Steamy Sloane Square

While shopping in the King's Rd on Sunday, the hot newly sealed road coupled with the sudden downpour of rain caused a steamy delight.

Disclaimer: an annoying bin was obscuring the on the first shot, frame and I photoshopped it out. You may not notice it in this small version. But I know it's there!

Olympic flame whizzes past

Hundreds of people gathered around St Paul's Cathedral today before the Olympic Flame made its way down Fleet St to St Paul's Churchyard.

There were all sorts of people here: children welcoming the flame, peaceful pro-Tibet protesters here to voice their anger with China's hold over Tibet, families, tourists and Chinese students waving Chinese flags. There was music from the Scots Guards and random religious clergy.

But whatever the reason for being there, the flame unfortunately didn't make it off the bus and to St Paul's after all. Police decided to shove the flame on a double decker bus (after dallying about for 15 minutes) and whiz it past everyone as they apparently thought it safer.

I didn't see any immediate cause for concern from the protesters, who even had floats. The Chinese students next to me were tentatively/coyly saying "China... China!" in response to the "Free Tibet" chants across the road, but not in an aggressive way.

Very underwhelming. Here are a few random photos. In the first widescreen shot you can see in the middle background the Tibetan flag. The bus is holding the flame.

Buy one get one free

A discarded pair of shoes in London last month.

Sunday in Hyde Park

Went for a walk on a crisp winter's day in Hyde Park; entering at Marble Arch where a lacklustre Speaker's Corner was being held (one toothless old guy boasting about his sexual prowess, and the usual Christian/Islamic debates). I walked through to Kensington Gardens. The light was cinematic and strong.

PS: After getting spam-bombed again I am going to turn comments off after a couple of days - sorry about that - and will explore how to transfer this site to a new content publishing system.

4.50pm at Crouch End

Waiting for a bus in the rain at 4.50pm. It gets dark early in London nowadays! Winter is approaching fast.

Hoxton, 4.30pm

Walking home from The Grocery at Shoreditch at 4.30pm, I noticed these bright lights in front of a converted electricity showroom. The place is apparently now some trendy club, but I was just interested in the outside.

I hope to take more photos later this week that aren't using mobile phones. I've got a busy weekend that will take me to Battersea, South Bank and Crouch End. I need to charge up the old DSLR!

Green bottle, reflected

Whitecross Lane, EC2. A few minutes of intense light. Happened to pass by this green beer bottle's reflection on the white wall.

Fire engine access

Yesterday, in front of the School of Oriental and African Studies where I saw an exhibition featuring Chinese photographs from British collections - recommended!

Rainy bus 153

I'm sheltered inside one of the quietest but most convenient bus routes in London, the irregular bus 153.

Experiment! BTW I'm opening comments on this, just to see if it still attracts spam - I really need to upgrade the 'back end' that drives this site but it's so much work.

Abandoned piano, Brick Lane

Just past the queue to the International Tattoo Convention but before Beigel Bake. Brick Lane, this afternoon.

Mayfair, shoes

Walking in Mayfair.

Hospital and Trisha and clothes

Was in hospital earlier this week for a knee arthroscopy. The only thing on TV was Trisha. I took this one with my mobile.

The one was taken at Selfridges - a weird clothes rack!

Open House Day: Marketing Suite inside

I always wondered what was inside the City of London Marketing Suite, and now I know. There's a full replica of the city downstairs, which is used when developers (usually from overseas) want to take a look at what's available for redevelopment.
The working model has up to date proposals such as the forthcoming 'Shard' and it's linked to a database that has details on all current properties. The eccentrically dressed bloke doing the talk walks up and down the Thames with a duster which 'works wonders'.

Memorial

A father and daughter contribute to a floral mosaic created in memory of the victims of 7 July 2005. A memorial service was held at Regent's Park later that evening.

Sheep drive through central London

It's the London Architecture Biennale and a herd of sheep has been driven from Borough Market across the Millennium Bridge and past St Paul's Catherdral, to end up at St Bartholemew's fair. Poor things were quite hot! Thousands of people were out to see the spectacle. We ran to catch up with them in scenes reminiscent of when we took photos of The Sultan's Elephant visit - running all over the place!

The Sultan's Elephant visits London

The Sultan's Elephant is a wonderful piece of French street theatre which came to London this weekend. We spent about three hours chasing a giant girl and an elephant that spouts water around the streets of Westminster. There were literally hundreds of thousands of people out to watch the girl and elephant play, and no one went home without a smile on their face!

