My city

[peterqd]

I can't seem to find the recent thread about pictures of our city, started I think by Carsten with his pictures of Marburg. I wanted to add these to it, taken with my Pentax K2 with Pentax-M 1.7/50 and 2.8/28 lenses, and my first try with the new Kodak E100G slide film. They all have a fairly strong blue cast and still a bit over-saturated for my taste, but I'm more pleased with them than I was with the Velvia. All the pics are keepers, which is a first for me I think (thanks to all you lot! ) Mostly straight from the scanner and resized.

These are a few pictures of my city, Oxford, the famous old University town.









The university is one of the oldest in the world, dating from around 1350 and, unlike more modern universities, it is split up into a large number of separate colleges dotted around the centre of the city.


They are mostly built of local limestone of a lovely gold colour, from the Cotswold Hills. This is the reason that the more modern (less revered) universities are often called "red brick", meaning they're not such high standard.

Most of the colleges have an old oak door from the street:


which leads through an arch into an inner quadrangle with a lawn in the centre, giving some nice glimpses of quiet greenery.




Many of the colleges are grouped around Broad Street, which is the home of Blackwells, the famous bookshop, which now occupies several buildings:






Besides the colleges there are libraries, lecture theatres and other university buildings used by all the colleges. I've included a pic of this one across the road as it's named after me!


A few more to finish this set then a few more to follow from the Yashica-Mat when I've scanned them.

[Katastrofo]

Beautiful shots, Peter! You're right, they would all be keepers for me! #3
and the door shot are my faves, and will see about this slide film! It seems
every where you look in your town are interesting buildings, not so
where I live, and I like the fact that the old buildings look well-maintained.

Thanks for sharing,

Bill

[patrickh]

Peter

Terrific set - even if they are of "the other place".


patrickh

[Orio]

I always wished I could see Oxford, and now I can thanks to your photos!
Beautiful series, that really lets you flavour the city.
Oh and it's so consolating for me to find someone who takes so much care in photographing architecture keeping the lines straight!

[Attila]

Thank you for sharing Peter and make us at least a virtual tourist!

[poilu]

thanks for the nice trip
I like all the building and the oak door is impressive
thanks for sharing

[LucisPictor]

Wonderful shots of a wonderful city!
Oh, how much I like these old English cities and towns - I really miss them!

[Richard_D]

Very nice shots. I must do a decent set of Canterbury some time. The film looks interesting. I'm not a fan of Velvia , Provia is more to my taste but I miss Kodachrome 25...

[peterqd]

Thank you everyone. They're not intended to be great photographs, just a series of picture postcards. I only had a short time for picture-taking as the sun was getting a little low in the sky, casting deep shadows, so there's a lot more I'd have liked to show you. Hopefully I'll get a chance to to take some more soon (with a different film).

@Bill - my own town is a dump in comparison! Oxford is about 30 miles from here.

@Patrick - you're a pale blue are you?

@Orio - thank you for your nice comments. I do like vertical and horizontal lines. There were times when I would have used a 35mm lens if I'd had one with me, as the 28 causes quite marked perspective distortion. I'm pleased you were interested to see Oxford, even if it's only a snippet.

@Carsten - you're right, and it's so easy to forget how much our history adds to our lives today. My office was in Oxford for 5 years and I did a lot of work on the colleges, and I have to confess l took it so much for granted.

@Richard - I'd love to see some of your pictures of Canterbury sometime. I miss Kodachrome too. The blurb for this film gave me great hopes but I can't say I'm over-pleased. I might try Provia next.

[peterqd]

Here's 5 more shots with the Yash-Mat and Velvia 50. I saved the TLR for pics of some of the more important buldings.

First, my answer to Viejo's great Helsinki Cathedral pics This is the Clarendon Building in Broad Street, built 1711-1713 for the Oxford University Press, now part of the Bodleian Library.


This is the Sheldonian Theatre, built in 1668 by Sir Christopher Wren.


Part of New College, built in 1379 it's actually one of the oldest!


A view along Catte Street


Lastly, Oxford's answer to Venice. This is known locally as the "Bridge of Sighs", but it's more like the Rialto Bridge. I gave up waiting for those pesky tourists to move!

[Attila]

How nice ! I really love this colours!