). The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of Saint George, which has been plunged into the back of the dragon. 

This building is very difficult to photograph - not because of its situation, but because of the teeming tourists who peek from every orifice.  Barcelona has a population of 1.6 m residents and over 30 m tourists annually.  This certainly divides opinion.

TECHNICAL NOTES

 The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 1/20th of a second and at aperture f22. 150 mm Schneider Kreuznach telephoto lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.

CASA BATILO

BARCELONA, SPAIN

IMAGE NUMBER 774

Casa Batlló is a renowned building in the center of Barcelona and is one of Antoni Gaudí’s masterpieces. A remodel of a previously built house, it was redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí and has been refurbished several times since.  The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), as it has a visceral, skeletal organic quality. 

It is only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, has unusual tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work. There are few straight lines, and much of the façade is decorated with a colorful mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles (trencadís). The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of Saint George, which has been plunged into the back of the dragon. 

This building is very difficult to photograph - not because of its situation, but because of the teeming tourists who peek from every orifice.  Barcelona has a population of 1.6 m residents and over 30 m tourists annually.  This certainly divides opinion.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 1/40th of a second and at aperture f20. 150 mm Schneider Kreuznach telephoto lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.

CASA BATILO

BARCELONA, SPAIN

IMAGE NUMBER 773

Casa Batlló is a renowned building in the center of Barcelona and is one of Antoni Gaudí’s masterpieces. A remodel of a previously built house, it was redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí and has been refurbished several times since.  The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), as it has a visceral, skeletal organic quality. 

It is only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, has unusual tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work. There are few straight lines, and much of the façade is decorated with a colorful mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles (trencadís). The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of Saint George, which has been plunged into the back of the dragon. 

This building is very difficult to photograph - not because of its situation, but because of the teeming tourists who peek from every orifice.  Barcelona has a population of 1.6 m residents and over 30 m tourists annually.  This certainly divides opinion.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 1/20th of a second and at aperture f22. 150 mm Schneider Kreuznach telephoto lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.

 

 

THE NATIONAL ART MUSEUM

BARCELONA, SPAIN

IMAGE NUMBER 768

Barcelona, the cosmopolitan capital of Spain’s Catalonia region, is known for its art and architecture.  Most visitors head for the "modernist" architecture of Gaudi and his followers.  But Barcelona's cityscape, with its eighteenth and nineteenth century buildings unsullied by subsequent development, are its greatest virtue. 

Like Venice and Paris, Barcelona was blessed by poverty which prevented the demolition of its best architecture by newcomers who thought they knew better.  Wonderful buildings are everywhere.   Better known as MNAC, the National Art Museum of Catalonia (Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya) is one of the best and most visited art museums in Barcelona. Housed in the impressive Palau Nacional, the museum features almost all kinds of art forms, from sculpture and painting to drawing, engraving, photography, coinage, and posters, illustrating with great accuracy the history of Catalan art between the Romanesque period and the first half of the 20th century.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a hand-held Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 100. Exposure of 1/800th of a second and at aperture f6.3. 150 mm Schneider Kreuznach telephoto lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.

THE CUSTOMS BUILDING, BARCELONA

SPAIN

IMAGE NUMBER 767

The Port of Barcelona Customs Building is located just in front of Port Vell, the old freight port.  It was built between 1896 and 1902 by the architect Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia in collaboration with Pere Garcia Fària , with an H-shaped plan, in eclectic style.  The facade has a monumental aspect, reminiscent of the central European architecture, decorated with classic motifs - mainly in the Ionian order -, crowned with the shields of Barcelona, atalonia and Spain, and with two eagles and eight winged lions.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a hand-held Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 200. Exposure of 1/640th of a second and at aperture f8. 150 mm Schneider Kreuznach telephoto lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.

GAUDI LAMPPOST

BARCELONA, SPAIN

IMAGE NUMBER 766

In the late 1870s, Gaudí received a commission from the City of Barcelona to design new lampposts to light the streets of Barcelona.   In June 1878, Gaudí presented his plan for these lampposts.  Gaudí designed two models, one with three arms and another with six, which were ultimately placed on the Pla de Palau and in the Plaça Reial, respectively. They can still be seen there today, although for visitors who do not know that they were designed by Gaudí, they go practically unnoticed.

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a hand-held Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 100. Exposure of 1/200th of a second and at aperture f7.1. 150 mm Schneider Kreuznach telephoto lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.

 

CASA MILA

BARCELONA, SPAIN

IMAGE NUMBER 764b

Casa Milà, popularly known as La Pedrera or "open quarry", a reference to its unconventional rough-hewn appearance, is a modernist building in Barcelona, Spain. It was the last private residence designed by architect Antoni Gaudí and was built between 1906 and 1910. 

The building was commissioned in 1906 by businessman Pere Milà . At the time, it was controversial because of its undulating stone facade, twisting wrought iron balconies and windows designed by Josep Maria Jujol. Several structural innovations include a self-supporting stone front, columns and floors free of load-bearing walls, an underground garage and sculptural elements on the roof.  (The structure on the roof is a chimney.)

 In 1984, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. 

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 1/80th of a second and at aperture f12. 150 mm Schneider Kreuznach telephoto lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.

CASA MILA

BARCELONA, SPAIN

IMAGES NUMBER 764 AND 764a

Casa Milà, popularly known as La Pedrera or "open quarry", a reference to its unconventional rough-hewn appearance, is a modernist building in Barcelona, Spain. It was the last private residence designed by architect Antoni Gaudí and was built between 1906 and 1910. 