The story is of a sultan who is tormented by his dreams of a time-travelling girl. He asks an engineer to contruct a time-travelling elephant (Royal de Luxe's theatre piece is designed to coincide with Jules Verne's centenary) in a quest to find her...

The elephant braves the Piccadilly crowds

Little girl waits for the elephant next to St James's Park

A puppeteer at the side of the giant elephant

Elephant sprays the crowd

Nothing that the Sultan's elephant crosses is safe! One of many squashed cars in central London

A puppeteer guides the Sultan's elephant's huge legs down the London streets

You can just make out the Sultan!

The elephant basks in the dust and trumpets loudly as it approaches the girl

Baby watches the giant elephant

This girl moves fast! You had to run to catch up.

The two are almost reunited

For more photos of The Sultan's Elephant, check out my friend Sean's photos from Day 2.

John Soane's Museum

Architect John Soane's museum of odd historical artefacts. Soane wanted the museum - which he designed to live in - to be used for amateurs and students in architecture, painting and sculpture. He was born in 1753 and died in 1837. The place is one of the lesser-known free museums in London and this is one photograph of the main hallway which just gives a general idea of the place. There is also Egyptian stuff underground to check out. Address is 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.

Jerome St, E1

Random 'street art' in Shoreditch somewhere. Or does this actually mean anything? Whatever it is, it scares me.

Demise of the SX-70 film

Things have been exceptionally busy, what with moving, unpacking and not having the internet at home for quite a while due to the re-ordering of the broadband. Nevertheless, I hope to get some decent photographs online as soon as possible. We are still around! I still want to see some of the exhibitions I mentioned earlier, plus there's the new Jeff Wall exhibition at Tate Modern. Tip: If you're a subscriber to Time Out you can get 2-for-1 tickets at the V&A for the Chinese photography/Diane Arbus exhibitions by showing your club card.
Rob mentioned to me that Polaroid is stopping the manufacture of the Polaroid SX-70 (Time Zero) film - the ones that hark back to the 1970s, that you can squish around to make those wonderful patterns we did a lot of a couple of years ago. The website says:

"Please be advised that Polaroid will be discontinuing the manufacture of its SX-70 / Time-Zero film within the first 3 months of 2006 due to the phasing out of components used in the production of this film.

"We realise that this is disappointing news for our loyal SX-70 users and we would like to underline that, although the circumstances made it inevitable, it was not an easy decision. We are very sorry for the inconvenience. For customers who would like to continue using their SX-70 camera, we can offer some film alternatives below. However, we do appreciate that these films do not offer the same characteristics as SX-70 / Time-Zero film."

Apparently, an accident in the manufacturing process means that current supplies cannot be 'manipulated' for creative processes. Someone stuffed up big time! "This is an unintended - and unanticipated - consequence of a process change," Polaroid said. "We understand the passion that the artistic community has for the Creative Uses technique, and want to assure you that we are taking this situation very seriously. We are currently working on possible solutions, though we cannot promise a replacement product. We are very sorry for this situation, and again, are treating it with the utmost urgency. We will post further updates on this site as they become available."

If they manage to make another normal Polaroid film that can be manipulated, then that would be acceptable to me, but currently it seems really sad! I mean, sure you can do all that stuff in Photoshop. but the whole fun of it was basically physical, to do with squishing it all around. It was different every time, and it also had physical texture to it.

Underground at the Old Abbatoir

Last night we went to Underground, an amazing production at the Old Abattoir in Clerkenwell. This musty, disused space was where a huge international cast gathered for a production based on Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. You could follow characters in different rooms, where they acted with each other and with the audience, gave you wine in recreated aristocratic wine bars, handed you vodka in a drinking den, enticed you to follow them up and down stairs and into a church, or around a swing. A pawnbroker (speaking Japanese) tried to offer you money for your jewellery, moments before being murdered by our main protagonist, and ghosts haunted the characters as they popped up in the damp, cold, dusty corridors.

Photos weren't really allowed but I snuck a few in - hard to get a good photo with a lack of light and tripod, so a little blurred... but I tried.

The production is on until the end of the month; tickets can be booked via the Barbican and you get a specific time where you can go in, but you can stay as long as you like, as the production repeats itself every 80 minutes. Definitely a unique London experience. Recommended.

'One more thing..' London iPod video launch

This evening, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs launched the newfangled and ever-expanding range of iPod/Apple paraphernalia (he was in 'California', those in London watched at the BBC Broadcasting Centre via a live link). I'm glad that people in the UK clap and hoot a lot less at these 'groundbreaking' events. The US people were clapping at the new advertisements he kept playing over and over, for goodness sake. There were literally hundreds of people piling into the 'product showcase' at the end of it but I had a bit of a headache, so I was happy to go home. Plus I wasn't able to get any good pictures.

