Photos of London
 

I took these photos this past February, on a 4 night mid-winter trip to London. Airfares were cheap, the pound was down, who could resist? I will be doing something similar next week - airfares are not down but I will earn double miles on United, pound is going back up again - oh well - and this upcoming trip will be only 3 nights. I do expect marginally better weather though.

I spent a large part of this trip just walking. Jetlag be damned (the first day for me is always a killer but I walked no less than 6 miles and likely closer to 8 the first day) and rain and chill be damned - I spent most of the days outdoors, taking chill-breaks in museums and sit-down meals (and nice hot shower before dinner). I rarely took the tube or bus, instead, when I got sick of walking I raised my hand and the magic cab would arrive to whisk me to the next stop.

It was surprising to see the number of people sitting at cafe tables outside despite the chill. Throughout Covent Garden and Soho I saw a lot of people bundled up and sipping their coffees or beers at outdoor tables. Look out Paris!

These photos show some of my trail over the days. The Strand, Fleet Street, St. Paul's, Millennium Bridge, South Bank up to Westminster Bridge, Borough Market, Royal Horseguards, Cabinet War Rooms, Trafalgar Square including a few by night (I took my tripod) and finally the Changing of the Guard. I haven't watched that since my first visit to London in 1993. My last half-day in town was sunny and 60 (it figures) so I wandered over to the British Museum around the corner from my hotel until my cab arrived a little after noon. This time I'm going to stretch my cab-time to 1 PM so I can fit in a London Walks at Westminster Abbey that Monday morning.

I hope you like the photos. Enjoy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skywalk...41677481/show/

Your night shots are always so good. I'm going to try the little trick you posted elsewhere !

flygirl,

Your photos are truly magnificent. Please tell us what camera, lens, and filter you use.

Your post mentions the War Museum but I only saw a photo of the Clive steps outside. Were you able to get good pictures inside? Mine were not to write home about.

Throughout Covent Garden and Soho I saw a lot of people bundled up and sipping their coffees or beers at outdoor tables.>>>

We call these people "ponces".

,,,,or snoutcasts if the poor souls are trying to have a cough and a drag.

nice

Lovely!

I like your night picture. They are very great

flygirl, you've got some great photos in there! I am not a fan of winter in general, but I'd take a trip to London whenever, and the winter light does often make for great photos.

spaarne - just FYI, if you go to the main photo pages (not the slide show versions), Flickr shows the camera type over on the righthand side under "Additional Information." No lens or filtering, but it would satisfy at least part of your curiosity!

I love your pictures. I need a trip to London, haven't been since 2002. Last time I was there, about four years ago, I was just changing planes at Heathrow. I really wish I'd had time and money to stay a few days. I won't go back to Europe again without spending some time in London again.

Avalon, thank you! The key to good photos in any lighting is to avoid any kind of movement of the camera unless of course you are going for that kind of shot - for instance panning of an action photo, etc. Tripods are great but can be a pain to carry around especially if you are walking. Set the timer, compose the photo as best you can from that vantage point, and let go of the camera and let it take the photo by itself.

spaarne, muchas gracias. Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 F4L IS lens, no filter. I have a polarizing filter but I'm pretty sure I didn't use it during this trip - not many sunny blue skies in February, alas.

CW & Josser, fair enough, haha! I was fine as long as I kept moving - sitting down to drink anything (much less something cold) wouldn't have occurred to me.

jent, before I left on this trip I had two specific photo goals in mind. There are two spots on this trip where I had taken great photos in the past (due to location and lighting) but I only had a then-current point and shoot and of course back then the digital files were small/small photos. I specifically wanted to be in that exact spot with perfectly timed lighting to recreate the shots. I made it! See if you can figure out which ones they are - they are my favorite shots in the whole set. ;)

Thanks for all the compliments! It's funny, Paris must be more popular than London, at least for photography. The day I posted my Paris set I got 1339 photo-views according to the flickr stats. So far today it's only hit about 600 or so.

Paris probably is more popular, perhaps a prettier city? I love the hustle and bustle of London. I take horrible photos and usually end up buying post cards of some of the sites. LOL Anyway, "touring" London with you was very fun.

crefloors, I hate to say it but for as much as I love London, Paris is a prettier city. Thank you for coming along on my virtual tour!

spaarne, I just realized that I didn't reply to your query. I don't usually take photos inside museums unless there is something architecturally of interest (for example). i.e. I don't usually take photos of the art itself. I'd be the person taking the photo of the huge crush of people around the Mona Lisa, but not the Mona Lisa itself. I can get a much better rendition of the museum's artwork by buying a book in the gift shop!

