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2013-05-22 08:19:55 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 26 +1s)

Museum

The Natural History Museum is a stunning building, with some great architecture which is very Harry Potter-esque. Unfortunately it’s a busy as Hogwarts is, making it hard to take a photo without people in it.

That’s why it’s best to get in there and take photos after hours, when the museum is closed to tourists, the staff have all but left, and the big dinosaur from the main entrance sneaks off for a game of poker.

If anyone has out of hours access to the museum and can verify that the above happens or, better still, get me into the building, then please do get in touch.

For now I will make do with having to use my ingenuity and brain smarts to get around the people. Or Photoshop…whichever.

This image is from two exposures and was handheld. I had to do a little bit of cloning here and there [insert your owncloning... more »

2013-05-21 08:33:08 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 30 +1s)

Splitting Time

This was the last image I took while out with with +Jim Nix  last Monday night….though boy that feels like a long time ago.

After meeting at the Eye and moving on to the usual spot opposite the Houses of Parliament for sunset I opted to cross over the bridge for a little light trail action as the hour turned blue.

Normally the light trail shots are done from the opposite side of the road, but as I hadn’t really ‘done’ this scene since getting the 14mm I decided to stay on the left side of the bridge and see what I could get into the ultrawide frame…it seemed natural that the bridge should be used to create a leading line straight through the image.

It took a couple of attempts to get a bus coming by at the correct speed to offer up the most interesting light trail (I’m still waiting for that day when a couple of fire engines comewhizzing by)... more »

2013-05-20 07:29:14 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Wrath

Today's image is for a mini-review and video on B&W Effects 2 by Topaz Labs, you'll need to head over to the blog to read and view them. Thanks.

http://www.murphyz.co.uk/2013/05/20/wrath/

2013-05-19 10:35:47 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

AutoAwesome

As someone who dislikes the majority of animated gifs, I'm not enjoying my stream filling up with them due to the new AutoAwesome features.

Can we relabel it to AutoAnnoying?

2013-05-17 08:27:31 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Riga Sunset

Here’s an image of the river and one of the bridges in Riga just as the sun has gone down.

Being their Independence weekend it was a really vibrant place while I was there, and one that is quite picturesque also.  Though I spent the majority of my time walking around and complaining about the cloudless sky, I was fortunate to have a little bit of cloud cover at this time which certainly adds a little bit of interest to the image, and prevents the sky from being a single gradient block.

You can see the lovely Vanšu Bridge crossing the river Daugava; I love the suspension cables that hold the structure together.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend ahead of them 

2013-05-16 08:04:23 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

Al fresco

A cobbled street with outside seating on a nice sunny day; it’s a typical European scene.

This was down a lovely set of passageways behind the back of St Peter’s Church in Riga, Latvia.  It was pretty busy with tourists so I had to wait for quite some time before I was able to get this image without any people in it.  It’s also amazing just how slow some people can walk.

This day was pretty sunny, with harsh light and a bright blue sky.  One option in these conditions would have been to process the image in black and white; however that’s why I love some of the filters that are available to photographers.   Here I used one of my favourites, and certainly one of my ‘go to’ filters, which is ‘Autumn’ within Perfect Effects by OnOne Software.  This filter works awesomely in harsh sunlight, adding golden tones and a nice soft glow to thescene.... more »

2013-05-15 07:58:29 (3 comments, 4 reshares, 23 +1s)

The Following

An underpass with a light at the end and people walking through it in silhouette form – how could I resist to stand and shoot this?

Of course…it was a busy underpass so getting something I wanted without people walking in and out of the frame immediately around me, and having them for some sort of sense without overlapping too much at the end, was pretty darn time consuming.

I was pleased with this though, especially when I saw the family of three holding hands on the right hand side of the frame.

This underpass is quite close to the central train station in Riga, and is one way in which you can get across the busy road (other ways include simply walking, a jetpack, sitting atop a large frog or making use of a really large catapult…perhaps).

