No. 25 bus, a great place to sleep

It's been quiet for a while, at least on my blog. Life didn't stop, it just got rather busy with Christmas parties in the City, if I wasn't out partying I was either nursing a hangover or looking after the kids. All in all rather a busy two weeks leading up to Christmas.
I left one do to dash off to get the last tube missing it by minutes. My logic at the time was to take the No. 25 bus to Oxford Circus where I would have probably got another bus or a taxi home. Being rather late and having had several beers I fell asleep on the bus waking up in Ilford (where ever the hell that is!). The logical way back into London is of course the No. 25 bus. This happened several times, the only reason I know is because the electronic travel passes in London record where you've been so I was able to display my travels once I came too (in Ilford again) at about 7am.
So, here it is, the No. 25 bus at Monument, guess where it's going. I took this a few days later on my way to a party at the top of the "Girkin" (the smaller photo below).


Details: Monument, City of London
21/12/05, 18:38
Canon 20D, ISO-400, RAW
1 sec @ f11
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm
Supported on a railing

The "Girkin" or Swiss Re building, built on the sight of the 1992 Baltic Exchange bomb. This is what Londoners were used to before the so called Al-Quaida terrorists, 100 pounds of Semtex flattened a large area of St Mary Axe were the Girkin now stands, thanks to Swiss Re we now have a worthy monument to replace the Exchange.


And this is part of the view you get from the top...

Details: View from the top of the Swiss Re building, City of London
21/12/05, 23:09
Canon 20D, ISO-1600, RAW
1/15 sec @ f2.8
20-35mm 2.8L @ 35mm
Handheld

Kew Bridge

Today was my "day off", a day when I don't have to look after the boys all day, it was a cold day and I didn't really fancy spending all day wondering around with a heavy sack of lenses and a tripod so I left it until about 2:30 before setting off to try to get the sun setting behind Battersea Power Station. My plan was quickly thwarted by London Underground so I took the bus down to Kew Bridge and snapped off a few shots of the sunset.

Every time I make a conscious decision to leave my 300mm lens at home I find I need it. With my 70-200mm f2.8 zoom I can get 280mm at f4.0 with my 1.4X converter which is good but I could have got 420mm, f4.0 or 600mm, f5.6 (with 2X) if I'd bought it along. For those that don't know London, Kew is on the river in West London, just north of the Heathrow flight path when they land to the west.

Details: Kew Bridge, West London, UK
17/12/05, 15:51
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/500 secs @ f4.5
70-200mm 2.8L + 1.4X converter @ 280mm (Effective)
Tripod

I love sunsets, everyone is different and every minute of everyone is different from the last. This one is quite busy with airplane trails.

Details: Kew Bridge, West London, UK
17/12/05, 16:05
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/125 secs @ f5.6
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm
Tripod

This one is looking back at Kew Bridge where I had been minutes ealier (for the above).

Details: Kew Bridge, West London, UK
17/12/05, 16:32
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
8 secs @ f8.0
20-35mm 2.8L @ 33mm
Tripod

Finally, I thought I'd try my infrared filter. This is untouched, it is normally red because of the filter. I wasn't overly impressed with the black and white version so here's the original.

Details: Kew Bridge, West London, UK
17/12/05, 16:08
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
30 secs @ f2.8
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm + Hoya 72R Infrared filter
Tripod

Twilight in Lammas Park

Not a huge about to say about this. The park is about 2 minutes walk form my house in South Ealing, I was working from home and hadn't taken a lunch break due to endless telephone conferences so I took a 20 minute break at sunset for a quick walk in the park.

Details: Lammas Park, Ealing, UK
16/12/05, 16:13
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/50 secs @ f3.5
20-35mm 2.8L @ 20mm
Hand held

Christmas Cards

It's that time of year when we hand out Christmas cards, either that or be shunned for the next few months. As usual there's a choice, you go out and buy some generic crap with bells, reindeer, snow and cribs or you make them. Now, I have three boys in three different classes, that comes to about 70-80 cards for the children, say another 20 or so for friends and we get a round 100 Christmas cards. Hand made cards are out of the question, at lest not until I retire and the children leave school so I'm printing them again. Last night just before the boys went to bed I managed to get them to dress up in white sheets, this is what I made from the photos...

The Boys

As you'll read from the previous post (below) I spent the afternoon trying to ware the boys out after a lunch of chocolate and cakes, these were all taken on Saturday...

