LRSA City Trail Pt.2 - Zorki 4K

Kicking off a photographic project like this with a cheap, untested, mass-produced Soviet-era camera was perhaps not one of my better ideas. Which is why I’ve upgraded to a slightly more expensive mass-produced Soviet camera for this second instalment, in the hope of better quality, or at the very least better framed photographs.

The Zorki 4K has already proved itself at the very highest level of my, admittedly limited photographic abilities. Capturing all the Henry Moore curves at Kew Gardens with aplomb in what now seems like something of a fever dream, the endless hot Summer of 2026 (now ended). It’s a nice solid camera in the hand, and with a pretty decent lens, although the fiddly, slightly out of alignment Shutter Speed Dial makes selecting the fastest speeds difficult (now adjusted, though still fiddly).

It was whilst I was fiddling inexpertly with the Zorki that I had one of those totally random human encounters that in a strange way acted as confirmation of this project. There I was, searching in entirely the wrong place for one of the Terracotta Plaques, when a kindly Leicester local stopped to ask me if I was lost. Entirely understandable of course, I often look lost, aimlessly searching for an item of obscure Street Furniture or obsolete signage. On this occasion I wasn't lost of course, merely looking for one of those... things, which as it turned out was quite the coincidence because this was none other than the wife of Nils Feldmann, chief architect of the relaunched LRSA City Trail I was attempting to follow. A very happy coincidence then, and I had the chance to complete this virtuous loop by meeting Nils himself on a guided tour of the Trail later that month. There he is (above), outside the Foresters Institute building, and with his precious copy of the original Heritage Trail leaflet from the 80's, of which I'm quite envious, natch'...

On we go with the Trail from Plaque No.11, newly located on the front of St Martin's Lodge on Peacock Lane, and almost opposite the recently spruced-up Cathedral. I'd already photographed the new Heritage & Learning Centre with the Baldessa earlier this year and was pretty pleased with the results, so I thought I'd give it another go with the Zorki. It's a great photographic subject with it's vibrant coloured tiles, strong geometric lines, and of course a huge contrast to the Cathedral proper. In fact the whole of the Cathedral Gardens on the sunny south side are a happy hunting ground for photography.

If you stand in front of Plaque No.12 and look to the right you'll see two of the city's most important tourist attractions. The North side of the aforementioned Cathedral of course, but also the historic timber framed Guildhall. Both eminently photographable of course, the Guildhall in particular taking pride of place on many a vintage postcard sent from the city. Look to the left though, and you'll see the slightly grubby dead-end of the grandly named Coronation Place. The colourful array of bins and a chap washing his car was my choice of photograph on this occasion, like something out of gritty New York cop drama. You of course may choose to look the other way...

Plaque No.13 is just a stone's throw from Coronation Place on St Martins East, a narrow cobbled alleyway that runs along the East side of the Cathedral. An interesting view for sure, and great for Street Photography I'd imagine, but it's this seriously attractive gate that's been catching my eye for a while now. Whilst this is certainly not the best photo I've taken of it, I like the way the shading reduces the impact of the signs at that time of day.

There's an absolute rash of Terracotta Plaques at this point in the city, presumably designed to encourage an appreciation of Leicester's historic commercial centre (the bit that didn't get demolished when the Haymarket Shopping Centre was built in the 70's and The Shires in the 90's!). From Plaque No.14 we can see in all four directions at the corner of Silver Street and Loseby Lane, and this view will always take me back to the many hours spent rummaging through the second-hand vinyl records in the basement of The Very Bazaar, an esoteric emporium of all things exotic that despite all the odds, is still going strong at 37a Silver Street (though without the records sadly). I like to think I've caught something of the exotic in this image.

The behemoth of the Highcross Shopping Centre is pretty much unavoidable at this stage, slightly problematic as it's seriously lacking in photographic interest to my eyes. We press on though, so here's the recently restyled High Street entrance with its bold columns and muted colour scheme, directly opposite Plaque No. 15 and a vast improvement on the previous appearance believe it or not. On no account attempt to use a 'professional' camera within the environs of the Highcross though, the security guards don't like it and will ask you to stop and/or leave!

I'll admit to rushing Plaque No.16, located at the entrance to the Royal Arcade on High Street. I wanted to get right down on the floor and literally fill the frame with these glass tiles, but not only was it busy, I was also within clear view of the ever-vigilant Highcross security cameras. I really didn't fancy answering questions about what would almost certainly appear strange and/or suspicious behaviour! What can I say, I'll try again on the other side (plaque No.29).

