bikes and things

Another “I found this on Twitter” post but that’s where all the cool kids are these days I guess.

So I stumbled across this collection of images which is probably one of the best Tumblr pages I’ve seen so far (most are a bit crap in my opinion). The theme really works and doesn’t get in the way which helps massively. It’s full of amazing images from the usual suspects of design based websites (Dezeen, ArchDaily, DesignBoom etc) but it’s nicely curated (except they included boxpark) and shows an enormous amount of content in a simple effective way. Lots of ideas and nice to scan through for a few mins or even longer. I had toyed with using this same theme to collect any images I found but I’m not sure I could match this.

Go and have a good poke around – SheLostCtrl.

Ok, maybe I will then! architecturepastebook.tumblr.com

Had a lovely walk around the Southbank yesterday courtesy of Brighton Jim. We also had the pleasure of being joined by Aleks and Sally who I’d never met before – only conversed with on Twitter. After some initial hassle from security, which I’ll go into another time, we had a great walk around just pausing to take pics whenever it took our fancy. A quick pint a lunch where the conversation ranged from the nerdy to the creative and back again, then further along to the Tate Modern. Another glorious autumn day with that golden sunshine I’m so fond of and I shot a lot more pics than I’d imagined. Rather than stagger them and upload bit by bit on Flickr I’ve just uploaded them all for now.

A few of my favourites are below. The usual mix of shadows angles and the odd person but hey, why deviate.

A beautiful set of images of Sanaa’s Rolex Learning Centre in Lausanne being used as an area for skiing and generally mucking about. Love it. Probably not what the Architect intended but lots of fun regardless.

(via Bob Barton on Twitter)

All images © Johann Watzke

Still growing and we’re still observing from the bedroom window. Can’t be long now til they top out. Reserving judgment on it til it’s complete.

And a few other shots I’ve taken of it during its construction. Having a very definite impact on the skyline of London – click to see full size on Flickr.

I can’t remember who said that but it’s certainly sound advice. Advice which I’ve taken with the purchase of a limited edition print from Simon Kennedy. He’s completed an amazing series of images from the Heygate estate in South London. Unfortunately I missed the exhibition but I’m very pleased to have one of the A1 sized prints from the series hanging in our living room.

And a rubbish iPhone shot of it framed and hung.

A great link via @Vaughan to a beautiful series of photos showing the effects of derelict (or foreclosed) houses in the US. Amazing how quickly nature takes over.

My good friend Alex is moving to Sweden to live there with his girlfriend and have a baby in the new year. Smart move on all fronts really. He recently cleared out his flat down the road and offered a few bits and bobs out to those of us remaining in London. One of which was a long table with chrome legs which caught my eye. It’s wide enough for Emma and I to work at together which is good, the top is a bit shot but can be replaced later when we have our own place. It’s only when I went to collect it that I realised that it used to be in the office of DKA in Bath. I started out working in ’99 and carried on working there on and off until 2003. I’ve got some very fond memories of working there. Nice to have a bit of heritage from one of the first offices I worked in. I learned a lot there and still use a lot of the things I learnt there.

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.

So I’ve been in my current job for that long. Today is a good day because all the time I’ve been here I’ve had a planning application waiting to be submitted. It’s taken all that time to get to the point where it can go in through lots of negotiations and a series of large documents being submitted. Today it’s going in and I get to work on another project for the next year or so.

A think a beer is in order.

Another shot from Sunday. Really like this scheme and the sun on the facade here really is nice. Some unusual reflections on the East facade from the adjacent building.