In the absence of anything notable happening today, I’ve decided to bore you all with the news that I’ve signed-up for the next level of the City and Guilds Photography course. Visitors with long memories will remember that I completed Level 2 of the C&G course back in June (I was moaning a lot about how much work there was to do). Being a sucker for punishment, I’ve enrolled at Westminster Kingsway college in London to do the third and final level. There’s a bit of a twist in the tale in that Level 3 takes 2 years to complete, not the single year that I was expecting. Expect to see numerous posts during the next 9 months, most of them moaning about how much work there is to do.

After taking over 2 hours to enrol and pay, I’m hoping that the standard of teaching is better than the administration department…

Website: Westminster Kingsway College

Website: City and Guilds

After a busy week I’ve finally found a couple of hours free time to sort through the 1000+ photos that I shot at last weekend’s Notting Hill Carnival. Sunday was Children’s Day, with 100’s of cute kids in the parade that winds its way over the course of several hours through the streets of, well, Notting Hill. This year the organisers implemented a barrier system along the parade route, so virtually all of my photos were taken with a 70-200mm lens (112mm-320mm on the Canon EOS 10D). Sunday was a very bright day, with shutter speeds in excess of 1/1000th second at ISO 100.



Here are the first 6 photographs that I’m posting; expect to see lots more during the course of the next week :-)

Notting Hill Carnival Children #1	Notting Hill Carnival Children #2	Notting Hill Carnival Children #3
Notting Hill Carnival Children #4	Notting Hill Carnival Children #5	Notting Hill Carnival Children #6

London Summer’s Evening #1	London Summer’s Evening #2	London Summer’s Evening #3
London Summer’s Evening #4	London Summer’s Evening #5	London Summer’s Evening #6

I haven’t posted any photos for a while, simply because for one reason or another I haven’t taken any during the last couple of weeks. Last Thursday I managed to get out and about near Westminster. I’ll be the first to admit that these shots have almost certainly been taken by someone else before me, but I’ve never taken them, so here is my take on a couple of well-worn subjects. Using a tripod in the middle of a busy place like the South Bank was an interesting experience. You immediately become the centre of people’s attention, with people commenting “he looks like he knows what he’s doing” and “look at that photographer”. It’s amazing how one piece of equipment can so drastically change peoples’ opinions of you.

Pride Parade Portraits #1	Pride Parade Portraits #2	Pride Parade Portraits #3
Pride Parade Portraits #1	Pride Parade Portraits #2	Pride Parade Portraits #3

Following on from the dancing Supermen images that I posted a couple of days ago, here are 6 of the best portrait shots that I took at the Pride Parade 2003.




Website: Pride Parade

Pride Parade Supermen #1	Pride Parade Supermen #2	Pride Parade Supermen #3

Yesterday afternoon’s Pride Parade throught the heart of London was a vibrant and colourful event, with 30 floats and an estimated 35,000 people taking part. Amongst all those people, this group of Supermen caught everyone’s eye as they danced the whole length of the 2 hour parade.




Website: Pride Parade

Giraffes #7	Giraffes #8	Giraffes #9
Giraffes #10	Giraffes #11	Giraffes #12

Giraffes - 18 July, 9.30pm, Mile End Park


“A London premiere from international theatre ensemble Compagnie Off brings Giraffes to the heart of the East End. A night-time procession of life-sized giraffe puppets will cross Mile End Park, including the famous Green Bridge, accompanied by music and pyrotechnics.”




This is the second and final set of photographs from Compagnie’s “Giraffes” procession.




The Greenwich and Docklands International Festival culminates this coming weekend with Tattoo, “a surreal army of insects, elaborate costumes, giant mechanical structures and specially composed music”, and Raastay, “a series of incredible, large-scale pyrotechnic paintings, accompanied by a soundscape from Farzana Fiaz”.




Website: Greenwich and Docklands International Festival

Giraffes #1	Giraffes #2	Giraffes #3
Giraffes #4	Giraffes #5	Giraffes #6

Giraffes - 18 July, 9.30pm, Mile End Park


“A London premiere from international theatre ensemble Compagnie Off brings Giraffes to the heart of the East End. A night-time procession of life-sized giraffe puppets will cross Mile End Park, including the famous Green Bridge, accompanied by music and pyrotechnics.”




Question: How do you successfully photograph a herd of human-powered Giraffes that move at jogging pace in the near-dark and are lit up by spotlights and the occasional flare? When the vast crowds of onlookers rule out the use of a tripod? And when I haven’t got round to buying an external flash and have to use the pop-up one instead?




Answer: After trying for about 2 hours, I still don’t really know, but it was fun trying…

Docklands Dance #1	Docklands Dance #2	Docklands Dance #3
Docklands Dance #4	Docklands Dance #5	Docklands Dance #6
Docklands Dance #7	Docklands Dance #8	Docklands Dance #9

On Saturday I managed to catch the second half of a contemporary dance festival in the Docklands area of London. The acts weren’t particularly brilliant, in my humble opinion, but there were some good opportunities for candid shots.


I seem to be gravitating towards taking photos of public entertainers at the moment; this coming weekend I’m off to a local street carnival and a night procession of illuminated inflatable giraffes in Mile End park (please don’t ask for further details…!).

Batu Men #1	Batu Men #2	Batu Men #3

I should have arrived back from holiday today (charter flights permitting…) so normal PhotographyBLOG service will resume shortly :-)




Here are a few photographs from the Batu Caves, a famous temple located on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpa. These two men caught my attention before we climbed the 272 steps and went into the caves themselves.