On the face of it, this may appear to be what's known as ‘Street Photography’, but what I’m actually doing here is capturing yet another of those ‘hidden in clear view’ curiosities that Leicester excels at. To cut a long story short, the old Gaol House that used to occupy this site carried a very early Ordnance Survey Benchmark, yet another minor obsession of mine, and it was whilst looking for this that I noticed a curious remnant of stone wall sandwiched between these modern shops. There's a handy information board that tells you all about this wall, one of the last visible remains of the old Borough Gaol, a prison where Leicester legend Daniel Lambert once served as a Gaoler. All this fascinating local history can be viewed from Plaque No.17 on the Cosy Club opposite.

Plaque No.18 can be found at No.1 Highcross Street, aka. Nando's! There's little doubt that this whole area is likely to divide opinion, a tall corridor of shiny new buildings along the busy Ring Road with very little to please the eye of an aesthete like myself. Though of course shiny modern buildings like this make great subjects for the photographer. If you asked me what I thought of this Casino building I'd probably describe it as vulgar, an exterior more in keeping with a Distribution Centre than a Town Centre. But my word, it certainly makes for a good photograph.

So we finish this leg of the trail with a bit of modern sculpture... or at least I think that's what it is. Deep within the window shopping zone between the Highcross and Mrs Fed Kandi's favourite retail store, John Lewis, Plaque No.19 offers us a view of these enigmatic columns. Other than the reflections in the polished exterior of John Lewis, I really couldn't think of anything better, and I'm not entirely sure whether I was about to be accosted by the security again so wasn't keen to hang around...

Next: LRSA City Trail Pt.3 - The Yashica minister-D

Light Seals - A Sticky Problem

On the shelf at £16

The one thing you can usually rely on when buying an old camera is that no matter how filthy and damaged it might appear on the outside, flip open the back and you'll find that more often than not the innards will be squeaky clean. The lens and/or top plate are an entirely different matter of course, decades of use, misuse, and probable neglect will have ensured that the all important moving parts are far from factory fresh, clogged with hardened grease and/or nitty bits of film detritus and in need of a good service. The film chamber however is likely to appear more or less 'as new'.

Hardly surprising given that for the useable life of a camera the film chamber will have only occasionally been exposed to dust, dirt, and greasy fingers, usually when loading film. Advance to the golden age of 35mm Compact Cameras in the latter half of the 20th century however, and things take a terrible turn for the worse…

Light Seals are the one thing you often can't rely on. In the earlier days of photography, the material used to stop scurrilous light getting into the camera was a soft Felt material. A natural fibre that has probably lost much of its bouncy 'feltiness' in the intervening years, but a relatively simple job to replace. The rush to plastic in the 60's included a new-fangled, presumably much cheaper spongy foam material for camera light seals, a material that decades later has a tendency to crumble to dust and/or revert to the petrochemical goo it was created from. Such was the case with this otherwise tidy Yashica minister-D that I bought for a song quite recently.

Once your seals have got to this stage, light leaks may well be the least of your worries, because the dust created is the very worst kind of dust for a mechanical camera, sticky dust. Dust that can get absolutely everywhere. On the Lens, the Film Transport, the Film itself, and if you're really unlucky, the delicate Shutter Mechanism. It may also let some unwanted light in! This camera needed a deep clean before things got worse...

If you're really lucky, replacing the Light Seals on your camera will simply involve peeling off the old ones, cutting near identical replacements, and sticking them in the correct places. What's more likely is that you're in for a frustrating hour of filthy, eye-straining work with fiddly tools and noxious solvents, the old crumbly material stubbornly refusing to come off easily or cleanly. The end result is well worth the effort though.

First you'll need to source new material for the seals, ideally of the correct thickness. Too thin and it might not seal adequately, too thick and you may struggle to close the back of the camera properly. I went for this 1.5mm 'pig iron' brand (above), the only one I could find of a thickness that seems to be correct for this era of Yashica cameras.

Removing old material from the hinge with
a Cocktail Stick, aided by a Solvent.

You'll also need a Solvent of some sort to help break down the glue (I used Sticky Stuff Remover), Cotton Buds, Toothpicks and/or something a bit firmer to get into those hard to reach crevices (Mrs Fed Kandi's pink Flamingo Tweezers did it for me), as well as a sharp Craft Knife and Steel Ruler to accurately cut the new material. Before touching any of the crumbly old stuff you'd be wise to seal off as much of the innards of the camera as possible (above), that way you won't end up with sticky dust all over the mechanism or lens during the procedure.

