The Grand Old Institution

 

This is the Natural History Museum, on Cromwell Rd. in London, which from the outside still looks much as it did when it opened in April, 1881. Brainchild of Sir Richard Owen, that “Count Dracula” of palaeontology, it has always been one of the leading institutions of its kind in the world. I photographed it on November 1^st, 2010, on my third UK trip; this was the second time I visited London’s South Kensington museum district, and it was also the last time I had the chance to do so. Distance and cost are relentless, after all. I was really under the weather on that trip, so was unable to appreciate the sights as they deserved—still, I brought home the pictures, and I have them to this day. This is a simple street snap, but at least I managed to hold the camera square! I remember the sun being so low in the sky, despite a late morning time, that most of the street was in deep shadow. Minor adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

Urban Jungle

This is the redeveloped east of London, after the old, blighted areas leftover from Victorian times were finally swept away. I took this photograph through a train window—the Docklands Light Railway—on my way to Greenwich, back in November, 2007, on my second England trip. It was early in the day, as I recall, and things were very quiet in the new residential areas that used to be London’s busy docks. Now they’re trendy marinas, and the old days of empire are a distant memory. Note a few reflection in the glass. The redevelopment of the East End was extensive, and what were the haunts of the poor in the days of Sherlock Holmes are now the home of the well-to-do. Nothing clever in this shot, just keeping it square (no fine rotation required) and managing the reflections to a minimum. Minor adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Perfection in Miniature

I’ve featured art treasures on occasion, and here’s one that truly took away my breath. This is carved wood, and just a small detail from a tremendous altarpiece, carved nearly five hundred years ago in Lombardy. I photographed it on November 1^st, 2010, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, during my third trip. Besides the jaw-dropping skill of the artist, what makes it interesting as a photograph? The piece is of course behind glass, and artificially illuminated, and gave all kinds of difficulty in maintaining focus, keeping the camera still (low ISO in those days) and finding an angle to exclude the reflection of lights in the glass. That small blue blob at the top is the only reflection. I took many frames but the inherent difficulty meant few came out really well. Minor adjustments to contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Compressed Perspective

The magic of the telephoto lens is making the middle distance seem close and the distant seem a lot nearer than it is. When you combine the two elements, the compression is delightfully deceptive. Here’s a simple shot taken around early November to December, 2007 (I don’t seem to have an exact date available) on my one and only visit to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, to the east of London. (Yes, I stood with a foot each each hemisphere, astride the prime meridian, as everyone does!) This is a zoom shot and the outdoor cafe area in the foreground is seen against the Millennium Dome, which must be a couple of kilometres away on the other side of the Thames. It's also an exercise in pulling information out of the dark foreground without burning out the background, so the chip handled the situation very well indeed, requiring only minor tweaks to gamma value, contrast and colour. Fuji S5600. Image by Mike.

Roman Corner

I’m sure there’s a wealth of history about this exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London, but I think of it simply as ”Roman Corner.” One walks through here between one part of the classically-appointed museum and another, but this particular area recreates ancient times—the statue is probably original, and the marble probably all comes from Italy. If you look in the right direction for a moment, you could be two thousand years ago, in a well-to-do house of a lost civilisation. I took this photograph on November 1^st, 2010, my one and only (to date) visit to this amazing museum. Contrast and colour were increased a little, as was sharpness. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Glittering Waters

The sun broke through and made merry with these fountains, so they were recorded from multiple perspectives. These are the fountains in Hyde Park, London, photographed on November 2^nd, 2010. This was my second day in England on that trip, and I took a walk through Hyde Park from the north side, down to the Albert Memorial and Hall, taking in the Serpentine, the sky mirrors, the Peter Pan statue and more. I have a few other frames from this batch that are well worth a look. Colour and contrast were tweaked—the day was generally overcast and fully embodied the different quality the light has in those latitudes at that time of year, such a marked contrast to here in Australia. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

Geometry in Iron

Repeating shapes always make for interesting visual exercises, and this is mid-Victorian ironwork—Brunel’s masterpiece, Paddington Station, in London. After booking into my hotel on Sunday, October 31^st, 2010, I walked back round to the station to play with imagery, and this one was taken from a footbridge spanning the tracks. In the 1850s (Paddington opened in 1854), British railway engineering was a boom industry, and cast iron was the masterstroke of the age, making possible shapes and sizes of structure previously unknown. Here, thousands of tons of iron create an airy, arched pavilion large enough to accommodate the smoke of steam trains without choking the commuters, and to this day it is one of the busiest railway terminals in London. A simple shot, it took advantage of the topography, creating an almost organic feel. Minor enhancement only—just contrast and colour. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike

 

Still Life?

