London 5. Familiar Landmarks in the Golden (well not quite!) Hour

We used the best light of the day to photograph across Westminster Bridge, down Horse Guards Parade and into Trafalgar Square. Images 6 and 7 are take at 1/8th sec and 13 second (more long exposures in next blog). I particularly like the penultimate image of the lady in red as it has an eastern European look though not sure how I achieved it.

London 4. Tate Modern Turbine Hall and Boilerhouse - Contrasts

We spent a considerable time photographing in the Tate both for the architecture and the displays. The colours of the Turbine House, especially with the striped carpet reflected in a large swinging metal ball and orange metal pipes supporting a series of swings, contrasted well with the concrete walls and staircase in the Boilerhouse

 

London 3. Walk through City of London

On Saturday, we walked through the City of London to the Tate Modern, snapping en route. As well as my Fuji gear, I used a small Sony compact that I have recently acquired for keeping always available in the car etc. It only takes Raw and, so far, light has been so poor that I have only used it at 1600 iso when quality is not great for large images but ok for Blog (images 2, 3 (old Smithfields), 4, 5 and 6)

London 2. Kings Cross Area

On Friday evening, we walked along to St Pancras Station, first taking shotsof the traffic outside King's Cross and then in the station itself. The first image of the man on the stairs is a Zerene stacked image of four 2 sec. shots - luckily he stayed absolutely still for one exposure. We then walked to Granary Square with its quaint Christmas tree and yellow chairs. Finally one of the Canal that runs alongside the Square

London 1. Brutalist Architecture - British Library

We are spending 5 days over Christmas in London based at Euston , to give the family a bit more space and us a break. We spent time after we arrived yesterday afternoon at the British Library. As usual, I was attracted by the interaction of the many angles and colours of the interior with the many visitors. The exterior is often regarded as a Brutalist example and is referred to as the only major public building to be built in Great Britain in the twentieth century. "No other project, since the building of St. Paul’s Cathedral over 400 years ago, took so long to construct or was surrounded by so much controversy." Begun in 1962, completed in 1997, it was opened to the public in 1998. It was designed by Sir Colin St John Wilson in red brick to echo the Gilbert Scott Euston station beyond.