For processing I used the Urban Sickness filter within Perfect Effects by OnOneSoftw... more »

2013-05-14 07:53:31 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 16 +1s)

GoldenEye

I hadn’t really paid attention to Jubilee Gardens since they opened at the end of October last year.  In my mind, I am still used to the grassy field that was there beforehand, with hard patches of soil poking through and a few hobos sat around drinking cider from a brown paper bag.  As such, I have walked past this place many times since but never really stopped to actually look at it, and determine if I like it or not.

It’s certainly an improvement on what went before it.

I headed to the Southbank for sunset last night and grabbed a few long exposures here while waiting for +Jim Nix  to rock up.  We didn’t get a great sunset in the end, but the golden light that was coming out just before the sun went down was really quite nice, and the clouds were moving at a steady pace, so it was nice to stick on the black glass and get this shot. It’sprobably th... more »

2013-05-13 07:43:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

I'm lovin' it

There are a lot of old, empty buildings in Riga.  You can easily turn a corner and be faced with somewhere that is boarded up, falling apart and covered in tape as a warning not to cross the threshold.  I imagine if you were a local you would be able to spend some time finding entry points to some amazing places.

I had taken a walk over the Stone Bridge to check out the library which was in a lovely looking modern building, but which is unfortunately in the middle of having some sort of renovation work done so getting images was not really possible from close up. I continued my walk down the river and turned a corner to find myself with a building as mentioned above, boarded up, falling apart, and a line of tape over the doors and windows.  So I started taking a few detail shots and noticed this McDonald’s cup lodged into this space.

I doubtthat... more »

2013-05-10 07:50:22 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Cats Hostel

One thing that Riga seemed to have a lot of, roaming the streets and looking a bit grubby, is tourists.

They also had a lot of cats, which seemed to be doing the same thing.

What I didn’t notice is how many of the cats were tourist cats; it’s my fault really as I didn’t even make the slightest effort to speak with any of them.  However, I assume there must be some, otherwise there would be no need for this cat hostel which I stumbled upon while wandering around the streets myself.

Now it’s no 5 star accommodation, I can see that. But, if you’re a lonely cat, wandering the streets and looking for a place to sleep for the night, perhaps on top of a flea ridden piece of knitwear, then may I recommend this vibrant yellow box.  It’s close to things like the pavement, and a broken drainpipe, and is relatively undisturbed – apart fromthe footfall an... more »

2013-05-09 07:30:34 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

Belgian Senate

For those of you who aren’t paying attention. this is the Belgian Senate building.

I had walked past this place a few times as I was going to and from my hotel, but I always seemed to be on the wrong side of the road so didn’t stop here until I was walking to the train station to catch the Eurostar home; then I made the exception to cross the road and tick this building off my list.

It was a short list to be honest.

Being a Sunday the gates were all locked up, and nobody was in sight, so I was able to get this photo by poking the camera through the fence from the main road. I think it would have been a little nicer had the daffodils been blooming in the circular areas of the garden.

I say daffodils.  They could be tulips. I haven’t got a clue.

2013-05-08 15:30:23 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Discuss

We've all been out on a photowalk and returned with several awesome images after the creative juices have been flowing.  

We've all been out on a photowalk and returned with no images at all, or perhaps a few which simply 'meh'. 

However, I would suggest that a photographer should be able to get at least one photo they are happy with from ANY location they visit, regardless of how uninspiring that location may feel.  

Would you agree?

2013-05-08 07:29:12 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

Academy of Sciences

This is the Latvian Academy of Sciences in Riga.  It’s a lovely building, was the first place I headed to after I had checked into my hotel, and was the place I visited the most during my trip there.

That’s not because I’m a scientist. Far from it.

The sign that you can see at the foot of the right door states that you can access this building for Panoramic views of Riga from 8am through to 10pm; what’s more it costs 2.50 Lats to get in there – that’s about £3.  Sure, St Peter’s Church is in the heart of the old town, and is a little higher, but it’s twice the price, hasn’t got such great opening hours, is much busier, and has more barriers in place.   On the 17th floor of this building you could jump off if you so desired.  Please don’t though, as that would result in barriers being put up, which nobody wants.

Ivisited three times as m... more »

2013-05-07 08:01:52 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 17 +1s)

Vanšu Bridge

Vanšu Bridge in Riga is one of four bridges crossing the Daugava river that I walked over this weekend, and I think my favourite.

