Category: London

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201/365 Crane

Blackfriars National Rail station is being largely rebuilt and extended across the river for 2011; until then the Underground station is closed.  There is a lot of work going on above and below ground; this is one of the cranes involved.

It’s a mess at the moment, but 12 carriage trains will make it worthwhile, I’m sure!

Technical notes: Nikon D90 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF. ISO 200, 1/320 at f/11.0

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Some of you may know that I’m a fan of Scott Kelby. He’s a great photo educator, both for photography and software.

Anyway, last year he arranged a worldwide photo walk to celebrate the launch of his Digital Photography Book Volume 2. This year he organised a second one, co-incidentally at the time of the launch of his The Digital Photography Book Volume 3. I signed up for the London South Bank walk, ably led by Dave Newton of EOS Network.  We started at 5:30pm at the London Eye and wandered for around two hours along to the Millennium Bridge, taking in the skate park and other photo opportunities on the South Bank.   The scheduled proceedings having finished, we repaired to the Anchor pub and commandeered a corner of their balcony – well, we got a small corner which soon became a big corner once we scared off the natives by talking of ISO, f-stops and lens choices, along with a lot of rivalry between Canon and Nikon users who only called a truce when piling in on the lone Olympus user!  After a supper of fish and chips (and mushy peas – yay!) we headed back out for the sunset and the following twilight.

A slideshow of my photos (just push play, or click through here for the full set):

And our merry band (photo courtesy of Dave Newton):

photowalk

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Still catching up… but there’s a treat for you in the next post. No more same old same old.  In the meantime…

75/365 Fellow traveller 76/365 Shore thing
75/365 Fellow traveller 76/365 Shore thing
77/365 Tap 78/365 Stern warning
77/365 Tap 78/365 Stern warning
79/365 Last day 80/365 Dinner on the wing
79/365 Last day 80/365 Dinner on the wing

A little background may be in order:

78 – this somewhat stern warning is on the Clock Tower in St Albans.

79 – The Thameslink train route stopped serving Barbican and Moorgate on 20 March – eventually the tracks will be lifted so that the platform at Farringdon can be extended to allow for 12 carriage trains (up from the current maximum 8).  I was there in the morning; there were a few photographers there snapping away.    Apparently the evening was very busy with people hoping to catch the last train.

80 – another shot at the wonderful Watercress Wildlife Association.

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To the London Transport Museum depot on 7 March for the museum’s third Flickr scavenger hunt. For the uninitiated this involves scurrying round with a set of cryptic clues looking for what the answer might be, then snapping a shot of it.  And in case that wasn’t hard enough, three group photos were required of each team doing something, plus we had to find five pictures and recreate them.  We didn’t do badly, all in all – Scot, Melinda, Ian and I.  This was the first time I think that their hunt was set in the depot – which made things harder as it’s a real hodge-podge of different stuff, not arranged in a visitor friendly order – and the crowds were massive for some reason!

mosaic3942670 1. Clue 1 – Show a doubling of ticket price., 2. Clue 1 – Show a doubling of ticket price., 3. Clue 3 – A literal 2CV model that doesn’t run on petrol, 4. Clue 4 – Who showed, in his own small way, that escalators were safe, even with only one leg?, 5. Clue 5 – A Little bit of the future – going to the stars but underground., 6. Sadly not Clue 6 – You can’t put a float on rails, but you can still deliver with one of these., 7. Clue 7 – Pour aller à Brocahnt, s’il vous plait?, 8. Sadly not Clue 8 – The end of the line for this beastly neighbour is a stately home., 9. Clue 9 – The car with the most facial hair, 10. Clue 10 – Somewhere to hide when the bombs start falling,
11. Clue 11 – This is a useful place if you’ve left your umbrella on the train, 12. Clue 12 – London Transport is a much more global organisation than you’d think, 13. Clue 13 – Find this underground interloper from British Rail, 14. Clue 14 – Love me Tender, love me true. When the bus breaks down, this’ll come for you, 15. Clue 15 – A tree of convenience (and 66/365), 16. Clue 16 – This caged wonder checks coins rather than defrosts ice, 17. Clue 17 – A little big apple rolls down the avenue, 18. Clue 18 – A beatle-sized replica, 19. Clue 19 – Follow the trams along this tiny monarch’s path, 20. Clue 20 – A little orange man in a little station under a big dome, 21. Group clue 1 – Show your group sitting on a bench at a closed station, 22. Group clue 2 – Show your team enjoying the minature railway, 23. Group clue 3 – Re-enact what it may have been like during rush hour, 24. photoclue1, 25. photoclue2, 26. photoclue3, 27. Photo clue 4, 28. photoclue5

Many thanks to Jane Findlay at the museum for organising it – and our intrepid questionmeisters for giving us such a challenging afternoon!

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I’ve got woefully behind on blogging my Project 365.  Although I have been posting them to Flickr, so you can see I’m still doing it!  I’m afraid work just got way on top of me… way, way on top of me – it’s the busy season for us accountants.

Some catching up, anyway… and if you’d like to see the ones I’m truly pleased with, click on 55 and 60 – the lighting came good!

More later this week…

54/365 Pen pot 55/365 Tulip 56/365 Sign of the times
54/365 Pen pot 55/365 Tulip 56/365 Sign of the times
57/365 Viaduct 58/365 Cufflinks 59/365 Book
57/365 Viaduct 58/365 Cufflinks 59/365 Book
60/365 Night flowers 61/365 Avenue 62/365 Only me
60/365 Night flowers 61/365 Avenue 62/365 Only me
63/365 Dome 64/365 Tulip 65/365 Nom nom nom
63/365 Dome 64/365 Tulip 65/365 Nom nom nom

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26/365 Old man river

Colours boosted slightly in Lightroom; but the reflections not adjusted any more than the buildings themselves. I need to try this again with a proper tripod!

A couple more – click to see larger:

Old man riverOld man river

Technical notes:

Nikon D90. Nikkor 18-200mm f3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR DX @ 18mm. 10s @ f/16 ISO 200.

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Wednesday was my birthday, but online time has been limited since then owing to a trip to Brussels and busy busy busy at work.

The day started rather early with the alarm at 0550 (the normal time!) but we did catch a train about 15 minutes later than our normal one – because that meant time to open… presents!

I have been spoilt rotten!   Mum and Dad have got me some vouchers and a chopping board that folds (which I really really wanted!) and a mystery present. Phoebe got me a T-shirt and a Wii game.  And Sarah spoilt me with a photography day (which I knew about – watch out for the pictures in March) and a pasta maker (which I didn’t!)

After a day at work, it was off to for a quick pre-theatre pub supper, then…

Oliver!

What a show!   The stage at Drury Lane is larger than many; they’ve used it very well to fill it with wonderful scenery, a company of eighty actors and superb choreography.  Such good tunes as well, and a story that has clearly stood the test of time.  Oh, and of course Rowan Atkinson.  Who steals the show.  And is a truly sinister Fagin, ably supported by Burn ‘Torchwood’ Gorman, Tasmin ‘I wasn’t the BBC competition winner but that’s cos I’m already a professional who’s done it before’ Carroll, a great Oliver and an Artful Dodger with perfect comic timing.  Go and see it.  Several times if you can.   You’ll come out feeling so much better with the world!

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21/365 Push!

Despite it being my birthday, it was also a work day and very busy, hence little time to snatch a picture.  We were going to the theatre in the evening and all meeting at Holborn tube.  I was a few minutes early, so snagged this one of the drinking fountain in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

Technical notes:

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-200mm f3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR DX @55mm. 1/60 @ f/4.5 with built-in flash.