It's then a case of patiently removing as much of the old material as possible (right), taking care to remember where all the seals are and how wide the replacements will need to be cut. The closer you can get to a surface clear of any original material the better, though you'll obviously not want to scratch the surface if at all possible. Fixing the replacement seals into what are often tight gaps can be tricky. The only advice I can offer here is take your time, use a toothpick to help position things, and a little bit of stretching once one end is secured can often help get a thin strip into a tight spot.

Once the job is done, instant gratification can be achieved by the simple act of shutting the back. The back door of this Yashica definitely felt a bit lacking in 'snugness' when closed previously, but now feels reassuringly tight, though the proof of the light seal will be in the first test roll I put through the camera, more of which later...

New Light Seals either side of the hinge for the Camera Back

Thorpe Meadows (Slight Return)

Peterborough Arch (1987) by Lee Grandjean

My previous day exploring the fabulous Sculpture Trail at Thorpe Meadows in Peterborough was cut short by the horrendously wet conditions. Horrendously wet conditions that we'd all be yearning for within a few short months of course...

Quarry (1987) by Simon Perry

Dreadfully claggy underfoot, underwater and impassable in several places even with sturdy Gortex lined walking boots, and relentlessly grey skies above. The only blessing was that it wasn't actually raining on the day. It did mean there were several sculptures on the trail that I couldn't get near to without the aid of wellies.

These things niggle you, or at least they niggle me. I was always going to want to finish the trail, ideally on a much fairer day. The one thing I could be reasonably sure of, even after recent rainy weather, was that the Meadows wouldn't be underwater this time. In fact the ground was damp but firm, and everything was accessible. I could even lay down on the grass when appropriate, all the angles covered with the trusty FED 1 and a roll of Kodak Gold 200, which performed admirably on the day.

'Peterborough Arch' and the Steel structure 'Untitled, 1989' are both visible from Longthorpe Parkway, the dual carriageway that skirts Thorpe Meadows, and our usual route into the city. A tantalising glimpse at speed of these sculptures over many years has made them particularly attractive for me to view close-up, but both were inaccessible back in April. These angles on the Peterborough Arch sculpture are probably my favourites of all the photos I took at Thorpe Meadows this year.

Peterborough Arch (1987) by Lee Grandjean

Untitled (1989) by Miles Davies

Heavily Graffitied Subway under Longthorpe Parkway

Little Prince (1985) by Jane Ackroyd

Festival Boat (1989) by Sokuri Douglas Camp

Creature (1988) by Anne Nicholson (foreground)

LRSA City Trail Pt.1 - Cosmic 35

LRSA City Trail Plaque No.4 on the former Princess Charlotte pub

First up for the LRSA City Trail is the baby budget Cosmic 35, another Soviet-era classic that I recently rescued from a Car Boot stall for little more than the price of a Wetherspoon pint. A solid enough plastic bodied Viewfinder Camera, seemingly in full, if somewhat limited working order, although in truth it was the cool looking lens that attracted me. An instinct that would prove to be entirely correct as it turns out. As for the rest of the camera… well, let’s just say I have issues.

When it comes to vintage cameras I’m pretty much sold on Rangefinders, although I wouldn’t turn my nose up at an SLR or TLR if one came my way at the right price. This camera comes with no such aids to focussing, so as you can see (above) I appended the device with a cool, colour coordinated German Prazisa Rangefinder, an essential accessory for a manually focussing camera like this one in my view. You just have to remember to transfer the range indicated to the actual lens!

Other issues I have with this camera include the separate shutter cocking lever on the side of the lens, a great idea until you inadvertently catch your finger on it when shooting and overexpose the shot. Several bloody times! I got the hang of it eventually, unlike the Viewfinder which clearly wasn’t designed for the glasses wearer. The resulting photos are often quite badly framed so I’ve had to crop some of them as a result. Also, the separate cocking and wind-on mechanism means it’s all too easy to Double Expose with this camera if you neglect to wind-on, although I passed this particular test with flying colours. There may also be a few Light Leaks, and don’t get me started on the super fiddly Aperture adjustment…

Good things about this camera include a groovy name that tends to attract attention, it’s nicely compact and easy to load, and has a lens that in competent hands will give you pretty good images. It's also quite an attractive camera for all its plasticky faults, which is important, because who wants an ugly camera!

So on to the trail, which for convenience I'm doing in number order, starting at the bottom of Leicester's unique New Walk which means you too can begin the trail with a largely traffic-free walk from the Rail Station. I'll likely be using Kodak Gold 200 for the duration of this exercise, because my preferred developer has quite a lot of it, just past its use-by, and for a very reasonable price...

Plaque No.1 is one of the newly cast 2024 versions, mounted on the side of Esquires Coffee on King Street which was originally the site of the City Council Offices. New Walk continues for a very short distance past King Street which is where this attractive arched brickwork can be seen at the base of chimneys for a building on King Street. This photo suffered more than most with the terrible framing so not the best start to be honest!

