A few London pics

Here are a few images from recent trip to London... And tomorrow I will post a blog entry explaining how and why I have not been fully open with you for the past year!
  

  

Hertfordshire

I took this photograph today near Pete's Mum's house.  Actually, it's 23 images taken in a 360 turn in the middle of a field, stitched together and then joined into one super-panoramic image. It took a lot of trial and error to produce it!  Enjoy...

London

I was in London yesterday for work and it was a beautiful sunny day in The City. I was lucky with transport links, so I was a bit early and wandered around for 20 minutes taking some iPhone pics and putting them through Instagram and took a few on the way home too.  This was my day...

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Coming soon to a blog near you...
The Question. 

Calais and beyond

Pete and I have spent the weekend in France, mainly eating. As I am far too tired and full to type, here as some pictures I took yesterday on a beautiful crisp December day - including one from the top of the cliffs at Cap Gris Nez looking across to England...

Last weekend

Here are some images that I took last weekend that I thought I would share...

- Dog in Oakham
- Busker in Cambridge
- Essex coastline

Friday and the changing world

Thankfully it's Friday and time for a glass or two of wine I think.
 
I had to travel to a village (nice) near Bracknell (not nice) today to see a client.  The company I visit is small, but the owner is a really nice guy - very loud and funny with it.
 
I was a little early, so parked up and saw a few people taking their dogs for a walk in the morning mist.  I took this picture as I waited.
 

Yesterday I was in the Gherkin in London for a team meeting. I had been "volunteered" to present a short session on social media. I attended a fascinating 3 hour seminar on the topic last week and it blew my mind to be honest. The world of marketing is changing rapidly and the way that we will be "sold" to in future is changing too.

I ended my session with this video clip. To say that the information it contains is staggering would be a slight under estimation!  Watch and enjoy - my colleagues loved it.

Going to pieces

I was playing around on the computer the other day and came up with me going to pieces.  If you like similar images, you can see more at Instagram (app on the iPhone) or a feed such as Inkstagram.

A couple of random images

Here are a couple of photos that I have taken this week that I thought I would share with you.

I was playing around with the camera a couple of days ago and came up with this shot; it's a bit flawed in places but I like it anyway...

And taken on the tube, some clever person has amended an Underground warning sign...

Images copyright Stephen Chapman 2011

Beach pictures

Here are some stylised pictures from the weekend, taken at the seaside...

Portraits

I mentioned a while ago that I intended to take some portraits of friends and family. Well, I have started and am using the room at the back of the garage (the room that I built), as a studio... of sorts.

I have found it quite a challenge so far. Getting the lighting right and the knife-edge between blurred and in-focus is very slight with the lens I am using. For the first time, I am shooting in RAW format and then using Photoshop Elements to edit the image, taking out skin blemishes etc.

After 9 victims, I have some mixed results.  My friends 8 year old son would not keep still so a perfectly focused shot was never going to happen.  My favourite so far is a shot I took of my niece and I have had it printed so that she can give it to my brother on his birthday in May (see below).

I have set up a new blog to show a few of the shots online - mainly so the subjects can see them without emails flying about.

Another trip to London

Here are some pictures from London yesterday, which ended up with far too much alcohol, but we had a great curry and a few laughs along the way.

- I have no idea what they were doing on the South Bank
- A hot dog stand
- Look closely... it's a skateboard graveyard on the bridge support thingy

London in the Spring

I went to London today for a look around. I was a bit unsure what to do so I went East and south today and then through the city towards the west end. I will do north London (Alexandra Palace and Primrose Hill etc) in a couple of weeks and then Richmond area on my birthday, as we have found an interesting looking restaurant there - no menu and no set prices... it's all a surprise depending on what the serve you!

I went to the Museum of London's exhibition of London photographs, which I highly recommend and ambled through a very busy City.

I finished the day meeting Pete at a great new pub within St Pancras International station and then had a wonderful Italian meal. Garlic breath all round.

Here are some pictures from the day including the leftover bike locks at the station, cute builder in the city, reflection in The Gherkin, Pete outside the pub at St Pancras and a pretentious starter in the restaurant (wind dried?!).

