I don’t always carry a camera when I go out, except for the one on my phone, which I very seldom use, partly because it isn’t very good but mainly that I’ve never really sorted out how to control it to get results I might like. I also find it rather hard to use; looking at images on a screen and pressing a virtual button is just not how I work.
I do still have a pocketable camera, and got it out and looked at it again a few days ago. Back when I bought it, the performance was pretty much up with the leaders for anything of its size, and the 6Mp images from the Fuji Finepix F31fd weren’t bad. Probably better quality than the larger files from my phone, but still if I took anything on it Ilooked at the images and felt it was a pity I hadn’t had a real camera with me. All the pictures here were taken when I did, on either the Nikon D700 or D810.
Usually when I’m out I do have a better camera, and most often two of them in a rather heavy bag on my left shoulder. I take them out with a specific event or place in mind to photograph – and some of those photographs go on-line in My London Diary and to one of the agencies.
Most of the time I’m out I’m not at those events, but travelling to them or returning home, and going from one event to another. Much of these in-between times there is nothing I’m interested in photographing, and I often read a newspaper or a book or occsionally hang out with other photographers. Occasionally I’ll visit a pub or a gallery, and there are quite a few of both in London, though few galleries that show decent photography. Or if there is a long gap and the weather is right there may be time to go somewhere I want to photograph and take some pictures.
Like many other photographers I also take pictures at times on my travels around the city, through bus or train windows. Often these are rather dirty or scratched and this sometimes rather spoils the images. It can be hard to avoid annoying reflections (and even harder to get ones that aren’t annoying.) So most of these images get deleted, but a few are worth saving, and in recent months I’ve been including some at the bottom of the page on My London Diary under the title ‘London Images’. Silly really as most of the rest on the site are also from London, but I needed a title.
I like travelling on the upper floor of a double-decker bus for the views – even if most of the time I’m not taking pictures. It’s a great viewing platform for the city, though often frustrating as the buses flash post places that look interesting only to stop for ages in the least interesting of locations. I’ve always planned to do a project from the open-top tourist buses that clog our streets – which would be rather more flexible – but somehow never got around to it.
I’m still wondering whether to start carrying the little Fuji again for those time I don’t have a camera with me – or even if to replace it with a more modern and capapble device that would fit a jacket or trouser pocket. Perhaps a new compact camera – or would I be better of getting a phone with a better camera?
You can see more of the pictures made as I travelled around in January, Febraury and March on My London Diary. There is quite a lot of repetition, particuarly as almost every time I go to London I go past one of its largest development areas at Nine ELms and Vauxhall and have often recorded the progress, particularly on the new US Embassy building there.
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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.
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