Canal Factory Frontage

I was in Wolverhampton, taking L's car in for a belated service so took the opportunity for a walk through different parts of the city.  I was too early for any shopping (not that it was my intention), so I walked along the canal, through an area that had previously been heavy industry.  

I was taken by this frontage onto the canal, one of the few remaining buildings that hark back to a more industrial time.  I wanted a subject for today's Wide Wednesday Challenge and this fitted the bill.  Rather than stand in one place and pan the camera to create the frames for a stitched panorama, which would have played havoc with the perspective of this scene, I instead stepped along the towpath and took images at regular intervals.  I was really pleased it worked as I hoped.

I've then used a 6 by 17 ratio for the frame.  This was the classic ratio for panoramic film cameras, including the Fuji GX617 and Hasselblad XPan.  I firmly believe the the way we scan an image is suited to this type of framing.  I've just received a copy of version 3 of the Nik Collection so used a recipe in Color Efex Pro for this image and tried Analog Efex Pro and Silver Efex Pro for the two extras, which are also in the same frame ratio.

After my indulgence around the canal I did visit the shopping area.  How sad that the town centre is in such a state.  More than 50% of the Mander Shopping Centre appears to be boarded up.  Debenhams, that only came in a few short years ago has gone, which leaves one almighty hole in the one end of the centre.  Where once we had the local department store, Beatties, it is now a House of Fraser which seems in terminal decline.

As for the main shopping street, Dudley Street, it is partitioned off with two lanes for pedestrians to walk up or down, with small squared off areas for people to queue for the shops.  Not that there was much need for that.  It really is depressing to see how run down the shopping experience is and One can only imagine it will be much worse in the current crisis.  I couldn't even have my favourite coffee as Starbucks has also closed down!

Day Miles: 11.7 miles Total miles: 804.8 miles


Nb. Well I feel foolish. I tried to read the community challenge page on my iPhone this morning as I was walking this morning and managed to mis read today’s theme and instead thought it was one that actually takes place in a couple of weeks!