Day 223: Happy High ISOs

Tonight's meeting spot for the Happy Camera High ISO workshop is Bar Italia, the sort of place that makes me wish I drank coffee. I feel I should have pootered up on my Piaggio scooter, tossing my long blonde hair out from under my helmet, greeting everyone in Italian and procuring the teeniest of espresso coffees with merely a raise of a perfectly manicured eyebrow. But I don't drive, nor drink coffee, speak Italian, and no, I'm not blond. Maybe in a parallel universe I could, but in this universe I drink a can of Limonata, and get ready to crank up my ISO and shoot 'street'.

It's raining and I love catching the vibrant reflections in the puddles but I don't really like getting wet. And frankly, neither does my camera. If I can be photographing the moment the rain has ceased, the sparkling raindrops are heavy and suspended from every protruding object, the streets slick, dotted with tiny reflective pools, that's always ideal. But we've been set some challenges, so rain or no rain, we set forth. We're looking for pools of light, flooding out of bars, under theatre awnings at interval time, back stage doors, and the lurid neon of the adult bookshops or rosy glows from the massage parlours.

 

We start by exploring Soho Square where the pigeon sculptures catch my eye. And the day-glo orange of workmen are a perfect counterpoint to the dark buildings.

SL then start lurking around the alleyways of Soho proper. We are encouraged to just keep going, taking photos as we go. I managed to get shouted at by an angry camera-shy stripper and the resultant photo isn't even a keeper!

 

 

I'm loving the rainbow colours reflected in the shiny streets, and shooting people's feet seems so less confrontational than people's faces.

As it gets darker the high ISOs turn the almost empty streets into film sets. I spot a lone boy leaving a pub/restaurant just before the rest of the party leave.

The red of the Windmill Nightclub sign reflects in the still damp road and created a perfect red carpet for someone to walk down. Now for the decisive moment!

I was hoping for a nice shot whilst lurking at the back stage door and really wishing someone would indeed turn off the sprinkler!

Before our Happy crew regroup, I am propositioned by an alcoholic cross-dressing, homeless and only mildly creepy ex-architect. He was telling me, amongst many other revelations, about his job at the Queen's grocers. It was indeed a kind offer, but I said "no thanks" and swiftly exited stage left!

Yet another fabulous Happy Camera workshop. The intrepid group of snapping Soho stalkers reconvene over wine and ginger beer in a quiet wine bar, so we can compare notes and photographs. I'm aways intrigued to view other interpretations of the same scenes I've also photographed. We all have different eyesm and are choose entirely different aspects to turn our camera lens towards. And despite me not being happy to be photographing in the rain again, I cannot deny the extra dimension it has added to many of our photographs.

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Day 222: what have I been up to?

I’ve been meaning to create a roundup of my 365 photo a-day blog posts for ages but just haven’t got around to it. I thought maybe after 100 days, or 150 then 200. But I didn’t and now randomly I'm rounding up on the 222nd day of the year. Above is about ¾ of the photos so far, but even though a quick glance shows my obvious obsessions I thought I’d create an Excel spreadsheet (naturally), to analyse the past two hundred and twenty one days in greater detail.

Entirely not surprisingly, the top spot is taken by flowers and other flora at 68 photographs (31%). Then 43 that really defy categorisation, a pink gnome, a silver spoon, a mummy etcetera! Not surprising 10% of the daily shots are sunsets, with the odd (rare) sunrise. I have taken so many more than that but haven’t posted them all.

Then the fourth slot is a new entry; photos of our pointy neighbour, The Shard (7%) followed closely by night/blue hour photography (6%). Then London scenes and stations/trains account for nearly 6% each. 5% is another obsession, all that is sparkly, and then 4% are shots of Richmond (still no deer though). Finally 5 Zentangle posts, 4 Leica flavoured and 2 little penguins!

When I last tackled a photo-a-day project, The Shard barely had a look in and the tendency towards late night photography on the tube was more prevalent. There's always been an abundance of flower photography because I do love them, but I think jewellery is featuring more regularly now rather than penguins. Though in 2013 I did feature my black diamond penguin pendant, cleverly combining two passions there!

By this time in 2013 I'd racked up two fabulous trips to France. On the first long weekend to La Dordogne I ended up with many hundreds of photographs of poppies and the second trip was the luxury barging trip around Burgundy. Not a photography holiday per se, but I sure took a lot of photos. Oh and ate lashings of tasty food and drank some delicious wine. Hmmm maybe 'some' isn't quite the right word here!

But I've been to a wedding, a first holy communion, a Circus performance, a couple of workshops in Kew and others farther away in Kent. I've got my happy on with Happy Camera, delved into pinhole camera photography for the first time and emersed myself in studio lighting techniques. And there's so much more to come.

I've still got two incredible photographic adventures to ahead of me this year, in Lapland and New York, and an impromptu business trip to Barcelona. I foresee an abundance of photography lies ahead, much, MUCH more than my daily shot quota. And I really cannot wait, watch this space!

