In the 1970s and up to the mid-1980s we travelled from our home to London fairly regularly. Living on the east side of the country we were able to make use of the East Coast mainline. Consequently our London terminus station was King's Cross. The main buildings at this station were designed by Lewis Cubitt and are a marvel of direct, honest, Victorian brick work, with the main facade expressing the interior in much the way that the west facade of a cathedral tells you what to expect inside. Over the years the various owners and operators of Kings Cross did their best to disfigure the main facade with corporate branding and other excrescences. However, in 2014 the whole station was given a makeover that sympathetically restored the famous face of the building and imaginatively added to the interior.
For many years, when I've needed to visit the capital we've driven there. However, on our most recent visit we decided to go by train. That gave me the two-fold pleasure of seeing something of the refurbishment of King's Cross, because once again we'd be using the East Coast mainline, and also it would give me an opportunity to try out my newly acquired Samyang 7.5mm fisheye lens. I was in two minds about buying this lens. On the one hand I enjoy wide-angle and I quite like the distortion that a fisheye lens can confer on a subjects. But on the other hand I recognise that for many it is a specialist, little used lens and might prove so for me.
My first reasonable effort with the lens is shown above. It doesn't really make use of the lens in the way I ultimately hope to, but it does show something of an area of the station that has been given a glazed roof supported by very striking net-like lattice steel tube.
photograph anf text © Tony Boughen
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 7.5mm fisheye
Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec
ISO:500
Exposure Compensation: -0.3EV
Image Stabilisation: On