This is a most interesting piece—Dale Chihuly’s chandelier for the rotunda of the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, London. It was created in 2001 and I photographed it on November 1^st, 2010, during my third UK trip. It’s a confection of blown glass, drawing on the Murano techniques of Venice, according to the V&A’s website. It creates a flowing sense of motion in a still object and its towering, extended, pseudo-organic form puts one in the mind of life, though not of any recognisable form. This was a straight forward snapshot, one of several of this subject, using the background architecture to frame the glass confection. It makes a most futuristic picture, oddly juxtaposing the classical architecture of the building with the surreality of the art. The only adjustments were a touch of contrast and sharpness. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Neon Extravaganza

 

Sometimes things take you by surprise and you shoot almost automatically. This was such an occasion—this is the weather awning of the main entry to Heathrow Airport, west of London, and I was making my way back to Australia on the evening of Tuesday, November 16^th, 2010, having come down from Sunderland by train to King's Cross, passing through much fog on the way, then making my way through the metropolis as the sun went down and finally out to the airport by train from Paddington. Just as I was walking into the airport, they turned on the neon and the effect was stunning! It looks purple but I remember it being individual red and blue fluorescent tubes that together created the illusion of colour. I shot several frames to record it, having already photographed the night-time environs—the camera was in my hand as the lights came on. I could have squared up the image but it would have cut into the thematic material, so this time I'm posting it just as it came off the camera, other than a touch of sharpening, contrast and gamma correction. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Bending Light

 

Almost exactly thirteen years ago, I took this photo in Hyde Park, London. It was Tuesday November 2^nd 2010, and I was staying at a small hotel near Paddington Station. I had done the Victoria & Albert, and Natural History Museums the previous day (which I reached by Underground), and on this day explored Hyde Park south to the Albert Memorial and Albert Hall, on foot. Had I known my London geography better I would probably not have bothered with the train the previous day, though, to be fair, I was quite ill on the 2010 trip and the extra legwork to get from Paddington to Cromwell Road was probably not welcome. I came upon this curious piece of public art, one of two massive reflectors in the park, and was fascinated by the way the curved surfaces capture the world around them. I'm visible in the distance, wrong way up, on the concave surface. The image was not modified in any way. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Morning Trade

An interesting exercise in holding the camera steady for opportunistic shooting: this is London's Paddington Station, about 6 in the morning of Sunday, October 31^st, 2010. I had just got off the Heathrow Express, after a 4.50 arrival from Australia via Singapore. It was much too early to be making my way to my hotel, so I killed time around the station, got a bite at a small cafe and just watched the morning traffic as daybreak unfolded. I have another frame showing a clock, snapped at 6.45. Here the place is floodlit but essentially deserted, and I was shooting hand-held. Normally I would look for something to support the camera on with light levels like these, but they were just on the balance point of being high enough, and I was far from well on the 2010 trip, so not being fancy. I held the camera quite appreciably steady, I think! There are nice symmetries in the architecture (by the great Brunel). The picture was squared up with fine rotation, colour and contrast were enhanced and there was some minor gamma correction and sharpening. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Ancient Figures, Modern World

I photographed this group of statuary in the first few days of November, 2010, in London. This is one of the four groups flanking the Albert Memorial on the south side of Hyde Park, opposite the Royal Albert Hall, tribute to the partner of Queen Victoria. The groups were meant to represent the British Empire's overseas protectorates and dominions, such as India and Egypt, and, leaving aside colonialism, which today leaves such a bad taste in one's mouth, one can enjoy these monuments purely as art. The Albert Memorial is perhaps the most sculpture-rich edifice in a town which to this day is dripping with the stone-mason's art, and the individual figure work is quite breathtaking. Colour and contrast were adjusted as tiny bit. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Fitting the Frame

