London Photos: London life in images by Kim Gilmour

Last night, amateur and pro cyclists gathered for the second annual Smithfield Nocturne – competitive London cycling in the night time!

Early in the evening I watched the folding cyclists, dressed in business gear, as they scurried around the 1km loop that stretched across Smithfield meat market.

The crowd swelled as the pro cyclists began the Elite Criterium at around 8.30pm, a gruelling 1 hour race plus five laps of the circuit. It was exciting stuff, and certainly difficult to pan and shoot to take good photos; the cyclists were speeding past, faster and faster as the race went on – at around 50km/h. And the light kept changing.

These were taken with a compact Canon digital camera on manual settings. Most at ISO 80-200, and panning as the cyclists sped past. Towards the end of the night I upped the ISO to 800-1600.

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!

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.

A discarded pair of shoes in London last month.

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.

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

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!

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

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

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.