This was taken on Saturday night, when I should have been walking around taking photos with Ikars (http://www.photoriga.com, before I screwed up. Everything was going well, I had managed to wake up at 4am to get to the airport, then arrived from London on time, checked in to the hotel, and then spent a few hours wandering the narrow streets of Old Riga. Within 30 minutes of being here I had also gone to the top of the Latvian Academy of Sciences to check out the view…more on that later in the week.

I returned to the hotel for some food and a beer and then made the awesome decision to have a 20 minute power nap to refresh me for the evening ahead. I awoke 2 hours later, late (for both my meeting with Ikars, and the sunset).So ... more »

2013-05-03 07:45:16 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Manneken

Happy Friday everyone!

I guess you can’t really go for a few days taking photos in Brussels, without stopping by the Manneken Pis statue at least once. It’s a little like the Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre; that is you wander around aimlessly for a while and then stumble on a group of people who are crowded around something that is much smaller than you had ever imagined. Still, it’s nice to see it.

I saw this statue on both days I was in Brussels, and he was wearing different outfits on each day. They have many outfits that they dress the statue up in, and they’ve done really well at marketing the concept to visitors.

It seems like so long ago since I was in Brussels, even though it was only two weeks. I’m heading away again this weekend (Latvia) but then I’m going to have a lovely couple of weekends at home catching up with friends,and on slee... more »

2013-05-02 07:49:25 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

Godfrey

This is a statue of Godfrey of Bouillon. It is in Brussels. I’m sorry but I do not know the name of the horse.

I had walked past this statue on the Saturday which was pretty much blue sky and no clouds. Though I took a few shots, I had done so while standing in the shadow of the statue, framing it so that the head was in front of the sun. It’s the only way I could get a shot, and I had hoped for a golden looking halo effect – that really didn’t work out.

I was pleased to return the next day when there were awesome clouds in place.

2013-05-01 12:39:33 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 17 +1s)

Galerie Horta

A swift, and delayed, post today as I have been in a meeting all morning.

I found this lovely interior below the central train station in Brussels; or past a giant Smurf if you’re going at it from street level.

It was lovely and quiet on the Sunday I was there, though taking it the symmetry seems slightly off with some parts leaning left, other parts leaning right – it’s all a bit weird and I can’t figure out if it’s distortion on the 14mm lens, or if the building actually looked like that.

Anyhoo, hope everyone is having a lovely day.

2013-04-30 08:26:36 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 16 +1s)

Prague

I heard of the recent explosion that happened in central Prague. I’m not too sure if anyone one was killed, but understand a few people may still be trapped under rubble.

This incident did not make me rush into my Lightroom archives to try and find an image of this beautiful city to process, however it did make me wonder where it happened. When I see something on the news I have to sometimes find out where that location is, but normally that’s simply narrowing it down to where an actual city is on the map (admittedly, it’s also sometimes establishing where a country itself is). However, when I’ve been to a location I find that I want to know where it is in further detail, down to street level. i.e. when I was in that location, did I walk over the spot where it took place?

Not sure if that’s some sort of morbid curiosity within me, but it doeshappen.more »

2013-04-29 10:49:46 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Gleaming

Happy Monday, I hope that everyone had a lovely weekend. I’m currently in the sunny seaside town of Skegness on the East coast of England.

This building could be anywhere, but for those who sweat the small stuff and would like to know more details, I can remember that it’s in Brussels…somewhere.

The sky was bright blue on this hot Saturday, so I thought I would do a bit of processing to get rid of what was a very boring sky. I used B&W Effects 2 by Topaz Labs to introduce the green/yellow tone into the image, and then added a bit of a lens flare at the top of the building.

Not sure I’ll have very many images of Skegness when I return, so don’t expect any images whatsoever of donkeys and ice cream.

2013-04-26 08:48:14 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Coma White

With limited time in Beijing I had to be quite choosy when it came to locations I wanted to visit, as I could only spend so much time visiting so many locations, and not plan a decent amount of time to spend roaming the streets and different areas to get a feel for each one.