Also note the street lamp in the foreground, also designed by Gaudi early in the twentieth century.

The building was commissioned in 1906 by businessman Pere Milà . At the time, it was controversial because of its undulating stone facade, twisting wrought iron balconies and windows designed by Josep Maria Jujol. Several structural innovations include a self-supporting stone front, columns and floors free of load-bearing walls, an underground garage and sculptural elements on the roof.  (The figure on the roof is a chimney.) 

In 1984, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. 

TECHNICAL NOTES

Image Number 764 (top)

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 1/55th of a second and at aperture f16. 150 mm Schneider Kreuznach telephoto lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.

Image Number 764a (below)

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 1/30th of a second and at aperture f16. 150 mm Schneider Kreuznach telephoto lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.

THE OLD TOWN

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

IMAGE NUMBER 672

Gamla Stan, the Old Town, is one of the largest and best preserved medieval city centers in Europe, and one of the foremost attractions in Stockholm. This is where Stockholm was founded in 1252.  All of Gamla Stan and the adjacent island of Riddarholmen are like a living pedestrian-friendly museum full of sights, attractions, restaurants, cafés, bars and places to shop. Gamla Stan is also popular with aficionados of handicrafts, curios and souvenirs. The narrow winding cobblestone streets, with their buildings in so many different shades of gold, give Gamla Stan its unique character. Even now cellar vaults and frescoes from the Middle Ages can be found behind the visible facades, and on snowy winter days the district feels like something from a story book.  

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 1/40th of a second and an aperture of f20.  45 mm Phase One wide angle lens with focal plane shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.  The image has been cropped and straightened using Capture One.  

THE OLD TOWN

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

IMAGE NUMBER 671

Gamla Stan, the Old Town, is one of the largest and best preserved medieval city centers in Europe, and one of the foremost attractions in Stockholm. This is where Stockholm was founded in 1252.  All of Gamla Stan and the adjacent island of Riddarholmen are like a living pedestrian-friendly museum full of sights, attractions, restaurants, cafés, bars and places to shop. Gamla Stan is also popular with aficionados of handicrafts, curios and souvenirs. The narrow winding cobblestone streets, with their buildings in so many different shades of gold, give Gamla Stan its unique character. Even now cellar vaults and frescoes from the Middle Ages can be found behind the visible facades, and on snowy winter days the district feels like something from a story book. 

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 1/4 of a second and at aperture F25. 150 mm Schneider Kreuznach telephoto lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.

THE OLD TOWN

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

IMAGE NUMBER 669

Gamla Stan, the Old Town, is one of the largest and best preserved medieval city centers in Europe, and one of the foremost attractions in Stockholm. This is where Stockholm was founded in 1252.  All of Gamla Stan and the adjacent island of Riddarholmen are like a living pedestrian-friendly museum full of sights, attractions, restaurants, cafés, bars and places to shop.

Gamla Stan is also popular with aficionados of handicrafts, curios and souvenirs. The narrow winding cobblestone streets, with their buildings in so many different shades of gold, give Gamla Stan its unique character. Even now cellar vaults and frescoes from the Middle Ages can be found behind the visible facades, and on snowy winter days the district feels like something from a story book.  

TECHNICAL NOTES

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 1/20th of a second and an aperture of f12.  45 mm Phase One wide angle lens with focal plane shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.  The image has been cropped and straightened using Capture One.  

COLLINS STREET

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

IMAGE NUMBER 638

Collins Street is a major street in the Melbourne CBD running approximately east to west. It is notable as Melbourne's traditional main street and best known street. It is also often regarded as Australia's premier street, has several fine Victorian era buildings, is the home of prestigious boutiques and high-end retailers and was for a long time the centre of finance in Australia. The eastern end of the street was known as the 'Paris end' because of its former architecture, now remembered in the nineteenth century "Marvellous Melbourne" mythology.

This image is one of a series purchased from Atticus Webb by the Victorian Government to promote Victoria internationally. 

Technical Notes

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 50. Exposure of 1/30th of a second and at aperture F16. 150 mm Schneider Kreuznach telephoto lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.

EXHIBITION BUILDING

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

IMAGE NUMBER 637

The Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne is the world's only surviving Great Hall that once housed a 19th-century international exhibition. When it was built, the Great Hall was the largest building in Australia, and the highest building in Melbourne. It is brick, set on a bluestone base, and has long central naves and stunted transepts. There are four triumphal entrance porticoes, one on each side. The building is set in ceremonial gardens, which were designed by Reed and William Sangster. A wide avenue lined with plane trees links the front, southern entrance of the building with the city beyond. There was a viewing platform around the dome that allowed visitors to survey the progress of the booming city.

Technical Notes

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of .57 of a second and an aperture of F22. 80 mm Schneider Kreuznach lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.  

GRANTOWN HOUSE

EXHIBITION STREET, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

IMAGES NUMBER 631 & 631 a

Grantown House in Exhibition Street Melbourne is a three-story Italianate terrace house dating from about 1860.  For most its history it has been a boarding house. It was owned as a boarding house by Atticus Webb's great grandfather, Henry Enos Webb.  Although it is sadly neglected, Grantown House is considered to be one of Victoria's finest terrace houses.

Technical Notes

Image 631 (top)

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 3/5ths of a second and at aperture F22.  28 mm Schneider Kreuznach wide angle lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.  

Image 631 a (bottom)

The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 1.07 seconds and at aperture F22.  45 mm Schneider Kreuznach wide angle lens with leaf shutter.   The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back.