The moon tonight

For the first time since 1992, tonight we experienced a 'super moon'. That means it is brighter and closer to Earth than usual.  As I like the full moon, here is an image I just took...

London birthday

Yesterday was Pete's birthday and as we have decided to buy each other a top meal on our special days instead of presents, we ventured into London.

I had booked one of the top rated (and expensive) restaurants in London called Goodman.  It was amazing - they specialise in steaks and mine was perfect!

We arrived at Kings Cross at 10am and walked via St Pancras International to see the new Olympic rings (which are massive) then had a coffee in the Wellcome Collection (well worth a visit).  We walked into the West End via Marylebone High Street - where I noticed a chair in The Conran Shop priced at £6,384.  We looked around a few shops and had a couple of cocktails before lunch.  After spending an obscene amount of money on food, we walked for miles taking in the sights and had a coffee in Bar Italia before some more alcohol.  We arrived home at 9pm completely exhausted.

Here are some highly stylised images from the day:

It's not Saturn's rings

Here is a picture that I took this week.  Can you guess what it is?

Taking on the world

The latest 5 on the fifth had some great photographs on show, but low numbers of contributors.  I'm not sure whether it's my topics, the day of the week or something else.  Maybe I will never know.

I had visions of my little monthly challenge taking over the world, with it's own website and hundreds of people taking part and growing every month.  And one day, I would set it free and the let other people look after the concept.  Dumb huh?!

Anyway... I ended up going to the doctors today as the cold wont budge.  I have anti-biotics as the doc thinks my head is infected. It's been a strange week at work - I have struggled to find things to do, but today was a nightmare with plenty going wrong, all out of my control. I will try and not let it get to me, but it's not easy. Next week is nice and busy though, so I will have other things to moan about.

Courtesy of Boston.com, here are some pictures of the partial eclipse from yesterday morning that I thought I would pass on.

Day 7 - A photo that makes you happy

This posting is part of the 30 day challenge...

I have thousands of photos stored on my computer and could choose dozens and dozens that raise a smile.  I have decided to choose one of my favourites from the holiday in the USA this past summer.

The holiday was a major event, carefully planned and executed.  We saw and experienced so much and this image takes me back to Route 66, the desert, the heat, the food and some amazing times.

Exploring London

With one day to take from my holiday allowance before the end of the company year, I decided to take my camera to London and explore some places I had never been to and combine that with some family history research.

It was a beautiful Spring sunny morning and I got the first of many trains at 10.03am towards London...

- Arrived Finsbury park
- Underground to Highbury & Islington
- Stopped for a Latte
- Got the bus to Dalston Junction
- Took brand new Overground train (with about 4 people on) on the "new" line to Rotherhithe where Pete and I used to live. Of course, most of the line is from the 1800's but some of it has only just come back to life.
- Had a look around Decathlon while is rained heavily
- Took Jubilee line underground train from Canada Water to Stratford

- Saw the Olympic site from afar (cranes everywhere so you cant see much)
- Had some lunch
- Took Jubilee line underground train back to Canada Water
- Got back on the Overground to New Cross Gate
- Got a train to Norwood Junction and then walked to the house where the Burton's lived. Sadly, some of the houses no longer exist.
- Took a bus to Thornton Heath to see where my Great-Grandad lived. It's a very rough area now.
- Rode a slow bus to Penge and got off at the wrong stop.
- Got lost in Sydenham looking for Crystal Palace Park, but it was a nice walk in the sunshine.
- Found Crystal Palace Park and walked around it for an hour. Lovely place in the overcrowded streets of south-east London. Saw the concrete dinosaurs for the first time!
- Got a train from the impressive Crystal Palace station to Balham.
- Northern Line Underground train to Leicester Square.
- Had a look around Covent Garden.
- Walked to The British Library, but it was closing so will go back another day.
- Had a look around St Pancras station and the shops.
- Decaf Latte break.
- Train home from Kings Cross. Got home at 7.45pm.

Some images from the day...

Some off the wall Venice pictures

1. The elevators in the hotel - i.e. "Schindler's Lift"
2. Mirror mirror
3. Locks all over the bridge - not sure why
4. Pete 'n' graffiti
5. Dinner on my birthday