Alone and Together and pigeons!

This was my first London Street Photography Meetup of the year, there had been another escapade to Walthamstow and the mind-melting neon and argon of God's Own Junkyard but knowing it'd be hugely popular I'd waited to see if there were any spaces left. And, as expected all the spaces were filled so I sat it out that time.

 

Today's theme was Alone and Together in Trafalgar Square, with the added nuance of rain (shiny pavement reflections, shooting through raindrops etc) as the glorious January weather wasn't being kind to us. And for a bonus point, maybe the odd pigeon or seagull could be incorporated in any resultant shots.

 

Our challenge today was your capture lone figures or several figures that are strangers occupying the same space. My photo of these four people almost appear to be dancing though actually they are all just hurrying through the rain.

 

 

 

I found myself especially drawn to people sheltering under red umbrellas, and wielding a pink and red flowery Marimekko umbrella myself I think I also featured in a few photos. As well as the obvious Trafalgar Square I favoured two playgrounds, the blank wall in front of the National Gallery and further along, the painted hoarding advertising the Caravaggio exhibition was a dramatic backdrop.

 

It was really great to shake out the photographic cobwebs, catch up with old friends and meet new ones too!

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Not so secret sky garden

 

 

Today's London Street Photography Meetup, and the last of 2016 was back to one of my favourite themes, Man vs Architecture. And I was finally going to visit the Sky Garden in the Walkie-Talkie building. That isn't really its name, I think it's just called 20 Fenchurch Street (I know, catchy!) I visited it frequently in its previous incarnation, when it was much less shiny. But that was work (even though lovely people worked there) and this is pure photographic pleasure.

 

 

 

 

Whilst we were up there, we were tasked to work with glass, which, luckily, there was plenty of. Sadly the view was a tad obscured by mist and framed by such a bland sky by it was fun trying to capture some interesting silhouettes.

 

 

 

 

When we were down on terra firma again, our challenge was to illustrate scale, little people, tall buildings, obviously that gave us plenty of opportunity to comment on the vertically challenged amongst us! I added a ginormous Gherkin, a giant head and a towering walkie-talkie into the mix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Winter Wonderland and 'elfies

 

 

 

Today, the London Street Photography Meetup photogs descended en masse upon Hyde Park and all that is the 10th year of Winter Wonderland. Our challenge was (and it certainly was) to create a set of three photos working with the twinkling and sparkly nights. We could look for silhouettes against the colourful amusement rides/stalls, or abstracts using ICM and purposely off-focus, or the faces of some of the visitors (not necessarily the smaller ones) illuminated by the vibrant neon. The main challenge was trying to make any sense of the crazy cacophony of the crowds and kaleidoscope of chaotic colour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those who hadn't begun to suffer from frostbite congregated in the large marquee that made up the Bavarian Village and feasted on bratwurst and Geri’s chocolate balls washed down with lashings of mulled wine.

And then with the aid of an elf Darren won on some shooting (the other kind) skills thingy, we decided to take a whole bunch of ‘elfies, and in some cases, thoroughly abuse the poor elf!

 

 

 

As we were leaving, I won a small, fat penguin with a net and gave him a little tube adventure on the journey home.

 

 

I'm not sure I have a set as such but rather a random collection of all the themes, hmmm, which three?

 

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