I was very pleased to have met up with +Jens Schott Knudsen  to find out about the hutongs, and of course with the following day free to do as I desired, he was also able to offer some great suggestions of other places to visit. This did not make my decision any easier.

In the end I was really happy with the one place that was suggested which I opted to go to, and that was the 798 Art District. I really enjoyed walking around here.

I’m not sure if this particular sculpture was meant to be an actual installation or not, it could have just been removed from one of thega... more »

2013-04-25 09:00:15 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 19 +1s)

Urban Gothic

Back to Brussels today, and this image of the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula.

It’s rare, but sometimes when I’m taking an image I will think of a potential title to use for the shot. St. Michael was playing on my mind, as we share a name (I too am a Saint…ahem), but when reading about the cathedral I was more inclined to use the fact St. Michael was a archangel and St. Gudula was a martyr. Thus ‘The archangel and the martyr’ was a title that sprang to mind.

Then I processed the shot. A little sharpening and contrast boosting, and then I opened it up in Perfect Effects and went straight for the Urban Sickness filter. I liked it, and so the title of ‘Urban Gothic’ quickly screamed out at me.

I did pass this Cathedral on the Saturday but didn’t take any images due to the number of people sat on the steps outside, and thebright blue sky... more »

2013-04-24 08:03:48 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 19 +1s)

Great Wall

In China there is a wall, and it is long. I spent some of my time in China walking it.

All of it.

Okay, when I say ‘all’ I mean ‘all I would care to do’. I spent about 3 hours up there, with a bit of sun, and a large backpack. It was pretty tiring to be honest.

Now, I know it must have taken a long time, and it is a stunning piece of work when you think about just how long it is. However I have to wonder why there isn’t consistency in the way it’s built. Part of it features ramp, part of it feature small steps, part of it features really big steps. I don’t know why they just couldn’t use small steps the whole way.

Still, I’m really pleased that I decided to make the trip out there to see it, and would certainly advise that if you’re opting to go for the easy to get to touristy spots, then you go on a weekday and doso very early in th... more »

2013-04-23 10:59:40 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 15 +1s)

Square

Before my rececnt trip, the last time I was in Brussels was a few years ago and it is at the location you see in today’s image that I spent all of my time. I remember it was during a football event, so think it was probably in June of 2010. I think I was stood on an exhibit stand for most of the day, and that it was only a day trip.

It sure wasn’t enough to get a feel for the city, which is what my latest trip was great for. I was pleased to return to this spot though, so I could at least put this building in context with the surrounding area and establish how it fits into the landscape.

I sure was pleased not to have to go in there again though.

2013-04-22 08:19:58 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 20 +1s)

Atomium

On Wednesday last week I decided that I was going to go to Brussels for the weekend. Thursday morning I booked the Eurostar, Friday the hotel, and by Saturday I was heading across there with a bag full of camera gear. It was a short, but tiring weekend.

Saturday the weather wasn’t great…as in it was too cloudless and contrasty for photography. I slowly walked to my hotel to check in, and then walked around to get my bearings. There was no real sunset that was likely to happen, and as I didn’t have a clue where to go anyway I opted to walk up to the Atomium to check that out. Boy, that’s a long walk from the city center! (I took the train back)

It’s a pretty cool structure, though it had closed by the time I got there so I didn’t venture up inside it. I wandered around shooting from various angles and checking out the park beside it, and I stuckaround for ... more »

2013-04-19 07:59:54 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Red and Gold

The very last photo I took in Beijing was this one. I was walking around Tiananmen Square with no way to get up close to the Monument of the People’s Heroes due to some of the underpasses being closed for a flag raising ceremony of some sort. Being so far away and without a decent zoom lens meant I had to come up with some other way to capture it and attempt, in some way, to add interest.

I admit I was tired by this stage, so the best I came up with was to try and capture one of the buses going past it as a light trail. That’s what you see here.

I’m not sure I like it that much…but it’s the best I have from this location, and something I wanted to make sure I had a post of.

In other news, I’ve decided to book a trip to Brussels for the weekend so I can walk around and see the few sights it has to offer. I’ve been there a few timesbefore, once ... more »

2013-04-18 12:19:03 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Photography in Brussels

I've decided to book a trip to Brussels this weekend.  I'll be there on my own, arriving at around noon on Saturday and leaving around 6pm Sunday.  I'm about to start scouting spots, and so far know of the Atomium and City Hall.