Plaque No.2 can be found at the corner of Phoenix House on Welford Place, and is another pristine 2024 example. This attractive octagonal Turret with Weather Vane on the corner of Market Street caught my eye, I often wonder whether these 'fairytale' embellishments served any practical function, a look-out tower for ne'er-do-well's perhaps! I’ve no idea what went wrong with the exposure, possibly one where I caught the cocking lever part way up, but without entirely ruining the shot.

Another framing disaster for No.3 on Newarke Street, an original 1984 plaque mounted adjacent to ground level parking for a pretty ordinary looking concrete office block. It's perhaps remarkable that this plaque has survived on a street that's been largely rebuilt in the intervening years, the Magazine Pub being one of the more important losses for those of us who used it quite regularly. There's plenty of great architecture to see on the opposite side of the road, but the metalwork for this Carpark was what stood out for me in the midday sun.

This highly unusual Chimney near the corner of Newarke Street and Oxford Street is a structure I’d previously never noticed despite being adjacent to the (now closed) Princess Charlotte, a pub and music venue I visited frequently in the late 80’s and the site of Plaque No. 4, a 1984 original now painted black (top).

Much as I love this fabulous chimney, it’s the newish Hugh Aston Building (below) that’s the highlight of this vantage point. The lens of the Cosmic has captured the Verdigris of the copper cladding quite well, just occasionally a camera can make a subject look even more beautifully dreamy than it is in real life.

Plaque No.5 can be found on the modern brick wall of the Newarke Houses Museum facing the historic Magazine building, which would be the popular choice for photography I guess. I preferred the look of these decorative Chimney Pots with a puff of Cumulus Cloud ‘smoke’.

Even the guide book struggles to get enthusiastic about the vista from Plaque No.6, mounted as it is on the impressive Victorian edifice of Heritage House but overlooking the deeply unattractive Southgates Underpass (albeit with an attractive Mural on it now). From here you can see the former Shakespeares Head pub, until relatively recently an important heritage survivor with an unspoilt 60’s 'Deco-Style' interior that was sadly ripped out when converted to a short-lived restaurant, and latterly a Cannabis Farm! It was a good pub in its day, but sadly in the wrong place to attract the custom it needed to survive. Note the probable light-leaks on this photo.

Plaque No.7 is to be found in the very heart of Leicester's Castle Quarter, the historic part of the city that Leicester's many detractors never seem to visit. The plaque itself is an original example, appropriately covered in a 'patina' of pale green lichen. A whole day could be spent exploring the area around Castle Gardens and down to the River Soar, including the church of St Mary de Castro which is arguably Leicester's most impressive Christian place of worship, and frequently open to visitors. This photo suffered badly from the bright sky I was pointing the camera at, but I've managed to rescue these interesting heads over this decorative doorway through the power of digital editing.

I spent a good deal of time searching for Plaque No.8, which is apparently at the entrance to the Castle Mound and usually obscured by Ivy, but I couldn't find it. What was much easier to find was my first refreshment break, located just around the corner at the Grade II listed Castle pub. A relatively recent addition to Leicester's pub scene, the Castle is already a firm favourite with beer enthusiasts and students from the nearby Demontfort University. Here we can see a good example of the flare this lens tends to attract, which for my taste is anything but problematic. I've been shooting into the sun with my phone camera forever so it's nice to have a shutter that's safe for this kind of photography.

Plaque No.9 can be found on a (former?) factory building on Bath Lane. This original 1984 example overlooks the Soar Navigation and in addition to the historic West Bridge there are two items of interest within view. A monolithic artwork referencing the former Dyeworks is sadly overgrown and difficult to see now, but this recovered archway from Leicester's historic Wholesale Market makes for a much better subject. I think this is one of the best examples of how the Cosmic's T-43 Lens delivers good colour and contrast, particularly when the aperture is stopped down on a bright sunny day like this.

The final stop on this part of the trail is Plaque No.10, mounted on the highly attractive entrance to the former Foresters Institute headquarters overlooking Jubilee Square. The outlook from this vantage point is much improved since the original 1984 trail was conceived, but as a wide open space there's little to draw the eye when the Christmas Ferris Wheel and Ice Skating Rink isn't in situ.

I turned instead to the historic High Cross, a single pillar of which survives close to its original position on the square. For much of the late 20th century this pillar stood on Cheapside near Leicester Market, it's original location at the junction of Highcross Street and High Street marked by a cross of granite set into the carriageway. These have now gone, replaced by a single paving slab marking the original location. Much like this trail, the numerous movements of Leicester's historic High Cross are one of those urban curiosities that spark the imagination of people like me.

