Originally shot in 2011, most likely on a shopping trip to our nearby rival city along the south coast, I’ve always liked this building at the southern end of Portland Terrace in Southampton. As a fan of brutalism, it’s easy to see why. The repeating block form emphasises the social, equalising roots of this style of architecture, but it’s those window shapes with their rounded corners inside that bevelled concrete that just screams to be adored. It’s a lovely mix of functional but also thoughtfully aesthetic.
The biggest piece of work involved in fixing this image was to warp and distort it to take away the natural perspective tapering since this was photographed at ground level and the upper windows there were some way up. After that, there were two adjustments made on two copies. The first adjustment sharpened and ramped up the contrast, the overlaid at around 20% opacity. The second adjustment gave the image an Urban Acid wash and was used to lighten the image at about 15% opacity. The end result upped the grime and gave it all a nice purple tint in the windows.