Are there any other photographic places in Brussels that you would recommend?

Cheers

2013-04-18 08:00:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Dead End Alley

One of my free mornings in Beijing was spent wandering around the 798 Art Zone. Having to take the subway from my apartment I then jumped on a bus for a 20 minute ride to get to where I needed to be, and once again I must thank the fact my phone has GPS so I can navigate without knowing local languages.

It was an interesting area, and I will have a few photos to process to give a glimpse of the type of work seen there, but at one point I took a turn that resulted in a dead end, and thought this alley I was in looked pretty photogenic.

I guess this scene could be anywhere, really, but the great thing about photography is that I can look at an image I have taken in the past and evoke the memory of being there. When I look at this I will remember exactly where it is, the statue that stands at the entrance to the alley, the fact there was a couple having... more »

2013-04-17 08:09:38 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Night at the Opera

There weren’t many locations I had in mind to visit during my trip to Beijing. I knew I should visit the Great Wall as I was so close. I thought I should also visit the Forbidden City as it seemed like ‘the thing to do’. One of the other items I did have on my agenda was the Opera House as I had seen many images of it previously.

So here it is.

After a couple of minutes of taking images I turned around to find the security guard standing right behind me. He had been looking at the preview on my camera display after I had taken each shot, and then he simply smiled and gave me the thumbs up. A promising sign, I motioned that I would like to step in front of the chain barrier to get a different angle.

My Chinese isn’t great, but I’m confident his response to that request was a ‘no’.

2013-04-16 07:38:18 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

Tricycle

While in Beijing, pamhule (http://blog.pamhule.com/) was kind enough to take a few hours out of his day to meet up with me for a photowalk. It was great to meet someone with local knowledge, and so we checked out some of the hutongs in the Dongcheng District. I had seen the entrance to a hutong near the Forbidden City a few days previous without realising that’s what it was, and though the scene was interesting and almost begging me to go into it, I opted not to due to a lack of knowledge on what it was and if it was private property. I’m all for stepping over a line in the UK, but not so in China (at this part of the trip anyway; I did check out an empty building later on in my trip).

Hutongs, as well as being a fun word to say, are little neighbourhoods that center round a courtyard and feature a few residencies and several twisting alleyways. Opening a door ontoone... more »

2013-04-15 21:09:39 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Strata Tower

(Updating G+ with daily photoblog posts from while I was in Beijing)

We’re back to the Elephant & Castle in South London for this image, which is where we’re both starting and ending this week’s posts.

The Strata Tower is visible from many places within London, and is most easily recognised by the three large fans that can be found on the top of the building, built to harness the wind and provide energy savings for the building itself.

It was a stupidly windy day when I was here, but my 3 Legged Thing tripod seemed to stand up to that admirably, even while doing a long exposure with a B&W filter.

No matter how strong the wind blew, however, those fans on the top did not move at all which leads me to question the overall usefulness of them.

Processing was a straightforward affair; I sharpened a little in CS6and t... more »

2013-04-15 21:10:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Outhouse

(Updating G+ with daily photoblog posts from while I was in Beijing)

I delved into the archives for this image one day when I was looking for something to process from an old Urbex trip. This image was taken in a place called Denbigh Asylum in Wales, and it was one of the many stops made by a group of us on a weekend of mischief.

This is the same room as my image Windows (http://www.murphyz.co.uk/2011/07/27/windows/) was taken in, just with looking the other way. I note re-reading that blog post that I was away for a week when I posted the image, so find it quite odd that 2 years later I’m away again, and scheduling another image from the same room during that period. Odd.

2013-04-15 21:10:11 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Twin Cannons

(Updating G+ with daily photoblog posts from while I was in Beijing)

Every time I write the wond ‘cannon’ nowadays I seem to mistype it as Canon.

These cannons are to be found in front of the Imperial War Museum, which is the building you can see in the background. It’s one of those locations that can leave you slightly frustrated as a photographer; not because it’s a busy place and people are always walking into your shot, but because the cannons and the path that leads up to the building aren’t quite symmetrical.