The photo shows the Cross with a backdrop of the former Highcross Coffee House, a Temperance establishment that's now a Wetherspoon pub.

[Coming Soon: LRSA City Trail Pt.2 - The Zorki 4K]

Follow The Fox - A Leicester City Trail

There’s nothing like a good exploratory walking project to keep the joints well-oiled and the vintage cameras clicking smoothly (or indeed ‘clunking’ smoothly in the case of the FED). As exploratory projects go this is a really good one too, combining as it does my casual interests in Architecture, Urban Exploration, perhaps a Pub or two along the way, and of course the (mostly) male obsession with collecting things. It's also a good day when a mystery that's been bugging me for the best part of a decade is finally resolved...

A few years ago, toward the tail-end of Twitter being a useable social space, I posted a photo of something quite mundane and yet inexplicable in the hope that someone might recognise it. An urban artefact that I’d spotted on a stroll around my old home town of Leicester, one of those 'hidden in clear view' things that I'd come across previously but not given too much thought to. The post stirred a modicum of interest online but the mystery remained, and perhaps more surprisingly, a Google search revealed even less. Advance several years to the present day and my interest has been thoroughly re-sparked after spotting yet another example, one of many dotted around the city it would later transpire...

What got me thoroughly foxed back then was a small Terracotta Plaque (below) mounted quite high on a wall, decorated with a Running Fox and impressed with the words ‘City Trail LRSA’. It also had a date, an individual number, and the name of the local brickmakers who manufactured the plaque, Ibstock Brick.

My interest was so thoroughly piqued by this most recent discovery that I decided right there and then that I needed to seek out, and perhaps record a few of these urban curiosities. On this occasion the internet would prove to be much more helpful.

By a stroke of luck the Leicestershire and Rutland Society of Architects (LRSA) had also been pondering these plaques following numerous queries from folk like me, and in 2024 had undertaken a relaunch of the trail by tracking down all the remaining plaques, and in some cases creating new ones where the 1984 originals had been obscured or destroyed. Best of all they also produced a booklet which includes a map showing the location of all 37 plaques, as well as some interesting background to the original trail, a pdf of which can be downloaded here: [City Trail LRSA 2024]

The trail was originally envisioned as much more than a mere 'ticking' opportunity though, the plaques themselves are positioned to indicate 'vantage points', often mounted on walls and buildings of no particular architectural interest. From these waymarked positions we’re encouraged to observe our surroundings, with a particular emphasis on structures of architectural significance.

Of course this is very freeing for the photographer. Despite being in the same place we're free to focus on whatever catches our eye, whatever the subject, although it would perhaps be negligent to ignore the architecture entirely! So more a themed framework for our own creativity than a rigid guide to any specific building or structure.

Whilst it's perfectly possible for a fit person to complete the whole trail in a single day, I intend to stretch it out over four days, using a different Vintage Camera on each day and at least one refreshment break in a pub of note, natch'. I'll be starting with a test roll in the new Cosmic 35, so fingers crossed it (and I) deliver something useable.

Torqueing About 50mm

None of my vintage film cameras are equipped for Macro Photography, a legacy of the 3ft/1m Minimum Focussing Distance of a 50mm Lens that seemed to be the standard for compact cameras of this age. If you look at the manuals and advertising for these cameras it’s perhaps clear to see why. The boom in inexpensive post-war compact cameras was obviously a technological advance, but it wouldn't have been anywhere near as widespread without the improved standard of living for many at the time, both financially and with regard to leisure time.

The cameras that many of us are picking up for peanuts now were mass produced primarily for domestic use, family snaps, portraits, holiday landscapes and sightseeing. Seriously close-up photography remained the realm of the specialist, Botany, Science, Engineering, the Photography Enthusiast etc. So if a camera came with a fixed lens, as many were, it was designed for this this kind of use, and if a ‘Zoom’ lens was an option, I'd imagine that most folk would be using it to zoom-in on something far away rather than for close detail work.

We’re all macro photographers now of course, thanks in the main to modern phones with their truly remarkable cameras. But for the vintage camera fan, three feet often remains the limit. A frustratingly limited distance for sure, and yes my FED and Zorki cameras have the option of different lenses, but I prefer to play to the strengths of the 45-50mm lenses they came with. I doubt I’ll trade the convenience of slipping a compact camera into my jacket pocket and just going, for the burden of camera bags and interchangeable lenses, not yet anyway. So here’s what we get at 3 feet, taken on whatever camera I had loaded at the time but most likely the FED 1 and Baldessa 1a…