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Very large objects can be very difficult to fit into a photographic frame and maintain any sort of pleasing composition. This is the British Museum's Diplodocus skeleton, which at over 80 feet long is a textbook example of how to accommodate such a subject within the confines of a photographic frame. I shot this subject from every angle imaginable, and going upstairs was a way to shrink the apparent scale. Note the slight blur on some museum patrons, a clue to the light levels and thus exposure length. Sharpened and contrast-balanced, with a tweak of extra colour. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Available Light, With a Difference

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This is the British Museum's mounted skeleton of the dinosaur Baryonyx walkeri, photographed in December, 2006, and it presented a different lighting situation to most other displays. The floodlights built into the mount provided all the primary illumination, whereas most of the freestanding dinosaurs are in mysterious, soft lighting and are so large that flash shots tend toward the indistinct as the subject flows into the background in ways contrary to the usual performance of flash. This is a non-flash shot and the contrast level is excellent. The frame was sharpened and colour-enhanced. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Around the Feet of Giants

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This is the East End of London as redeveloped in recent decades, a maze of new residential and business blocks fronting onto the waters of the long-disused commercial docks, a veritable Venice of canals and bridges, the 19th century maritime trade complex recreated as gracious living in the 21st. The Docklands Light Railway is the people-mover which threads it all together, running on a system of bridges and elevated tracks from the region of the Tower of London to Greenwich and points even further afield. This shot was taken through the train window (some reflections of internal lighting appear as the price of framing the material for its own benefit) on a Sunday afternoon in November, 2007. Sharpened only. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Urban Visitor

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Seagulls penetrate to the heart of London, reminding the viewer that the Thames, so wide and placid and dirty, is in fact a tidal river and that the arm of the sea known as the Thames Estuary is not very far to the east. This bird posed for a telephoto portrait on a (fascinatingly textured) rotted wharf piling on the river frontage near the Tower of London, with the old cruiser HMS Belfast framed as the background, in November, 2007. Sharpened and colour- and contrast-balanced. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Lens Flare by Night

Given that this image was also taken through a window, it turned out very well. After several hours delay for weather, my plane finally backed away from the terminal at London Heathrow bound for Australia, in the third week of November, 2007. I had photographed the aircraft from the terminal, and at last got some shots through the window as she started to move. Here the massive flood lights burn out in lens flare, and reflect from the wing. The shot was cropped down to better focus on the area of interest, then sharpened. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

The British Museum (Natural History)

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Grandeur was a symbol of empire, and the neo-classicism of architectural design in the 18th and 19th centuries was a deliberate invocation of the respectability of classical times: London and Paris are scattered with Neo-Roman buildings. This is the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, brainchild of the always-controversial Richard Owen in the 1850s, an example of the way Britain's economic and political power had the resources to devote to public structures of the magnitude of cathedrals and palaces. With a building so very large it is never easy to capture it appreciably in the confines of a single frame, and this shot, taken from the other side of Cromwell Rd, is about as far back as you can get before the trees interfere with the composition rather than contributing to it. Sharpened and colour- and contrast-balanced. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

River Cruising in London

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The Greenwich Reach lends itself to panoramic imagery wonderfully. This shot was cropped from a standard frame, taken in November, 2007, from the shores of the Thames between the Royal College of Music and the Cutty Sark's drydock. The sleek, futuristic Thames Clippers are a usual sight, the tour boats plying up and down this famous, historic river through the heart of one of the world's greatest cities. Technically, composition was the object here: I framed the city and waited for the boat to cruise into just the right place before releasing the shutter. The picture was enhanced in the usual way, sharpened and contrast-balanced. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Prime Meridian

This piece of what appears to be modern sculpture is the marker at the Royal Observatory, Greenwhich, London, showing the line of zero degrees (the metal strip recessed in the ground), the 'prime meridian' of the world from which navigation calculations derive. There have been others in the past, the French had a coordinate system with zero passing through Paris, and I believe there was a Russian system based on Moscow. This one is a tourist mecca, and everyone needs to stand with a foot in each of the eastern and western hemispheres at once. The oblique 'mast' of this gyroscope-like structure is almost certainly aligned on the celestial north pole, therefore reproducing the axial tilt of the Earth. The photograph was a simple composition piece in which the principle challenge was taking it in the moments when the monument was not obscured by the thronging visitors. Sharpened only. November, 2007; Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.