I often find this a cause of angst when taking images, especially so when it comes to architecture. I wonder how such things are built without this additional bit of due care and attention.

2013-04-15 21:10:20 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Bankside

(Updating G+ with daily photoblog posts from while I was in Beijing)

I first noticed this text written in this wall a few years ago while I was on a boat on the Thames river. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before, having been in the area hundreds of times over the past decade – but I guess that’s one of the great things about London and the fact you can always notice new things.

I was on a photocrawl a couple of weeks ago when I finally got around to taking a few photos of it. It was a wet and snowy day, and I had been walking around for a little while before finally getting to this spot – and it’s here where I decided to finally get the camera out of the bag and start shooting, which I’m glad I did as I had a pretty creative shooting session after taking this image, and it would have been easy on such a day to simply not take my camera outof the bag at... more »

2013-04-15 21:10:31 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 12 +1s)

Heygate

(Updating G+ with daily photoblog posts from while I was in Beijing)

This is a glimpse at a very small section of the Heygate Estate in South London. It’s a large, empty estate that is due to be demolished at some time or other, and simply sits there unused – mostly looking drab if it wasn’t fot the graffiti that offers a colour burst around every corner.

Though I’ve known about it for some time I had never ventured there, but took the opportunity to do so on a photocrawl last week where the starting point was the Elephant & Castle, and the main item I wanted to photograph was the Strata Tower (coming up later this week).

2013-04-15 08:18:18 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 19 +1s)

Jingshan Park (景山公园)

Well, I’m back from Beijing and I had a lovely time of it.

Sure, for the most part I was working, so seeing only the main strip of land where the hotels are, and spending most of my time eating and drinking a the Grand Hyatt hotel. A 5 star hotel is nice, of course, but doesn’t really give you a feel for the city, especially when the nicest food within the complex was an Italian restaurant.

After work I managed to grab a couple of days to wander around by myself…though feeling very tired and having so many locations to choose from meant I had to pick wisely and randomly, so not sure if I made the best use of my time there.

I’m starting with the final day of my trip where I went to Jingshan Park behind the forbidden city for sunset. Wikipedia tells me the park is basically is an artificial hill made from the earth whichwas taken from ... more »

2013-04-05 08:13:29 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 19 +1s)

Descent from Orbit

Long time readers of my photoblog may remember that I did a set of images from around the Olympic Park in London while we were hosting that magnificent event. Those who take far too big an interest will also remember my image of Orbit (http://www.murphyz.co.uk/2012/09/11/orbit/). If you do remember these things then, please, stop paying so much interest in me. It’s a little creepy to be honest…what’s next, telling me that you know what time I shower in the morning?

Just kidding, of course.

I don’t shower.

Anyhoo – this is my exiting Orbit via the staircase after enjoying the sights of London from the viewing area which is at the top of it. It’s the place I was while taking yesterday’s image of the skyline and rain over London.

I’m off to Beijing tomorrow for a week of work followed by a few days leisure. I’llbe scheduling Mon... more »

2013-04-04 07:53:30 (16 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Epic Fail

Okay, perhaps 'epic' isn't the right word...but I did fail.

Last night I headed out on a photocrawl after work; I was looking forward to it and wanted to get four images from the evening that I could process quickly and then get ready as pre-written posts so that I can continue my daily posts while away with work next week.

I set up the camera, composed the shot, and was about to push the shutter release when my camera battery died.  The spare battery I had with me wasn't charged, as I had a hectic day at work and simply forgot to do so. Due to cancellations from some people who were going to attend, I didn't have anyone shooting who had a similar, and spare, battery I could use - so I spent the rest of my time simply walking around enjoying the company and missing the opportunity to take shots.

The battery that died had... more »

2013-04-04 07:29:55 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 20 +1s)

Raining in London

Yes, the large mass of swirling black clouds in this image indicate that it was another rainy day in London. It was a cold one too, but we’ve had a lot of that lately.

I bet it’s the wrong kind of rain though. No doubt as soon as the sun pops his head out in the near future we’ll be thrust back into a hosepipe ban of some sort.