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Day 221: down by the river

This afternoon was just one of the moments that I am truly captivated by where I live. Before I left the house to stroll into town to pick up some essential bits, I check out of my window and spot the ominous looking rain clouds so made sure I had an umbrella about my person. Being borne of a place where light precipitation seems the norm, I'm never short of an umbrella.

All too soon the shops start shutting their doors and it's time to head home. I figured I'd walk by the river rather than down the main street and was rewarded with all this. Rain clouds vanquished and I'm sat down by the river looking up at the bluest of cornflower skies just watching the world drift by.

The riverside is dotted with others delighted by this end of the weekend bonus. There's a busker performing rather well whilst the ducks, Canada geese and swans are excited that several residents have brought bread. There are rowers manoeuvring their craft from their moorings and then swiftly rowing under Richmond Bridge. There are several people licking ice creams, others swigging from bottles procured from any of the many surrounding bars, and a man in front of me has removed his shirt and is deeply engrossed in his book. There's a small van vending frozen drinks, a couple of guys drumming up trade for a boat trip to Windsor, and a balloon seller wearing ugly too-tight leggings being mostly ignored by everyone.

Yes, this isn't bad, not bad at all. I am lucky to live here!

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Day 220: outfoxing the fox!

The urban fox is a wily creature; we have many around the streets where I live, especially as many years ago the next door neighbours used to put food out for them every night. So either old foxes have very long memories or the legend of the nightly feast has been passed down through the foxy generations. But they are tricky to photograph, they cross your path in the dark and the moment you've raised your camera, they have slunk off into the shadows.

I'm approaching home much earlier than I do on a normal school night, and I'm surprised to see Mr Fox isn't waiting for the dark to explore the gardens in the vain hope there's an early evening snack for his troubles. He runs across my path and then across the road to hide behind the parked cars. But a neighbour is grabbing something from their boot which makes the fox feel uncomfortable, so he's on the move again. I was hoping if I stood on the pavement where I last saw him, he would saunter back. And for once he did.

It’s not the best of fox shots, but by far the most legible I’ve achieved yet. And then another one of my neighbours, sporting a most unflattering day-glo lycra outfit, rather gets in the way of my photo but on the other hand, he kind of makes it! I often see him at the bus stop in the morning, and his business attire is definitely way slicker!

 

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Day 219: impossible sunset

Wow it's déjà vu, I'm here again on a Friday night. The office (or at least my floor) is completely devoid of other people. I am staring at my screen but out of the corner of my eye, I espy the shiny buildings outside, as they seem to be glowing orange. Hmmm I think I need a window, and I also some height!

I grab my camera and head upstairs. I try the door to the balcony on the 14th floor and I'm in luck, depending who's on security, that little avenue of pleasure could be closed. I manoeuvre myself into my favourite spot, in between the two glass walls that surround the balcony. I'm assuming the double wall is a safety feature but it's also a photography impediment so it has to be breached. Sometimes a passing security guard will want to rail against this apparent insubordination but generally they just stand there and scowl. I must point out that the glass walls are about my eye level so I'm not sure how I could possibly get over it, if ever the mood struck. Maybe the second wall makes it impossible to insert something to climb up on top of and heave yourself over, but I'm sure if there really was a will, they'd be a way. Maybe that's why there are no chairs on the balcony either. There are some chunky wooden seats set into the floor at the far end by the raised flower beds, but not in front of "the view".

Tonight the giant golden ball in the sky attracts some other would-be photographers clutching their iPhones and where they see my prime spot, they also join me in the no man's land.

It is a stunner tonight; the sun is so enormous and emerges briefly from between two banks of deep purple clouds on the horizon. It's so bright and improbably every shade of yellow, orange and red you've ever seen...and then it's gone!

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Day 218: life on the ocean waves!

So, due to massive tube deprivation I decide to take to the river. I’m at Canary Wharf and it’s been an utter pain to get here as of course the roads and bridges are absolutely rammed with traffic. My travel app suggests a riverboat back to Waterloo and it does seem a pleasant option rather than a bus or several.

The queue is growing and growing as clearly many deprived passengers in Canary Wharf have had a similar idea. I can’t see where to get a ticket but no one else seems to be trying to get one so I figured I can work it out on board.

I can’t resist taking some photos of the glorious big, blue sky with one of the other river boats heading off to snake down the Thames to reach the city. I was hoping we could sit on the roof and I could shoot all the way along the river, but the cruiser was mostly covered over and the tiny outside area was packed. But the windows were smeary scratched plastic and feeling frustrated I just had to squeeze out and try and find a suitable spot unencumbered by windows.

It’s definitely giving me a taste for taking to the river, when the days get shorter and we can grab a bit more of that blue hour shooting, I really want to build up my photographic sea legs.

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Day 217: Quick…last tube!

The tubes are going on strike in about an hour and I should be heading home whilst I can but I can’t resist gong upstairs to get a shot of the hordes streaming over London Bridge hoping to reach their destination before everything grinds to a halt. I do manage to hop on tube just before they closed the doors, though only just by the skin of my teeth!

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