London Photos: London life in images by Kim Gilmour

The other week I was walking down Kilburn High Road in North West London. So many shops have closed down due to the recession. This street was a bustling collection of cheap ‘pound stores’ and discount clothing boutiques. Granted, most of the time the merchandise was pretty shoddy, but the street did have a very interesting atmosphere. But now the street is depressingly empty. Poundland has the monopoly on cheap goods (there are two Poundlands within blocks of each other) and many shops are completely empty.

The discount store pictured in the gallery was once this store.

The cherry blossoms are out in London and the birds are singing. The sky is blue. Strange to think that last month we had the most snow here in almost 20 years!

After attending a 9.30am breakfast meeting (over a delicious spinach, cheese and mushroom omelette at Richeloux, St John’s Wood, which I am still raving about) I wandered down Circus Rd to capture the spring blossoms… sadly, I only had my mobile (again) but you get the idea.

Last year, Google vans began trawling the streets of the UK, taking photos of every single street and property using a panoramic video camera. Over the last few months, the images were stitched together.

Today, Street View is live in the UK, giving people the ability to view a 360 degree replica of the nation’s streets in photographic form.

From what I’ve seen of Street View in London it is very impressive, particularly as it was a cloudless, sunny day when they took a picture of my flat! Sadly, some common landmarks such as Covent Garden are marred by endless bendy buses, the continual digging up of the roads to fix old water pipes, and/or the scaffolding that is reminiscent of a changing metropolis.

To use Street View simply type in a UK postcode into Google, and in the balloon that pops up on Google Maps, click the ‘Street View’ link to take you to the panorama view. You can zoom in and out and click the arrows on the road to travel back and forth along it. To see the 360 degree view, hold your mouse down on to the street view image and drag the screen up, down, left or right.

Because people are in view there are privacy concerns. Google’s blurred the faces, but someone wearing distinguishable clothing could still be recognised. And they haven’t blurred everyone’s face - after just a couple of minutes browsing I noticed this guy - he is wearing a cap but you can still make him out. What if the woman he’s holding hands with isn’t his wife?

I wonder when people will start finding the funny images they found when this service launched in other countries - the guy passed out on the lawn, the burglar escaping over a fence, and so on. It’s only a matter of time and I am sure there are some people with too much of it who are quite keen to be one of the first Google Street View controversy-spotters!

Sunday was the warmest day of the year so far. I still get a tad confused whenever people start queuing up at the ice cream van when it’s actually not that hot - 17C or something.

Spotted these two ads from the bus - one promoting healthy eating; the other for a supersized burger (click for a larger version).

Taken last week. The remaining snow resembles meteorites that have crash-landed from a different planet.

An interesting update from Mike, who attended the photographer’s protest at Scotland Yard this afternoon.

Counter-terrorism legislation, which comes into force today, means if a photographer takes a photograph of a police officer, they could be arrested and possibly put in jail for potentially taking a picture that ‘is likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’.

The photo of me below, taken way back in 2001 before 9/11, was back in the ‘good old days’ when you could ham it up in front of riot police.

In protest to the Section 76 of the Counter Terrorism Act 2008, hundreds of photographers descended on to Scotland Yard and took endless photographs of the police there.

You can read more about the legislation at the British Journal of Photography’s website.

About nine months ago I mentioned the Downing St petition asking for clarification on photographer’s rights. The response was that:

There are no legal restrictions on photography in public places. However, the law applies to photographers as it does to anybody else in a public place. So there may be situations in which the taking of photographs may cause or lead to public order situations, inflame an already tense situation, or raise security considerations..

Each situation will be different and it would be an operational matter for the police officer concerned as to what action if any should be taken in respect of those taking photographs. Anybody with a concern about a specific incident should raise the matter with the Chief Constable of the relevant force.

Is it almost spring?

After some light sleet last night, the skies opened up to reveal a beautiful, crisp afternoon. After lunch I wandered home through Regent’s Park and couldn’t resist taking a snap with my cameraphone… I wonder if this means the end of Winter?

Check out my friend Mark’s brilliant London snow photo from Monday morning - I’m very envious of such an atmopheric photo, which wouldn’t be out of place on the front page of a newspaper!