Today is a Bank Holiday Monday in England and I have this whole week off from work. Suddenly as I start my holiday the summer magically starts, too. I can't believe it! It was such a lovely day out today and me and my new boyfriend called Canon 5D (don't tell Marianne!) went out for a wonderful fun filled date.
We started off in one of my favourite places in London. I wanted to show my new boo all the places that make me and London click. There was the usual amount of entertainment going on as you can see. We had such a laugh watching this man's show, as did the other people.
What I love about the 5D is that our relationship is less confusing than this man has with his little cutie by the looks of it. ;)
I am still in love with the wide angle opportunities, but I did tone it down a bit today. There is such thing as too much of a good thing... But we get on like house on fire. It's such a shame he has to go home soon...
From Covent Garden we went across to China Town and to my favourite shop in London.
This couple made us smile. Their friend was late meeting them by the gate by the looks it.
From China Town to Piccadilly Circus and a nice coffee around the corner.
There were so many people out enjoying the beautiful weather.
Sun seems to bring the best mood out of everyone.
I seem to be in smoker central at the moment...
This is dedicated to my dear friend René and his quit smoking campaign! :D
We strolled through Green Park, which is even more green than last month...
... and full of beautiful people reading.
We ended the day at Trafalgar Square, like so many people.
It really was a wonderful London day out today.
And we caught a lot of orange things, too.
Next thing I'll be doing is helping my friend Caroline move and after I've recovered from that I'm off to Finland for a few days to celebrate my birthday a bit prematurely with my family and friends. I hope you're well and that the summer is catching up with you too wherever you are. ;)
This couple made us smile. Their friend was late meeting them by the gate by the looks it.
There were so many people out enjoying the beautiful weather.
Sun seems to bring the best mood out of everyone.
This is dedicated to my dear friend René and his quit smoking campaign! :D
Next thing I'll be doing is helping my friend Caroline move and after I've recovered from that I'm off to Finland for a few days to celebrate my birthday a bit prematurely with my family and friends. I hope you're well and that the summer is catching up with you too wherever you are. ;)
New month, new colour! It was nice to get over the green themed photos of April. For some reason I found green a bit of an uninspiring colour, but I think I have some nice photos in the series. May means ORANGE, and I had some photos already waiting to be added to that series, so I added those on Flickr, along with some blue and purple photos in their own series as well while I was at it. Although the most exciting thing about starting a new theme yesterday was the fact that I got to borrow my friend Marianne's 5D! Seriously, I want to marry that camera.
It's been a while since people have been dashing around in my presence.
Or maybe it's only a summer thing, dashing?
Luckily she was also wearing orange. :)
London is the greatest city to get lost in. I got off at Moorgate last night and just started walking around in the City of London. It was a lovely night and in couple of hours I'd ended up via Fenchurch Street and Aldgate to the Tower of London by accident. Scrambling together more green photos I saw some great things...
His expression is so lovely and infectious.
But something I liked, especially in B&W.
I popped out for a drink with the girls last night after work and had managed to bring my camera with me for all photo opportunities presenting. It was a lovely warm spring evening and wandering around the affluent areas of Mayfair and Haymarker to Piccadilly was lovely.
People were eating out, enjoying the weather and on-the-brink-of-summer London.
I just loved the faces of these people, especially the waitress. :)
There was a lot of window shoppers around. I was drawn to the glow here.
And a lot of glamorous people around, too. :)
By the National Theatre the beautiful purple lights pulled me out of the bus prematurily just to catch the audience having a break from whatever performance they had come to see. The smoke from the balcony was a lovely bonus to have caught here.
For me this was more of the green concept than the colour.
You know, make a difference to the environment by cycling for example.
Yeah I know, a bit far fetched, but I like the message. ;)
There's something about the old men freezing still in London at the moment.
This is the second one I've caught in a week.
But the weirdness didn't stop here...
I have no idea where it came from and where it went, but it makes a great photo! :)
I have about a week and a bit to go and some eight photos to source from somewhere to complete the theme, so stay tuned. I'm sure there will be a little last minute panic going on about the Project Rainbow this month, for a change. ;)
Actually it was a bit miserable when I first got out,
but in true British style I wasn't the only one trying to defeat the weather.
