London | bikes and things

Working like a dog

06-03-2011

The last few weeks or even months have been mental workwise. I’ve been working long hours and also working at the weekend and evenings on photography work which included putting a small exhibition up in the local pub. I’ve still not managed to ride my mountainbike but I’m hoping that will change soon.

Today I was keen to use my camera again and not on a tripod! I glanced through my Lightroom Catalogue earlier and couldn’t see a single image that was a personal one. So, off came the shift lens and battery grip, on with the 50mm ƒ1.8 and out we went. Nice to travel light for a change not feel the pressure of having to deliver images for a client. We only went around Peckham Park to get some fresh air and a coffee but it was great to get out for a bit. Naturally we ended up in The Gowlett for a pint of Guinness or two.

Here’s a few shots from today.

Snow!

By: Andy

18-12-2010

London

At last some proper snow here in London. The last attempt was fairly pathetic to be honest. Nice being inside the flat wrapping presents etc and seeing the ensuing chaos evolving outside. Wonder if my train to Bath will still be running tomorrow?

A long day with a tripod

By: Andy

13-12-2010

Architecture, Flickr, London, Photography

Yesterday I went out to West London to do a shoot for a firm of Engineers I work with a fair bit at the office. They’ve been working on a large house that is having a sizeable basement being dug underneath it – about nine metres down or around two and a half storeys. They’ve essentially supported the whole house on columns (piles which have become columns) as they’ve excavated. Seriously impressive stuff and quite a feat to see in the flesh (or metal and concrete rather). I love a good bit if engineering and this really satisfies. Incredible what we can do and seriously impressive stuff.

After this I headed back into town to get a few shots of The Shard and see whether I had enough shift on the lens to be able to capture the top of it. I’ve been seeing quite a few shots of it on Flickr recently and thought I should really go and get some myself. Turns out I did have enough reach on the lens and I spent a few hours waiting on London Bridge freezing my arse off to get the following shot. Well worth it I think for that final one and just go the timing of the clouds right to get the moon in too. Also tried out using a Universal White Balance setting to get more dynamic range out of the D700. Seemed to work pretty well although the previews on the back of the camera come out all green, kind of cross processed.

Looking dodgy in the park

By: Andy

28-11-2010

London, Photography

Or rather trying to do night shots without getting mugged with £4k’s worth of photo kit on you or freeze to death in the cold. Still, I think it was worth it.

Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2010

By: Andy

27-11-2010

Art, London, Photography

After collecting Liz from Paddington on Friday we headed straight down to the National Portrait Gallery after quickly getting her to pose for a few pics in Trafalgar Square. I’ve been meaning to see the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize this year. Last years was really good and Emma and I even emailed one of the photographers to see how much a print was, turned out it was a little over our budget but never mind. I love portraits and quite how much you can read into someone or the situation they’re in. I find them fascinating and could look at some of them for ages. As usual it was a mixture of headshots, full length, posed, and natural etc, but as usual the standard was very high. Apparently there’s a bit of a joke that the prize is always won by a ginger and this year was no exception. Although it’s a very worthy winner I prefer some of the other shots. One of my favourites was the shot of Charlie Watts, drummer with the Rolling Stones. My other favourite was Merel which seemed to convey such serenity that it felt as though a photographer wasn’t involved at all. The tones and quality of the image are incredible.

It’s incredible to see full size prints like this with such clarity and sharpness as well as the awesome detail in the images. The other favourite part of the exhibition is that it’s only £2 to get in which is a bargain and that they produce a beautiful exhibition catalogue which is only £12 so a good value trip all round really.

Looking forward to the 2011 exhibition.

Charlie Watts, © Michael Donald 2009

Merel

Merel, © Clare Shilland

Southbank wandering

By: Andy

16-10-2010

London, Photography

Work is pretty manic at the moment and quite a few late nights have been worked over the last few weeks. It looks like it’s going to be like that up until Christmas. After a very late night on Thursday I finally succumbed to the cold that seems to be doing the rounds (man flu). So after a bit of a sleep this morning I headed out to the Southbank to try and have a play with the D700 and also the new grip I’ve got for it last week. It’s kind of odd using it when doing portrait shots but nice to not have to throw your hands right over to reach the controls.

So it now looks something like this. Larger, more batteries and that set of vertical controls. Obviously it’s also a lot heavier. I managed to get a set of higher spec AA batteries which means I can get the full 8 frames per second out of it, although it’s not something I can imagine using that much for Architecture. It’ll definitely help when doing an all day shoot though to avoid taking a charger with me for lunchtime.

Here’s a few shots from today before I went home and got back into bed.

The Barbican

By: Andy

10-10-2010

Architecture, London, Photography

One of my favourite buildings, or rather collection of them, in London is the Barbican. I’ve been meaning to go and do some shots of it for a while now but never quite got there. I had the lens with me from a job on Friday so headed over there this afternoon for an hour or so.

The light was stunning today and lovely and warm but quite stark and contrasty. I played around with these for a while in Lightroom but ended up going for black and white in the end. Pleased with the few shots below.

View from within

By: Andy

10-10-2010

London, Love this!, Photography

Not a bad view from our new flat over London. I love the way the light changes during the day.

Mumford & Sons

By: Andy

10-10-2010

London, Music

Whilst not a gig I normally I would have signed up to go and see, the good Janey Mac bought us tickets to see them last night at the Hammersmith Apollo. They really are incredible live and spine tinglingly good. This version doesn’t really do it justice as to how good they are live.

Here’s two rubbish pictures taken with my phone also.

Let sleeping dogs lie

By: Andy

09-10-2010

London, Photography

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— bikes and things

Working like a dog

Snow!

A long day with a tripod

Looking dodgy in the park

Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2010

Southbank wandering

The Barbican

View from within

Mumford & Sons

Let sleeping dogs lie

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