bikes and things

So I finally had my first encounter with the law, or rather a Police Community Service Officer, whilst taking photos in a public place. I spent a fair bit of time last Tuesday in Hammersmith taking pictures of a building for some CGI renders. I was there during the afternoon with a tripod, dSLR and a fairly large shift lens as well as remote shutter release. About 30 mins after I had set up I was approached by a PCSO. Uh oh! I was told that I had been “seen” on CCTV and he would like to know what I was doing. Now, I’ve been through this scenario in my mind a number of times in anticipation of this situation. Most of them revolved around a smart arse reply such as, “…there’s a reason you haven’t made CID yet isn’t there?”. However all I could muster was an apologetic explanation of what I was doing. I was on work time so didn’t really want to cause a fuss. I needed to get these shots for the next morning and being arrested wasn’t on my list of things to do that day. I was asked for my details, name, date of birth, contact number etc. He was polite enough about it all. I did make the quip that I couldn’t have made it any more obvious what I was doing, it’s not exactly a discrete set up.

So I got my shots delivered for the next morning but I still felt as though he had no right to inquire about what I was doing. It was fairly obvious and it is a public place. He also had no right to have my details. Annoying but next time I think I’ll try and stand up for my rights a bit more.

Anyway, here’s the shot I came away with later in the day.

The shot is a horizontal stitch of three images taken with the amazing Nikkor 24mm PC-E lens. Each shot has the lens shifted up higher each time then assembled in Photoshop.

At last…

Doesn’t get much better than this!

After another day or so of of demolition, stripping (wallpaper) and so on at the Wharton household on Friday and Saturday. Afterwards they very kindly took us to a restaurant in Clapham to enjoy dinner!

It’s probably the best food I have ever tasted (bar my sausage casserole that is).

White Onion and Wild Garlic Soup
~
Pressed Foie Gras with Pistachio, Verjus Jelly
and a Tarragon and Grape Salad
~
Caramelised Fillet of Halibut, English Asparagus, Potato Gnocchi,
Broccoli Puree and Spiced Milk
~
Herb Crusted Saddle of New Season Lamb, Crisp Filo, Green Olive
and Sheep’s Cheese
~
Homemade Vanilla Yoghurt with Green Tea and Crisp Meringue
~
Valrhona Chocolate Hot Pot with Confit Orange and Poppy Seed Ice Cream

A rather large copy of one of my images of the Ashmolean Museum has been used on a number of websites last week – dezeen, The Independent, Building and the BBC. . Really like the image that they chose too and most gave a credit which was good. Nice to have my image sitting alongside some well known Architectural photographers.

Today’s prick of a van driver. Didn’t even shout at him. Just got his number took a few photos and sent this to EDF. Will they respond? I doubt it. Will probably just get the usual corporate bullshit back as usual.

Hi,

I’d like to make a complaint about one of your van drivers please. The registration of the van is L008 KNX. Two photos of the van and the driver are also enclosed.

I was cycling past Euston Station this morning going North along Eversholt Street. I clearly indicated to pull out into the centre of the and safely pass a van which was parked on the left hand side of the road. Your van driver decided to accelerate rapidly past me far too closely almost knocking me off and then proceed to completely swing the van in front of me completely blocking my path. I was trying to maintain a safe position on the road. This is the kind of thing I expect from dodgy builders not a reputable company such as EDF.

I don’t know if any of you at EDF ever cycle on the road but actions like this don’t really help. It’s intimidating and completely unnecessary. It’s also dangerous. It didn’t get your driver to his destination any quicker as he quickly got caught in traffic again and I passed him where I took these photos. He was later speeding along Camden High Street, which is a 20mph zone, to rush through an amber light.

I would like to think that EDF have a policy in place to educate their drivers about courtesy to other road users, particularly cyclists. It would also be good to remind your drivers, this one in particular, that vans consist of a couple of tons of metal which poses a real danger to cyclists who aren’t wrapped in such a protective shell. I would like to know how you intend to resolve this and prevent this driver causing injury or even loss of life through his actions.

I also happen to be a customer of EDF at present although I may reconsider that depending on your response.

Fingers crossed. The auto response from EDF doesn’t look too promising though.

Thank you for your email. Should your mail require a response, we will endeavour to provide this and update your account within 10 working days.

This story is good though.