Sheltering away in front of the Ritz gave me some nice, dry, photo moments, too.
I really love how you can see the rain in this, especially hitting the ground.
By the time I got in a nice warm café to enjoy an afternoon coffee, and like these Dutch boys the people watching, the rain stopped and sun came out. I decided to take a little detour by the side streets and guess what, I ended up at Trafalgar Square.
I think with the South Bank this place is a bit of a photography safety zone for me! :D I haven't really recovered from my couple weeks break from street photography yet, so maybe starting in "easy" places is not such a bad idea.
Being in safe places doesn't stop me thinking in new concepts though.
This time I was trying to see things in more of a panorama way.
New points of view are always useful in trying to shake things up a bit.
Talk about another comfort zone: couples! ;)
I was interested in what was going on behind them in comparison to her facial expressions.
And these dots of red are lovely in this one I think.
And yes, more couples. Groups of couples to be exact.
Just loved the levels and positions of people in this one.
Couples to the left, trios to the right, please.
Apart from the park photos I got some other green things for my collection, too.
A great bonus was catching that family lost in the background. ;)
And this lady in front of the toilets trying to find her way.
Nice levels of action in this one, too I think.
This was just plain weird. This man stood here for several minutes just staring in the horizon.
People passed him, took photos of the square, a cleaner sweeped by, tourists bumped into him, and there he stood. Then all of a sudden in a quiet lull he snapped out of it, look at me and walked away. That's the beauty of London for you. :)
My favourite from today was this beautiful couple having words in the middle of the square. Lucky for me he was wearing this pullover, too. Couples in public are fascinating topic for me. It all started by accident, unconsciously, me photographing them, but now that I'm more aware of my pull for them I like catching those moments that "make" being with someone so special. His passiveness is excellent in this particular photo. A classic couple stereotype enacted right in front of my eyes. :)
but in true British style I wasn't the only one trying to defeat the weather.
I really love how you can see the rain in this, especially hitting the ground.
This time I was trying to see things in more of a panorama way.
New points of view are always useful in trying to shake things up a bit.
I was interested in what was going on behind them in comparison to her facial expressions.
And these dots of red are lovely in this one I think.
Just loved the levels and positions of people in this one.
Couples to the left, trios to the right, please.
A great bonus was catching that family lost in the background. ;)
Nice levels of action in this one, too I think.
People passed him, took photos of the square, a cleaner sweeped by, tourists bumped into him, and there he stood. Then all of a sudden in a quiet lull he snapped out of it, look at me and walked away. That's the beauty of London for you. :)
So, it's been a while, but hello! I've had a little hiatus from photography for the past couple weeks (since I finished the colour pink actually). Today was the first time I got out with a sole purpose of taking some new photographs. Before I got to the South Bank I stopped over at the Hayward Gallery for some inspiration. It's the last weeks of the Alexander Rodchenko exhibition and I'm so glad I caught it. Very inspirational in especially angles and composition. Catch it if you can!
I loved to see the men of London hard at work, as always... ;)
In the series of suspicious people (being right). :D
All and all it was a lovely, cultural morning for me today. Not having taken any photos for a while meant I felt a bit rusty again and I didn't take as many photos I would on average (good) day, but I hope you've enjoyed these. Spring is coming to London, the days are longer and I'm planning to spend more time with my camera in my hand in the next month, so watch this space. :)
I think this photo is a good example about that aesthetic I mentioned earlier.
There is something I am pushing myself towards.
I feel like questioning something although I'm not sure quite what it is myself yet.
Sometimes pictures like this open up to me more with time.
Like in this place I was drawn to that diagonal line and was just waiting for something interesting to happen.
Luckily it was something pink. :)
And she is so gorgeously suspicious in her neon pink shoes.
Rightly so! ;)
More photos to be really proud of in 2008. :)
At the moment I am trying to decide if I want to get back to the darkroom a bit or whether to do a two-day conference/workshop in May. It's not really a case of one cancelling the other, but May seems to already be quite action packed for me, including some time to be spent in Finland (as I was getting incredibly home sick last week). :) I'm quite looking forward to catching some orange photos in Helsinki then as well. But there are three more pink photos to complete this months series, so until then!