Dipping into the "maybes"

click photo to enlarge
Every now and again I come to the end of my backlog of "postable" photographs. That is to say, those images that I consider good enough to feature in the blog and which I prepare in advance, often well in advance, of the day on which they appear. One of the problems with my self-imposed task of posting on alternate days is that I need to collect, process and prepare, a steady supply of photographs that I deem "good enough" for public display: an activity that I sometimes refer to as "feeding the blog."

But, my well has run dry and so for today's offering I've pulled out a shot that I took on 8th December on my last visit to London. I'd prepared it for posting, but then, as is sometimes the case, decided that it wasn't quite up to par, and put it in my folder that I've titled "Maybes". Well, today a "maybe" has become a "postable". What I liked about this photograph is the viewpoint that embraces the Thames Clipper jetty with a catamaran waiting for its load of passengers before it turns up-river to the City, the O2 Arena (formerly the Millennium Dome), the neighbouring and distinctive Ravensbourne College and the office towers of Canary Wharf beyond the curve in the river. Oh, and the wonderful sky and the late afternoon light coming in from the left. What I wasn't so keen on, and what led to its eventual rejection is the darkness of the foreground relative to the background. Had some direct sunlight got through to the jetty or boat I'd have been much happier, but having the bottom half of the frame darker than the top half doesn't work as well as I'd like. However, needs must, and unless I break my schedule then this shot or one of my other "maybes" has to appear.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Sony RX100
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 10.4mm (28mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5
Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec
ISO:125
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

A fiery London sunset

click photo to enlarge

Sometimes the colours and beauty of a sunset are quite overwhelming. Such was the case on a recent evening when I happened to look out of my balcony in London. I'm used to getting great views and interesting shots from this location when I stay in the city. And I've seen and photographed quite a few good sunsets. But I was unprepared for the colours and the definition of the scene that greeted me when I went to see which boat I could hear passing by. That happened to be nothing more than one of the Thames Clippers catamarans that regularly race up and down the Thames in their role as water buses, and on this occasion its engine sound had fooled me because it was going much slower than usual: perhaps it was finished for the night. I made a quick bee-line for my camera and started firing off shots intent on capturing the sight.

The ND8 graduated neutral density filter happened to be on the camera so my first few shots (of which this is one) were modified by that. However, apart from it darkening of the upper sky, possibly emphasising the blues a touch and giving more faithful delineation of the cloud, the image is what came out of the camera and involves no post processing. I don't recall seeing a better sunset than this one for a couple of decades, if at all. The people in some neighbouring flats were equally impressed because they too were out on their balconies with cameras. I took some photographs without the filter too, but this one, with the foregound interest of the passing boat, is the one I like best.

For an idea of what this section of the Thames from this vantage point looks like during the day see here and here.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 45mm
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/50
ISO: 800
Exposure Compensation:  -0.67 EV
Image Stabilisation: O
Filter: Graduated ND8

Free Trade Wharf, names and ziggurats

click photo to enlarge

There was a time in the 1980s and 1990s when the language of the Conservative government, with its red in tooth and claw capitalism, infected every new industrial estate that sprang up on the edges of our towns and cities. So, the development became an Enterprise Park and its roads and offices sported names such as Endeavour Way and Venture House. There's nothing wrong with these words - they're fine words - but it almost seemed that the builders of these developments naively felt that the right names would engender the right entrepreneurial attitudes in those who set up their businesses there.

On a completely different tack (but with a connection that will be made clear shortly), when I stay in London I look across the Thames at this large, rambling, block of flats. Ever since I first saw it several years ago I've wondered about it. Its plan is clearly designed to give as many of the 208 flats as possible a balcony and river view. The whole effect is somewhat Mediterranean in feel, with a touch of Lego thrown in for good measure. However, it isn't Spain or Italy (or even Denmark) that come most to mind when I look at it, rather it's Mesopotamia and its wonderful ziggurats. It must be the pyramidal shapes, the brick facing and the slightly "tumble-down" appearance that evokes those crumbling structures from the 3rd millennium BC. I was in London last weekend and took the smaller photo then: the larger one was taken in February. When I decided to post these photographs I thought I'd better find out what the flats are called and when they were built. It seems they dates from 1984-1990 and are called Free Trade Wharf. A name very much of its time I thought. But then I thought a little harder, and wondered what had been on the site before the flats. It turns out that a group of several warehouses built in the 1790s sat on, guess what? Free Trade Wharf! So, the name isn't new, but is probably late Georgian or Victorian, and is one that resonates with the capitalistic spirit of those more distant times rather than the end of the millennium..

The fast catamaran ferry in the photograph is one operated by the Thames Clipper company. These boats can be frequently seen whizzing up and down the River Thames between Greenwich and central London.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Main Photo
Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 73mm
F No: f7.1 Shutter Speed: 1/500
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.67 EV
Image Stabilisation: On