London Photos: London life in images by Kim Gilmour

Taken a couple of days ago just after the snowfall, opposite County Hall.

Yes, it really did snow in London! And it was bloody cold. This photo was taken from the second floor of my office. After the brief snowfall in London earlier this evening, the roads are now covered in ice and slush. After work, we wandered past South Bank and took a few photos, but mine are all pretty blurred. We took shelter in a pub while my toes thawed out!

Exmouth Market, 5.30pm: Snow falls. Hard. For about 20 minutes. By 6.15pm, the city is full of slush and icy footpaths and roads. Traffic is clogged. Yay!

Snow. Will it? Doesn’t look like there’s any snow around… but who knows? It might happen. Would you bet on it? Here’s a pic from last year…

Art Deco? Certainly always eye catching to go up the escalator at Swiss Cottage Tube. Go out the back way and then wander around the corner to 83 Fairfax Road if you ever get a chance — there you’ll find the best Oriental resturant in north west London; Singapore Garden. As vegetarians we can’t eat much of the menu but the tofu in black bean sauce is divine, as are the seasonal greens and Chinese mushrooms.

Things are quite hectic over here at the moment with work, life and Globulos — so I haven’t had much of a chance to take photos right now. I especially need to learn how to take good photos in this kind of weather! Hopefully things will settle down in a month or so!

The 2004 Citigroup (ex-Citibank) Photography Prize nominees have been announced. The work of Robert Adams, Peter Fraser, David Goldblatt, and Joel Sternfeld will be exhibited at The Photographers’ Gallery from the 29th January to 28th March, 2004.

Intended to honor photographers “who have not yet received the public recognition that their influence or work warrants”, the prize has always sparked more controversy than it has admiration. Think of it as a photography version of the Turner prize. The nominees this year are much more conventional photographers than in recent years, and all are more than 50 years old. I have long admired Sternfeld for the way he photographs history. And everyone is familiar with Robert Adam’s work. I’m looking forward to seeing the others and will post an update once the exhibit opens.

Rob takes some wintry images of Big Ben, London Eye and the Tate sun (again!) with his new pinhole camera. Check them out!

Oxford Street, London, taken on the 139 bus to Piccadilly.

Just when I thought it was still Christmas, along comes my birthday! I got a digital version of the Canon EOS 300 camera I’ve had since 2000, and here’s one of my first efforts with it. Can you count how many candles? (Hint: Several candles are hiding behind others!) I’ve never had my own digital camera before, so I’ll need all the advice I can get. But the good thing about the 300D is that the settings are almost the same as those found in the film version (it is a digital SLR), so on a practical level, everything is familiar… You’ll probably be seeing many more digital pics here from now on.