Click here for earlier photos.

Luc (was 7 in Sept) climbing.


James (will be 5 in April) at the school concert


Pierre (will be 3 in Feb) in the late afternoon light

Late Autumn light

On Saturdays my boys got to French school, today was the end of year party, a few songs and a hell of a lot of food bought in by the parents. Needless to say the boys somehow found the least healthy selection and stuffed their faces. To try to work off some of the excess chocolate I kept them in the park most of the afternoon. There are too many people Christmas shopping in central London to make it worth going to the museums so the park is the easy option. It was quite cold, just a few degrees above freezing most of the day so towards sunset the temperature plummeted towards zero.
Three photos today the first, an owl, was I'm sad to say not wild, It was in a small wild-life section of Walpole Park. I've never been in before but it appears the boys had. I was told the owl knew everything but asked how that could be. I told them it listened rather than chatter like the other birds, it seemed to work.


Details: Walpole park, Ealing, UK
10/12/05, 14:29
Canon 20D, ISO-400, RAW
1/50 secs @ f2.8
70-200 2.8L @ 200mm
Hand held (supported on the cage)

The last two photos were taken from the children's playground area, the light was fantastic in the frosty air. If was wasn't looking after three boys it would have been easier to get some better shots but I was pleased with these. One eye was on the view-finder, the other on the boys.


Details: Walpole park, Ealing, UK
10/12/05, 15:16
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/640 secs @ f7.1
70-200 2.8L @ 75mm
Hand held


Details: Walpole park, Ealing, UK
10/12/05, 15:22
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/200 secs @ f2.8
70-200 2.8L @ 75mm
Hand held

Richmond upon Thames

I found myself in Richmond at the end of the day today and took a very pleasent twenty minute walk along the river. I've definately got to go back, I didn't have my tripod so these were all shot at 3200ASA which makes them a little grainy.


Details: Richmond, West London, UK
09/12/05, 16:29
Canon 20D, ISO-3200, RAW
1/50 secs @ f2.8
28-70 2.8L @ 28mm
Hand held


Details: Richmond, West London, UK
09/12/05, 16:30
Canon 20D, ISO-3200, RAW
1/60 secs @ f4.0
28-70 2.8L @ 28mm
Hand held


Details: Richmond, West London, UK
09/12/05, 16:31
Canon 20D, ISO-3200, RAW
1/40 secs @ f2.8
28-70 2.8L @ 28mm
Hand held

Another foggy morning

I just couldn't resist taking my camera with me this morning. As usualy I took the children to school, I was amused by questions like "Daddy why does it look foggy but when you get there the fog's gone?". As usual I walked back through Walpole park, although it was foggy and therefore low contrast the leaves still have amazing colours. The first shot just caught my eye as I walked into the park.

Details: Walpole park, Ealing, UK
09/12/05, 09:31
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/60 secs @ f3.2
28-70 2.8L @ 42mm
Hand held

The second is the avenue of trees, one of several that cross the park. I've taken a lot of photos of this avenue, probably too many but it's nice to see how the leaves have changed since the photo I took just a month ago: The Start of Autumn.

Details: Walpole park, Ealing, UK
09/12/05, 09:50
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/60 secs @ f4.0
28-70 2.8L @ 28mm
Hand held

A black and white version...


Finally an "action" shot...

Details: Walpole park, Ealing, UK
09/12/05, 09:52
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/100 secs @ f4.0
28-70 2.8L @ 48mm
Hand held

Moon and Venus

I had intended to take some fun photos of one of my boys (James) using a flash strobe but I couldn't resist this shot of the new Moon and Venus. The small line of light to the left of the tree in the centre-right is the trail of a plane landing at Heathrow Airport.

Details: Lammas Park, Ealing, West London
04/12/05, 16:49
Canon 20D, ISO-400, RAW
1 sec @ f11
20-35 2.8L @ 34mm
Tripod

James taken with a strobe flash

Tower Bridge

I was at a conference on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (1st-3rd), not only did it take my days up the evenings too. I took this in the brief gap between the day event and the evening "discussions", over of course several beers and bottles of wine.

Details: Tower Bridge from London Bridge
03/12/05, 18:18
Canon 20D, ISO-100, RAW
1/2 secs @ f2.8
20-35 2.8L @ 24mm
Steadied on the bridge