Why is it that Apple says their stuff is 'designed in California', rather than in Silicon Valley or the USA? Why do they have to mention the state all the time? Is it because 'California' evokes feelings of sunny days, orange juice, tans and youth, whereas 'Silicon Valley' sounds like geekdom squared? Maybe...

Please don't worry, photos like these aren't going to become the rule on this site :-)

London Open House Weekend

This weekend was London Open House Day. You may recall that last year, we visited Churchill's secret bunker in Neasden, north west London, as well as City Hall and the Gherkin.

The above two photos were taken at City of London School for Boys; which was open for people to wander around this weekend. More photos of other bits and pieces soon; I've just moved web servers and need this new home to settle down a bit.

Shaki's Newsagents

Shaki's newsagents, near St Bart's hospital, central London.

Along the canal

Next to Regent's Canal, Islington.

London United - Trafalgar Square vigil

Today at midday London stopped for 2 minutes to remember the victims of last week's attacks. At the moment there is a vigil in Trafalgar Square taking place in the hot evening - at least 15,000 have gathered there.

London photos Tuesday 12 July 2005

I decided to walk to work and took a few photos. Gradually I will take the bus and Tube again - I managed to go on the Tube for a couple of stops this evening- but for now I prefer the blisters.

A random group of people walking from London Euston station this morning.

Kings Cross St. Pancras

The makeshift London bombings memorial garden at Kings Cross St. Pancras this morning is extremely touching. People were signing a condolences book and leaving flowers. (Press are asked to remain outside.)

The worldwide media circus descends on London.

You are being watched - by France's Canal+.

One of the satellite vans wasn't what you would call secure.

A very textured construction site at the Angel which will probably turn into some homogenous space.

Business as usual

Today is Monday, and today it was Business As Usual for Londoners. Although obviously more alert than usual and perhaps feeling a little on the jittery side, most people decided that it was best to get back to work. For some, that meant going back on the Tube; for others the bus. I chose to walk today; but I've promised myself to take public transport this week.

In fact, most people I passed today were unfazed as they strolled confidently along the streets talking about the Olympics, or scrambled onto waiting buses. Similarly, people being interivewed on TV simply had a sense of stoicism and determination that is so, well, British. In the US after 9/11 you saw some really jingoistic, gung-ho attitudes but here you just get the 'life goes on' attitude that seemed to be innately passed from people who had survived the Blitz.

Tomorrow I will walk to work and take some pictures as I go.

Terrorist attacks

From happiness at winning the Olympic bid to utter shock and sadness. We at London Photos are all OK, and our thoughts are with those affected by this cowardly terrorist attack :(

Won!

The Olympics are coming to London in 2012. I've got photos live from the scene! Well, they are actually a mass of heads and wonky camera angles, but the Quicktime movie is quite cool if only for the sound. Hehe.

Surrealistic juxtaposition

Half a spectacle, dreamed up by a friend of Magritte's. Found outside a London pub - the seven stars, 400 years old.

Colour after Klein, Barbican

This was taken during a break in the proceedings during a screening of 'William Eggleston in the Real World', a documentary on the famous photographer by Michael Almereyda. Unfortunately, a third of the way through the film (which was a backup that had arrived that afternoon as DHL failed to deliver the master), the NTSC version'd DVD kept freezing - so much for digital film! Luckily, Martin Parr (one of my favoured photographers) and Michael Almereyda himself, as well as Val Williams, a photography curator and writer, were on hand to chat and take questions. Unluckily for some, the questions were a little cringeworthy and kept veering towards 'what were the bits we had missed?'... and one rude patron asked if they were going to get a refund!
Anyway, the one snippet I got out of the evening is that Parr is experimenting with digital camera phones at the moment because he likes how they can take photos in low light, and without anyone knowing. :)

A head at Notting Hill markets, London

My parents were visiting us in London recently and last Saturday I took them to London's famous Notting Hill markets - you might remember I had a few photos from the last time I went in January/February. My mum stopped me and pointed at a rather odd woman who was carrying a mannequin in a vibrant summer bag. I had to be surreptitious about taking this photo - luckily I had my compact digital camera with me rather than my SLR this time. A few seconds after I took this photo she ducked into the supermarket.

In other news, I'm afraid I may have to disable comments as I get way too much spam to deal with every week. Right now I do auto-disable comments after a couple of months but it's still too long. Sorry about that as I do value feedback and comments, and a blog ain't a blog without a few comments here and there.

