Nissan Figaro

This doesn't really look like a shot taken in London but it is just north of Sloane Square. It's in Pavilion Road and is a nice, quite quiet street with a lot of mews houses. I had to look at multi-map's bird's eye view photos to make sure I had actually got the right road. If you have not seen it, it's different from the Google/Multimap aerial photo view as it is i) closer in and ii) at an angle.

There was another figaro parked next to it but this was my better shot. It's a quite a nice postcardish shot, though maybe I should remove the single yellow line. No polarizer (which may have removed the reflection on the car) as I was at too wide an angle to use it.

1/100 s at f/14 25 mm ISO 100

Pink Nissan Figaro

Pink Nissan Figaro outside the pink Indian Summer Shop on the Fulham Road. There is a single yellow line on the street so this shot is only possible on a Sunday. Passed this scene a couple of times before I remembered to get my camera. Had to be a bit careful about getting my reflection in the windows as my side of the street was sunlit.

1/50s at f/5.0 35 mm ISO 100

Houses of Parliament

The Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace and the River Thames early summer's morning, you can see Big Ben shows the time as 0605. Roadworks/refurbishments were or are in process at the moment which meant that photos were not possible on Westminster Bridge which necessitated a quick dash to the other side of the river whilst the light was this good. Wonderful warm light and blue sky - who said London's weather was all bad?

The problem here of course is using a wide lens on a building: any angle that you have positioning the camera will result in converging verticals, here though I think that the effect is not too bad.

1/80s at f/16 32 mm ISO 100

St Paul's and Millennium Bridge

Great blue, cloudless sky in this photo. This is the Millennium Bridge taken from the Southwark end (where the Tate Modern is), with St Paul's in the background. It's amazing the number of joggers who are up running along the bridge (at 0600...), phased such that as one leaves the frame the other one comes into it. I though that this was a little odd until I saw a group around a corner queueing up to do this...

The bridge makes a great contrast to the dome of St Paul's and frames it well, I left the tower cranes in this photo as I felt it helps frame the shot. A newspaper on the ramp has been removed as well as a cup. Normally I find removing litter myself is easier than trying to clone it out but ony had a moment to take this with only a few people in the frame.

1/100s at f/10 24 mm ISO 100

Westminster Abbey - North Entrance

The north transept and visitor entrance to Westminster Abbey, early morning about 0650. The large round window is a Rose Window. Grounds were nice and quiet early in the morning though there were a couple of commuters wandering around in my frame, also rather unusually a small group of Oriental tourists with their luggage. I had no idea where they were going at that time in the morning but they were in my way.

1/40s at f/22 ISO 160 20 mm -1EV

Buckingham Palace

This was taken early morning a few weeks ago when the UK was having a bit of a summer. I got up at 0500 to get the second tube to Embankment, then walked from Trafalgar Square down the mall to Buckingham Palace. It was great to be able to see such a popular tourist attraction with no one there and the morning sunshine was fantastic.

Buckingham Palace is, of course, one of the residences of the Queen of the UK. She was in that morning as the royal standard is up, though there was no wind so early in the morning so it is just hanging off the flagpole. As the morning wore on the wind picked up and you can see it flying here. The big monument on the right is the Queen Victoria Memorial, she is out of shot and looks down the mall towards Trafalgar Square. You can also see the lampost on the far right bent slightly to the left due to the wide lens angle.

1/60s at f/10 ISO 100 32 mm circlar polarizer

The Royal Arcade

The Royal Arcade is a luxury shopping arcade off Old Bond Street. It's closed on both ends by gates in the evening. I was on my way to dinner and spotted this shot though no tripod so handheld at 1/25s and pushed it to ISO 400.

St Martin in the Fields Church

Quiet morning in St Martin in the Fields church, off Trafalgar Square. The church has been undergoing restoration and a new contemporary window was put in the shape of a distorted cross. The reflection in the bottom of the photo off the top of a grand piano helps balance the frame.

Portobello Road

Portobello Road sign in Notting Hill, I was going round looking to take some stock images but this was the best as it has an abstract feel from the two saturated, contrated colours. The street sign was near the boundary of two houses, hence the change in colour.