Hey, I spoke too soon, the flickr stats show the views went over 1000 total views today. Nifty! It doesn't give a very detailed breakdown but that's still pretty cool.

I wonder how fodors tracks their own user views here - and what the numbers are.

Flygirl:

Your pics are excellent...but fess up....is that bagpiper pic none other than Colly W? I had seen his pic from some Paris Fodorite gathering...and it IS him! Right?

stu

<u>Cholly</u>...of course..excuse Sir W....

love your pictures, you made me want to go to London, it's only been 2 years since I've been there, but London is one of my 2 favorite cities. Sometimes I am homesick for it, though I've never lived there, but it's the best way to describe how I feel when I want to be there.

Thanks for posting this

I just took another look at these. I love the silhouette of the dragon on the Strand and the views of St. Pauls taken from the Millenium Bridge.

Looking forward to more photos from your upcoming trip... you've made me homesick!

Great photos! Thanks for posting. We're making a 3-4 day visit over Thanksgiving weekend, courtesy of some good fares I happened upon way back in February. I've been to London many times, but never with my DSLR. You've certainly inspired me! We don't have much of an agenda; just hoping for decent weather for lots of wandering.

Your pictures are gorgeous. Thanks for posting them.

Gorgeous photos flygirl, I especially love the street scenes. And I love the winter atmosphere!

London is a city that's growing on me. I've only been three times- first visit I enjoyed myself but felt a little ambivalent towards London itself. But on my second and third visits I came to like it more and more. Now I'm at the point where I'm actually looking forward to going back.

Hmm, actually after looking at your photos I'm wondering if I should go to London instead of Belgium next spring...I'm such a scatterbrain.

Tower, perhaps CW would step forward? haha

lyb and sassycat, I know exactly what you mean. I get homesick for it too.

sassycat, you picked out on of my favorites. The silhouette of the griffin/gryphon/dragon guarding the City of London is my favorite and one of the photos that was my specific goal on this trip (based on a photo I had taken 8 or 9 years ago and wanted to recreate).

ms_go - have a great time! Take the DSLR if you can, it does make a difference. Just a few years ago I took only P&S digitals (still had the film SLR) and thought they were just fine. When I got the DSLR I realized what I was missing.

tuscanlifeedit, thank you!

Apres_Londee, thanks! I know what you mean about having a photo change your mind, a few years ago I happened across a photo on flickr of a streetcar in Lisbon. I hadn't seen a street scene of Lisbon before, I had no point of reference. It was so beautiful, and it struck me so hard I bought a plane ticket to Lisbon - I visited over Thanksgiving 2007. I took my own photos of the same location - I guess I should post my Portugal photos too, I don't believe I ever did!

Thank you again everyone for your compliments.

Thank you so much for sharing these. They are beautiful.

Beautiful pictures, flygirl!

Sorry, that's not C_W - too much hair. :-))

Lee Ann

The general ban on smoking has led to a great appreciation for "al fresco" moments amongst the drinkers and diners of UK

Lantana and Lee Ann, thanks!

Khunwilko, fair enough, that makes sense...

You really are a wonderful photographer flygirl! I sent my daughter-in-law the link so she can see how wonderful the photos are. She & my husband both use Canon. It seems every six months they get a newer one!

Thank you tod! Yes, you could get a new Canon just about every 6 months. I'm about to replace my P&S which I've used for 2+ years now. I've had the DSLR for 3 years, hmmm, is it time for a new one of those as well? ;)

You wrote about one of your favorites. Which is the other?
They are beautiful photos.

I'm not sure whether to thank you for the beautiful photos or not. You are feeding my London withdrawal symptoms.

I love your pictures- have put them into my favourites.

Thank you so much for sharing your pictures. They are gorgeous!

Very Very NICE! We will be in London in December. I will look for all your picture spots. Well done.

Sunny

Cynthia, thanks. My absolute favorite is the dragon/griffin at Temple Bar, and the other photo I wanted to recreate were the ones taken from the portico of the National Gallery. When you stand there, you have a clear view all the way down Whitehall. You can see Big Ben, or, if you move a little to the left you will see the Victoria Tower. The one I took many years ago was before Trafalgar Square was fully pedestrianized. I actually put that up on flickr in a different set, here is the old one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skywalk...7606910787639/

Here is the new Whitehall subset:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skywalk...lgallery/show/

I zoomed in on a few and you can even see a jet off in the distance in the Big Ben closeup.

Carolyn, yasronit, Nancy, sunswhtdog, you are very kind. Thank you!

I am absolutely jealous of your pictures!

Glad you liked them lyb, I have a lot to learn but I'm making progress.