Rainbow

Leaving the house today I saw bright sunshine out the window. I opened the door to find heavy rain. I went out anyway. A few yards along the road I went to cross a side road and checking for traffic saw why I had sunshine and rain. Dark clouds on the right blue sky on the left. With a nice rainbow going across. Quick shot with the snappy camera.

New View of Lloyds Building

One of the nice things about redevelopment on the City is it opens up new views. Recently the building at the end of Cheapside near to St Pauls was knocked down. This gave a view of St Pauls previously blocked. The new building is largely completed so the views has gone again. Currently a hole has appeared in Bishopsgate, I think it was Standard Chartered office, which opens an angle of view onto the Lloyds building and the new Willis building next door. I like both these buildings and took the opportunity to take a quick shot. The weather was a bit poor, so its not exactly a great picture. Still I hope I'll get a chance to get down there on a sunny day with my proper camera before a new building shoots up. Though a clear morning/evening will be handy.

Somerset House

I was walking along The Strand, I seem to walk along The Strand quite a lot lately, late afternoon and had a look in Somerset House as I walked past. The Christmas tree was up and the sky was was turning pink. So I took a took a picture with the little snappy camera. I'm quite pleased with it, it captured the colour of the sky nicely. Though I'm less pleased with the guy in the high viz jacket!

New Office Block in The City

I had a wander through part of the City. Its going through a lot of changes again. buildings being demolished and new ones being built. What was Barclays head office now has a womens clothes shop in the ground floor. I'm assuming the shop doesn't occupy the rest of the tower though. One of the new buildings is Heron Tower on Bishopsgate just south of Liverpool Street station. This will, apparently, be the tallest building in the UK. It's got a few metres to go yet. I took this picture standing in by what was the NatWest Tower but is now Tower 42 and was the tallest building when it opened.

Running With Cameras

Not running with scissors, something we are all warned against, but running or walking with the camera shutter open. As I mentioned in the previous post I enjoy experimenting with photography. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. With that in mind I wondered what would happen if I dialled in a few seconds shutter and walked along. Pretty colours everywhere, much like one of those paintings by a monkey.

Light Trails

I enjoy night time and early morning photography. The light changes quickly and you get to experiment a bit. Digital photography has the benefit of having no cost when experimenting and instant results which film doesn't.

I had a wander around London from London Bridge to Covent Garden. Took a fair number of photographs. I took a number looking along the Strand. Sometimes I zoomed when the shutter was open. This is one of those. The road bends directly in front of where I set the camera up. This gives light trails crossing from right to left and going off into the distance.

View From a Fountain

I took a few pictures in Trafalgar Square and decided to try something different to the views I had tried before. So I put my camera as close as I could to the surface of the water in one of the fountains. I couldn't see what I was taking, as my head would have to be under water to look through the viewer, so it was a case of lining up as best I could.I did expect to be lectured by one of the wardens there, its the only place I've ever been hassled over photography.

Anyway I got this shot which I quite liked. I've got the whole of Nelsons Column, albeit a bit crooked, the surface of the water and a couple of water jets. A bit of experimentation is worth trying.

New Statue in Trafalgar Square

The empty fourth plinth is now being used for the statue of a war hero, just like two of the other three. It's only temporary though. The statue is of Sir Keith Park who commanded RAF 11 group fighter command, defending London and south east England during the Battle of Britain. He was a New Zealander. The statue was designed by an Australian and manufactured in Wellington, New Zealand. This is a fibre glass version. A permanent bronze statue will be erected in Waterloo Place.

More St Pancras

As I mentioned yesterday I liked the restored brickwork and metal roof supports. I took this photo to get a number of elements in.

The clock and some detail of the roof have been captured, along with the rivets in the supports. The top of the statue by the clock is visible. I'm quite happy with the level of detail captured by the little camera. I do want to go there with the proper gear at some point.

One of the nice things about small cameras is that I can carry it around at all times and take shots when something catches my eye. I can then use these as a base for planning trips with the heavy stuff. As the small digital records the time I can plan for light direction as well.

St Pancras Station

St Pancras Station is somewhere I had been meaning to go for sometime. Following its redevelopment to handle Eurostar people have said how good it looks. I needed some equipment from a photographic store nearby so I decided to kill two birds with one stone, shopping and sight seeing. As I'd be doing some shopping I didn't take my main gear and used my little snappy camera instead.

There were quite a few people taking pictures there. The roof is impressive and the restored brickwork looks good alongside the metal roof supports.

I liked this picture of the statue of Sir John Betjeman I took. Rather than a straight shot I wanted the clock in the background as time is part of the statue and also wanted some of the roofing.

I took several shots before toddling off to Neuhaus to get some chocolates. Well it was my birthday and I've not been to Belgium for ages so I thought I'd treat myself to some excellent chocolates.