Here are the results of my two weeks of walking between my office and Waterloo twice a day during the Olympics to get away from the congestion. The objective of the exercise was to practice street photography, having poured over "Street Photography Now", but as I discovered this was fraught with problems:
- Despite all the warnings about congestion and herds of people trying to access transport, London was empty....therefore very few (if any) opportunities for real street photography presented themselves. There simply did not seem to be anything strange, funny or unusual going on in the streets. Everyone was either at home watching the Olympics, at the Olympics or on holiday escaping the Olympics!
- I was often late for work or late going home, and therefore in a hurry, so I may have missed shots or not taken sufficient time composing...or on the bus....
- Frustrated by the lack of "street photography" opportunities, I resorted to architecture, landscape and a few weird portraits.....
- Commuting hours may not be the best people watching hours
- The walk between Waterloo and London Wall possibly doesn't attract the weird and wonderful!
Here are the results of my ten-day urban safari:
Day
On leaving Waterloo Station, I wandered up this street heading towards the City; I really liked the balance in this view of shade and light.
Walking over Millennium Bridge; a shot that has been taken and published a thousand times. There is a lot of blue in this image, contrasted by a hint of orange in the centre.
View from Millennium Bridge over the new Blackfriars Station with its array of solar panels, probably in overdrive on this morning!
Detail of St Paul's; I like the tones in this image.
The Wenlocks suddenly appeared in London, seemingly overnight. These are the Olympic mascots and are dotted here and there. This Telephone Box Wenlock outside St Paul's, with a telephone box in the background, of course...
Fabulous view of St Paul's shot through the gap at One New Change shopping centre. Trying to capture this without people was impossible. Would there ever be a time with blue sky and no people? Also I would like to remove the artifacts in the mid-ground that obscure the full view of the cathedral. I would like to use this shot in a camera club competition, but I know I would get pulled up on these items.
Now in the evening and the stunning blue sky has gone. Walking back to Waterloo past The Royal Courts of Justice; these are normally a beige/buff colour, but on this day they were grey and they matched the sky and the road! This is a stunning building and I would like to spend some time here photographing details.
View of the Thames walking over Waterloo Bridge. The tower on the right needs straightening (from lens distortion), but I really like this shot and am thinking about using it for a camera club competition.
A closer view of the Olympic rings on the Thames; the light in this shot is interesting, and I'm thinking about using this one also for a camera club competition.
The baobab tree outside the Hayward gallery; pity about the ugliness of the building behind.
Beautiful colours and patterns in the Baobab tree; these are traditional African prints and having spent some time in West Africa, the tree and the fabrics its made from bring back many memories.
Final shot of the tree against the clouds.
I had seen a lot of blue on day one, due to the stunning morning sky; here is the same colour but in a different context. The two hand prints and the wording form a triangle.
Photograph of a giant image hanging outside the Hayward Gallery; really like the humour in this and wish I'd shot it!
More blue...I was impressed that the Boris bikes matched the ice cream van. There are two Hasidic gentlemen in the background; just behind where they are walking is a mutli-cultural street food market full of delicious and interesting things to eat.
Day
Walking past St Paul's I noticed this gentleman; it wasn't raining that hard so I wondered if he was hiding from the rain or something else....
Walking through the park at St Paul's, I stopped to talk to this man feeding the birds and squirrels. He has been coming to this spot every morning to feed them on his way to work; he said the ducks were the boldest at taking all the food. But the squirrels were also brave enough to come up to me; unfortunately I didn't have anything for them!
On my way home back towards Waterloo, I walked past a living statue on the South Bank. This would have been great had a real city gent in bowler hat walked past at the same time...
Day
I like the combination of the pagan orange and ecclesiastical purple in this shot; and there is also some irony in the furniture delivery van in the background and the poor gentlemen asleep on the orange "whatever it is"....
Classic view from of Thames looking east from Millennium Bridge; you can just see the Olympic rings hanging from Tower Bridge in the background.
Day
This was in the evening walking back towards Waterloo; again a stunning sky. Coming off the Hungerford Bridge, there were a number of coloured alphabet cubes hanging in the sky...
Day
Garden outside Merrill Lynch in King Edward Street; I liked the contrast between the flowers, the ruins and the smart office block behind. Notice also the Olympic bunting (which is everywhere in the City, and indeed all over London).
I see this gentleman most mornings - he seems to like this spot beneath a football poster.
Cake shop close to Waterloo; interesting that the colour scheme together with the lady on the right's skirt matches the Olympic colour scheme.
This is sprayed on a wall near Waterloo.
Detail of deconstructed plastic body statue outside the Tate Modern - not particularly pleasant first thing in the morning!
Head of same statue.
Torso of same statue.
Seagulls on the Millenium Bridge; this is the same bird I photographed in Norfolk, which I had never seen before, and now see everywhere!
View over the Thames and Olympic Rings hanging from Tower Bridge.
Interesting light display opposite the Museum of London.
View over the Thames from Waterloo Bridge, and another opportunity to photograph the floating Rings.
Stunning colour scheme outside the National Theatre.
People enjoying the light and colours outside the National Theatre.
Very bright light on the morning of day 9 with stong shadows. This was at 7.30am!
Striking white against blue: having read a book about Colour on the train, I was interested in looking at colour combinations on that bright morning.
Vibrant orange, green and blue.
A rather unusually bright lorry (from Ireland).
Vibrant yellow, blue and green.
This shows how the effect of a polarizer can render the colour of the sky unnatural; you can just make out the moon in the top right corner.
Blue and red together.
I was interested in this view of some birch trees outside the Tate Modern; it reminded me of Aspens, New Mexico by Ansel Adams.
People sleeping outside the Tate Modern. I was pleased with this as I remembered to switch my metering from matrix, where it is usually set, to centre-weighted; this avoided making the grass too bright and washed out (due to the intense shade).
Candid portrait of a gentleman by the Millenium Bridge also exploring London with his camera. Nice orange and purple combination!
View from Millenium Bridge over Sea Container House and the Blackfriars Bridge. By this time it was 8.30am and the light was really intense.
St. Paul's Mandeville, one of the Olympic mascots.
Bright gold in the grounds of St. Paul's.
Pigeon enjoying the early morning sun.
Still thinking about colour, I snapped these funnels along London Wall by my office. I like red and blue together, more so than red and green.
Yellow support structures inside the building with the funnels.
That's the end of my two weeks of attempting daily street photography. Not very successful from a street photography perspective, but some nice landscapes and interesting colours!
Day
There was no sun this afternoon, but fortunately sunflowers; surprised to see them growing along The Cut on the way to Waterloo.
Cleaning operation outside the Young Vic; not sure he's making a lot of progress....
Day
Olympic helpers at London Waterloo.
Day
Leaning crane in Jubilee colours.
Day
Zebra, also enjoying the early morning sun.
Day
Still thinking about colour, I snapped these funnels along London Wall by my office. I like red and blue together, more so than red and green.
Olympic phone box outside the BT office on Newgate Street.
That's the end of my two weeks of attempting daily street photography. Not very successful from a street photography perspective, but some nice landscapes and interesting colours!