Decommissioned bunker

A decommissioned bunker near the village of Twyford (an hour from London) serves as headquarters for a major IT security company. Here is a photo of the exterior.

Teletubbies springs to mind. The day was very overcast (er, just like London!) and I'm not into Photoshopping nice skies into the background... we'll get over it.

Inside it's pretty standard, apart from the nuclear-thick walls, doors and seals that lock the place tightly. There's about 40 days' worth of fuel, and capacity to store food inside as well. Originally, the bunker was built in the late 1980s (completed in 1991) during the Cold War, three months after it was finished the site was decommissioned.

Today, locals are not particularly aware of the presence of the bunker and the company that runs the place keeps its profile quite low by not publicising a physical address for the place.

Snowy taxi

Can't resist those iconic London style images, cliched as they may seem. And when they are covered in snow the tempation to photograph them is even greater!

Jerusalem Tavern, Clerkenwell

The Jerusalem Tavern on Britton Street is one historic little pub. It has had a presence in Clerkenwell for 700 years. Its current location is at 55 Britton Street in a building dating back to the early 18th century. Now it is a small, cosy and warm pub that sells specialty St Peter's beers in traditional green bottles (the brewery is its current owner).

Sadly it is not open on the weekends but it's well worth the visit especially on a Friday night!

Brooms

Brooms for sale at a Notting Hill market stall. May I recommend the Sausage and Mash cafe on Portobello Rd for a good fry-up? Vegetarians are well catered for there. Or Mike's cafe.

Blue skies in London? Odd!

Council estate in East London near Brick Lane.
Oh. I'm using iPhoto to upload and not Photoshop, so the last few files have been huge - any way to reduce the image saving quality without Photoshop?

Barbican light

Early afternooon at the Barbican.

Wandering around Brick Lane

A side street off Brick Lane leading to a sweet shop. Hadn't been to Brick Lane for a while - it was quiet, as it was a Saturday morning!

Hey, I'm back!

View from City Hall

This is the view from London's City Hall. Stay tuned for more images taken within City Hall itself during London Open House day -- I got the photos put on a CD and at work I don't have any image editing software on my desktop, so the colour balances in all the photos remain incorrect.

No posts!

Sorry for the lack of posts; unfortunately my laptop, camera battery charger and memory card reader were stolen so I can't post any photos until these capabilities are reinstated!

Number 13 Bus

Last week, two of the traditional Routemaster bus routes, including the beloved number 73, were discontinued. Anoraks (that's geeks with an obsession verging on Asperger's Syndrome) lined Oxford Street, snapping away, taking photos of the ancient hop-on-hop-off icons. There are still a few in service - such as the number 13, which terminates at Golders Green. I'm on my way to Finchley Road.
the last one

Primrose Hill Lomo

Lady in a red coat wandering up Primrose Hill a couple of weeks ago, taken with a Lomo camera given to me by some former colleagues of mine.

(Apologies if you've been to one of my pages and noticed unsavoury spam. I do have the MT Blacklist, but it's hard always keeping it up to date. It took about three days before I noticed the latest batch of offensive rubbish.)

Hat ladies, Notting Hill

Women at a hat stall, Notting Hill markets.

Munch meets Sars

Notting Hill markets

Broadway Market

A dog and its owner talk to someone operating a smoothie stand at Broadway Market, East London, which is a new market in Hackney we just stumbled across while walking along the Regent's Canal - there was a part of it we couldn't walk along because there was some building going on, so we exited by the gate and ended up seeing some interesting activity!

Canary Wharf

London's Canary Wharf tube station, on the Jubilee Line. A financial district in south east London, at the centre of the Docklands.

Regent's Canal

Warehouse along Regent's Canal, somewhere between Mile End park and Limehouse Basin.

Selfridges slaves

At Selfridges, girls rifle through the Brazilian jewellery, hoping to spend ten times the normal price for the beaded necklaces they're stroking.

Selfridges Jesus

On Oxford Street in London, he presides over all that is Expensive, Superficial and fashion-related. Sent over by the mayor of Rio, one wonders about the significance of the real Christ the Redeemer statue compared with this consumer-driven 14 metre high replica. It's certainly interesting. (One blogger notes, will we see a statue of Mary that cries soya milk at Starbucks?)

Selfridges shoes

I have a few more Selfridges photographs. This image of overpriced plastic shoes was taken just a couple of hours ago. The entire department store has been kitted out with a Brazilian theme, with colourful clothes, shoes, decorations and food. A replica of Rio's Christ Statue governs the building; king-of-bling style (I hate that word, bling). Selfridges sells Havaianas flip-flops for 17 pounds 50. In the favelas of Brazil they sell for TWO pounds, possibly even less. Depressing.