Okay, I guess it’s time to play a game of ‘name that building’. One point for naming any of the buildings in this image, and two points if you can tell me where I was when I took it – not that I was drunk and don’t know where I was, of course. If you need help you can look at the image tags (depending on where you are reading this).

#London #city #capital #cityscape #skyline #clouds #rain #formation #wet #dreary #grey #tower #architecture #building #strata #shard #gherkin #30StMary'sAxe#StPaul's #... more »

2013-04-03 08:08:22 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 13 +1s)

Perpetual Motion

I decided to break out the black glass over the weekend and do a couple of long exposures…the grey clouds over London have to be good for something, right?

I use the B&W 10 Stop, and it’s a great piece of kit, but I hate the fact you have to remove it and reattach it everytime you need to recompose; it can be tricky to thread when the camera is in some particular angles. Someone on one of my photocrawls this weekend suggested that manufacturers should use a magnetic version where the glass can just snap into place. It’s an awesome idea, though I wonder if that would lead to instances of the glass popping off by accident. I drop it enough times simply trying to thread it, I imagine I’ll drop it twice as many times if magnetic. It would be a time saver though.

Not sure where this image was taken…I saw it somewhere in London.

2013-04-02 10:11:30 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 25 +1s)

Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle

Thank you to everyone who showed their support of me after my April Fool joke yesterday. I was touched by the comments and emails received showing concern for my giving up the photography game, and felt a little guilty about having fooled a few people in the end. All is well though; I’m 2 years in to weekdaily posts and hoping to go strong for another 2 years from here. Though some of my post was true, I’m not in this to get the traffic and views and favourites, but because I enjoy doing it. Comments and shares are very nice, and much appreciated, but not a big part of the plan. Not that I have a plan, really.

So, back to normal service as expected. St Paul’s Cathedral is my favourite building in London, and I love shooting it from various angles and indeed various rooftops. I dislike two things about it though.

1. I donot l... more »

2013-04-01 09:39:59 (10 comments, 2 reshares, 10 +1s)

Missing the Mark

It’s with a heavy heart that I’m writing this, as it’s going to be my last regular update in what has been – up until now – my daily photoblog.

Too much work has been put into this for the past two years, and other aspects of my life have suffered because of it; that along with the fact this site isn’t where I imagined it would be two years down the line then I have to question if my approach is right and if the hard work is worth it.

I’ve tried to improve as a photographer throughout the time I’ve been doing it, but I still see talentless hacks posting a few crappy images of their daily lives and getting thousands of hits on their work, and so there is no room for someone like me to compete in that environment.

It’s a pity this decision has come so close to my finally understanding the algorithm that Flickr use to makeexplore, as I’ve ... more »

2013-03-29 12:27:11 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 32 +1s)

Leadenhall Market

I’m finishing off the week where we finished off last weekend’s image taking on the photocrawl, and that is Leadenhall Market.

We had intended to finish up by taking images of the LLoyd’s building, but they didn’t have their lights on like they normally do so the desire to take a photo there quickly disappeared.

Today is the start of Easter Weekend in the UK, which means we get today and Monday off work. I plan on using the extra personal time we have to do may wonderful things, such as a photowalk, a little website work and, most importantly, napping.

2013-03-28 09:35:24 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 21 +1s)

Gate

I wonder exactly what is hidden in Thames?

For the most part when you simply see a flow of water. Take your time to examine that closely and you’ll realise just how brown that water is. Sometimes you may also see items floating down it, a shoe, an umbrella, a beer keg.

Peel back that layer of water, however, and I wonder just what you would find? It’s not uncommon to see something such as a shopping trolley, and at times there are old bits of music equipment, and in this case a nice old iron gate; I can’t imagine what else lies beneath the murky water.

Of course it’s only exposed for a short amount of time due to the tides. Before long this iron gate would return to it’s watery grave away from human eye.

I really liked this scene when I saw it; the gate was a natural focal point and it’s always nice to get the Tate modern andShard in th... more »

2013-03-27 09:06:36 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 22 +1s)

Temple

This shot has only recently become available to me, and that’s because I now have the 14mm glass which sits on my camera 90% of the time.