You can view some more Batu Caves photographs here: Batu Caves Album

Melaka #1	Melaka #2	Melaka #3

We were only able to make a flying visit to the Southern Malaysia town of Melaka, with its distinctive town square of red buildings and fascinating Chinese quarter. Everybody seemed to ride around on bikes, and you could hire one these bike and trailer contraptions, complete with driver, to save yourself from having to walk around in the searing heat. They were a bit similar to the motorised tuk-tuks of Bangkok, albeit without the engine, noxious fumes or breakneck speeds.




You can view some more Melaka photographs here: Melaka Album

Cameron Highlands #1	Cameron Highlands #2	Cameron Highlands #3

The Cameron Highlands is a forested area in the north of Malaysia, famous for it’s tea plantations and walking country. The road journey up to and back down from the Highlands is not for the travel-sick; there must be over 50 switchback degree turns in the road, not helped by the seat-of-the-pants way in which many Malaysians tend to drive, including our bus driver. The temperature is about 10 degrees cooler than in the lowlands, more like England than the Far East, and it rained for most of our 3-day stay there. We did manage to visit this tea plantation though; the huts that you can see in the distance are where the plantation workers live.




You can view some more Cameron Highlands photographs here: Cameron Highlands Album

Kho Pha Ngan #1	Kho Pha Ngan #2	Kho Pha Ngan #3

A complete change of pace today, as we leave London and pay a visit to the Far East :-)




Kho Pha Ngan is one of those small, secluded islands off the coast of Thailand, less well known than it’s neighbours but still very beautiful. I visited the island last year as part of a 3 week tour of Thailand and Malaysia.




We’d been told that the sunrise was well worth getting up for, so despite being something of a late starter in the mornings, I set the alarm for 5.00am and dragged my girlfriend down to the beach. We had the sunrise and the beach to ourselves, apart from the pack of slightly unkempt looking dogs, who simultaneously howled at the sun as it rose out of the ocean. This is the only sunrise that I’ve ever got up to photograph; what a way to start :-)




You can view some more Kho Pha Ngan photographs here: Kho Pha Ngan Album

Westminster #4	Westminster #5	Westminster #6

Portcullis House is one of the newest additions to the London list of interesting buildings, sitting in the shadow of Parliament and Big Ben. It’s a very bold, brash, modern structure that has a lot of photographic potential for isolating patterns and symmetry. The first shot above is the side of one of the Parliament buildings; completely different but with a similar potential as Portcullis house for isolating specific details.




You can view some more Westminster photographs here: Westminster Album

Westminster #1	Westminster #2	Westminster #3

London is full of statues of famous figures from the past, which go largely unnoticed by the public. Most of them are soot-black or bright-white in colour, which provides a good test for the Canon 10Ds metering system. Focusing on the statue’s head and using multi-segment metering didn’t fool the camera and produced a perfect exposure each time.




You can view some more Westminster photographs here: Westminster Album

Westminster Abbey #4	Westminster Abbey #5	Westminster Abbey #6

A few close-up shots of Westminster Abbey, all taken hand-held with the Canon 10D and Canon 70-200mm f/4 lens.




You can view some more Westminster Abbey photographs here: Westminster Abbey Album

Westminster Abbey #1	Westminster Abbey #2	Westminster Abbey #3

This was my first visit to Westminster Abbey with a camera; for some reason I’ve always preferred the other side of London near the City and St Pauls. There’s a lot of potential for candid photography of people, as you can freely walk past one side of the Abbey. Failing that, there’s always the statues to keep you interested…




You can view some more Westminster Abbey photographs here: Westminster Abbey Album

Royal Guards #1	Royal Guards #2	Royal Guards #3

As you walk from Trafalgar Square to Westminster, the parade ground where the “Changing of the Guard” takes place is on the right-hand side of the road. There are always some royal guards on duty, up to 7pm when the gates are closed. Tourists, including what I think are US Naval Officers in the first picture above, gather to stand, stare and have their photograph taken. The Royal Guards are trained not to care; they just go about their business as if nobody else is there.




You can view some more Royal Guard photographs here: Royal Guards Album

From tomorrow (2nd July), I will be happily ensconced on a remote Greek island, sipping cocktails and eating moussaka. There’s nothing quite like booking your summer holiday 2 days before actually leaving! The only downside is that our flight leaves at the shockingly early time of 5.30 in the morning… :-(

Using the magical powers of pMachine, I’ve set up a photographic entry to appear at 9am each day until the 10th July , so you should at least have some nice photos to look at until I get back :-)

NOTE: I will not be responding to or even checking my email until the 10th July. Anybody who signs up as a new member will receive their free screensaver/wallpaper when I’ve got back and unpacked. Also there will be no newsletter this week.

Festival #1	Festival #2	Festival #3
Festival #1	Festival #2	Festival #3

The East Finchley Summer Festival was one of those quintessential English occasions; sun one minute, cloud the next, a brass band playing, hot dogs and burgers, hundreds of small children, tombola and raffles. And a great place to take a few opportunistic photographs :-)

Lloyds Building #1	Lloyds Building #2	Lloyds Building #3

I finally got the opportunity to go back to the Lloyds Building in the heart of London on Thursday and take some more night-time shots. The Canon EOS 10D really excels at this kind of subject; the ability to check the exposure after taking a shot and then adjust the shutter speed accordingly removes the need to auto-bracket every shot, as you have to do with film. All of these shots were taken with the Canon 20-35mm lens, tripod mounted and stopped-down to an aperture of f/11. The only thing the Canon 10D doesn’t do is prevent drunken business-men from heckling you while you’re trying to concentrate…




You can see some more images of the Lloyds Building in my Travel - London - Lloyds Building album.