Light switch

A 30th birthday invitation wedged between the switch and the wall.

World of Ikea

Insane. That's what Ikea is, a bustling world of mummies and daddies with screaming children using the free pencils to add a moustache and eyelashes to an oversized photograph of Per Svenson Lekgreksoon, inventor of the stowaway plastic thing that costs 20p. We bought a sofa but we don't have to assemble it because it was found in the Bargain Corner for 30 per cent off the advertised price. So I have yet to experience Ikea assembling. However, I did experience the cafe.

Jumble Sale

Walked past a jumble sale at the Kingsgate Community Centre in Kilburn, where a host of tat was being sold inside the hall. All the stuff on this table, for instance, was being sold for 20p.

Letterboxes

Letterboxes in Britain. I'm used to postboxes and I still don't like letterbox slots. Here's one I passed earlier today!

Kilburn High Road

Kilburn High Road is full of el cheapo discount shops, street stalls selling junk, Argos shoppers (hey, I've got the catalogue!), families with screaming kids and gridlock. Some people really hate it; to me it's a necessity when looking for staple goods and cheap household items, although I don't spend too much time loitering around it. The Sainsbury's is horrible though. You can't find any tofu there whatsoever! Here's a shop on the main drag selling grey market goods -- I have to say I've even bought a few things from here, namely the Dove Cream Bath (two pounds here, 3.49 at Waitrose).

Abstract

A bit of an abstract photo today. Taken from a moving car while driving through suburbia.

Kensal Rise

Where I lived from 2000 to early 2002 - a street in Kensal Rise, London. I don't live in Kensal Rise anymore. Nice houses but not much else around except a cemetery (which I never visited) and an old, tiny library around the corner that, bizarrely, Mark Twain opened a hundred and four years ago. Oh, and the 24 hour "food and wine" place where drunk people would stumble in to buy instant noodles at 2am and buy alcohol even though the licence forbids them to sell it past 11pm (weird rules here). Kensal Rise likes to style itself as "up and coming". My old landlord told me once: "There's nowhere else it can go, really." Convenient transport links, though.

Through a pinhole

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

The New Year Sales

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

Tsumani of singlets

I used to live in a garden flat...

...which wasn't strictly a garden flat, as the bedroom part of it was still part of the 300 year old house and the room above it housed a constantly shuffing mature American student. The garden was also not so much a garden, but an overgrowth of scratchy plants and things. The landlady, Mary, was also a nosy eccentric woman who got bitchy occasionally and snapped when I accidentally left the window open once to freshen the room up while she was showing a tenant around. I managed six months there before moving out in August 2002. Anyway, the bizarre view outside the room one day was of a whole line full of singlets!

Fireworks at Primrose Hill

Used fireworks on the grass at Primrose Hill, London, three weeks ago.

Things I have learnt about fireworks:
1. They scare cats

2. They scare me!

Baker Street Greasy Spoon

Elderly ladies enjoy a chip and a chat at one of the greasy spoons on Baker Street. For the uninitiated: This is not the height of British cuisine by any means but it's certainly filling and satisfying enough when you're craving carbohydrates. When I first started working in London, it was customary to go down to the Angel Inn and have "lard" every Friday lunch. My colleagues would have, for lunch, eggs, beans, toast, sausages and bacon on a huge plate. And it would only cost L3 or so. Wash it all down with some Sprite imported from Estonia or Espana and a mug of coffee, et voila! Enough calories consumed to last you through the weekend! Greasy spoons also cater for us vegetarians - baked potatos, chips, veggie burgers, baked beans and bagels.

Another Olafur Eliasson Weather Project photograph!

A little bit of Turbine Hall overload?

After Brighton last week we went back to the Tate Modern (it closes at 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays, y'know!) and took a few more images. Got them developed at good old Snappy Snaps. I have about 10 others of the Turbine Hall, including some of people lying on the ground - all very surreal indeed! (Side note: Did anyone see the G2 supplement in The Guardian of volunteers all forming a "G2" shape on the ground?) I used 800 speed film for this and used a negative scanner initially but the contrasty colours really messed the scan up, so I used the tried and tested flatbed to scan the print in! Click on it for a larger version.

At your beck and call

Living TV 10th birthday party, Pacha, 4 September 2003. (Featuring Bananarama and about six rejects from Big Brother 3 who guzzled down Bacardi Breezers like their 15 minutes of fame was gonna expire any minute, or something.)
A place where we could take the piss out of people by taking photos of them.

Farringdon Lane

On the walk to work