I was in the middle of a photocrawl and had just had a few pints in a pub that you can just see in this shot; it’s the little black sign in the distance behind the telephone box. Before continuing on to Waterloo Bridge I backtracked a little to grab this image.

It was pretty quiet with little pedestrian traffic so I was able to take an uninterrupted shot with ease. The fact it had been snowing on and off helped this image a lot, I think, as the shot wouldn’t be quite as nice if the ground wasn’t wet.

2013-03-26 23:35:23 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Community Noise

When Google+ was introduced I flocked to it like I do with most Google releases. Excited to see what innovation they have, but apprehensive that it may suffer a fate like Wave did. I was happy to see it blossom into a home for photographers. 

It took me a while to get used to circles and how to handle the 'noise' that was coming into my stream.  For me I wanted the platform to deliver something which is, I feel, quite simple, and that was images from talented people that I could passively enjoy or actively engage with. 

I didn't want somewhere that shows me a stream full of animated gifs, I didn't want to follow people who simply repost other people's work. I wanted original content of high quality.  Once mechanisms were in place to control the amount of circle content that appears in your stream, I received what I wanted prettymuc... more »

2013-03-26 08:56:02 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 14 +1s)

Storm Drain

On Saturday I met up with Jarrad (http://www.facebook.com/JaymarksImages) for a photocrawl. The weather was certainly not the best, and though most people were unable to make it we decided to still head out and have a few drinks and see what we could find to take a photo of.

At one stage it was low tide on the Thames, so we spent some time walking along the beaches until we came upon a storm drain. It didn’t go on too far, and was pretty grimy from spending much of it’s time underwater, but we took the opportunity to take a few shots using my torch as a light source.

After playing around for a bit we headed back out to daylight, and I’m glad I did as the tide was starting to come in. Another 20 minutes or so and we would have been wading our way out of the entrance which would have done nothing for our appearance, let alone our camera gear.

2013-03-25 09:11:59 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Houses of Parliament during Earth Hour

Even with the snow around on Saturday, there were quite a few people who had gathered on the south side of Westminster Bridge with cameras waiting for the lights to be switched off at the Houses of Parliament in support of Earth Hour (http://www.earthhour.org/). Surprisingly everyone seemed to be on the stairs from the bridge and not at my favourite spot which is by the steps leading down to the river itself, so I was able to take up my usual position when shooting here.

I had just got myself into position and composed the shot when the lights went out, which meant I had to try and focus in the dark – not the easiest thing to do when I normally use the clockface as my focus point. I was also shooting with the 14mm so this image was superwide when taken, I think the resulting crop is around 1/3 of the size of the original. It’s a singleexp... more »

2013-03-22 08:57:05 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

Pye in the sky

I arrived home from work shortly before midnight last night, and wanted to sit and chill before bed. One way to unwind, I find, is to process images. Sure, you’re not always in the mood for doing so, but sometimes it’s just what you need to let your mind detach from a long day at work, get some sort of creative juice flowing, and end the day nicely.

Short on time before I knew my mind would cry for bed, I opened up Lightroom, flicked to an earlier catalogue, randomly selected a folder and grabbed a set of brackets which were immediately visible. Normally I would like to flick between folder and select an image to process based on which one grabbed my attention in some way at the time; in this instance it was a case of – grab whatever is there and do something with it. I think I was lucky with the folder selection really.

This image was taken inPyest... more »

2013-03-21 09:26:10 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

Dry Fountain

Super quick post today, as very busy with work.

Here’s a close up shot of a fountain that is in Kew Gardens, London. It’s one of those nice artistic fountains that probably has a lot of significance in design, none of which I remember or have the time to research just now.

It’s a pretty cool looking thing though, and it must have been switched off for the winter period I think.

Have a good day all.

2013-03-20 08:51:37 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

The seat under the tree

I bet this seat is a lovely place to hide from the sun on a blisteringly hot day, the leaves providing a natural and colourful canopy. I bet you could even spend a nice relaxing hour laying down in it and having a nap like a hobo.

In winter, not so much.

The bench is in Kew Gardens which I visited over the New Year period, making use of their free pass tickets that they give out at the end of the year.

The tree is there also :)