Tag Archives: thames

My Security Pals


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Another visit to London on a cold wintry day. Temperature was 27 °F  (-2 °C)  with a windchill of 26 °F  (-3 °C). Snow flurries danced their way around the city around noon, but they fizzled away quickly. I was hoping I’d get enough snow on the ground for a better winter scene but that means I’d be colder, so I guess it was just fine the way it was, for now.

It’s no secret that London is tight on security and not very photographer-friendly, but I did not know it was going to be this irksome especially if you come 80 miles away only to be told to pack up and go. I’ve never had to watch my back all the time while shooting – except maybe when I was in Manila Bay at dusk, surrounded by curious bums and squatters, but that’s another story. Taking pictures is starting to feel like a crime around here.

I did not expect to have 3 brushes with security within the next 24 hours. Sometimes it just doesn’t make any sense but there’s nothing one can do, except sneak in a couple of shots when no one’s looking.

Anyway, here are my latest conversations with my security pals:

In Somerset House–

It was still about half an hour before twilight and I was doing test shots handheld at the ice rink when I was approached by female security.

“Ma’am, what’s that for?” She was referring to the GND filter I had in front of my lens.

“It’s a filter,” I replied.

“Yeah, but what does it do?”

I was a little confused about why she was interested, but I explained, “It just balances the light, that’s all.”

“What are you going to do with the pictures?” She asked.  With the tone in her voice, I now know where this was going.

“They’re just tourist shots, that’s all,” I reasoned. “It’s just a hobby.”

“I need to talk to my manager,” she said. “You’re not allowed to use professional cameras here.”

And off she went to get her manager while in the meantime, I sneaked in a couple more shots until the big boss came and just further emphasized what the other woman just told me.

So off to Westminter at twilight–

There were a few tripod-huggers at the promenade by London Eye up  to the steps of Westminster bridge, but of course I had to be the one spotted right away.

“You’re not allowed to use that here,” he pointed to the tripod I had already set up. “But,” he continued very reassuringly, ” you can take shots on the bridge if you want.”

It was only about 20 steps to the bridge from where I was, so is it me or, I find no logic in that?

Anyway, that was it for my rendezvous with my new friends in London, but the following day at the mall in Bluewater 20 miles outside of London, I was taking shots of the Winter Wonderland scene when I got another visit.

“Can I see your press pass, please?” my new friend asked.

Press pass - I thought to myself – that’s a pick-up line I haven’t heard before. “I’m sorry what?” I asked. I had just taken 6 shots of the scene.

She repeated herself and I innocently replied, “Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t have one.”

“You’re not allowed to take photos here,” she said, “We have our own media people doing that.”

“I didn’t know, sorry.” And I said, with what’s becoming my new alibi-of-the-day, “It’s just a hobby.”

“Can I see what you’ve just taken?” She asked.

I turned my camera on and pressed playback. I showed her the last photo I took, “Just that one, is that okay?”  I lied, then I turned my camera off.

“I want to see you put your camera away,” she then said. A little bit too harsh, don’t you think?

So I put my camera back in the bag while she watched, folded up my tripod, and sulked.

Poor me :(

Taken early afternoon with heavy clouds and freezing temperature. There's no shortage of double-deckers in London so it's always fun to do this. I took this handheld at CH (burst) mode, 5fps. 1/8 sec @ f/20, ISO 200.

Classic Westminster bridge and Houses of Parliament scene. It was not allowed to use a tripod from where I stood here, but it's okay on the bridge.

Dreary, cold and gray afternoon in the city.

At Bluewater. Poorly-composed shot I know, but I was just getting started when I was interrupted. This is the kind of blue hour I thrive for - nice, rich, cold winter blue. The cone-shaped tree on top changes color every few seconds. There was more of this Winter Wonderland but I never got the chance to shoot it.


Scenes from Golden Jubilee Bridge


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The world's famous clock needs no further introduction.

Light trails at Victoria Embankment from Golden Jubilee bridge.

Crescent moon hovers over the Thames and London's famous icons, the Palace of Westminster on the north bank and London Eye on the south.

The Golden Jubilee Bridges were officially opened in summer 2003 and became a great new landmark for London.


Red Poppies at Trafalgar Square Fountains


Posted by Yen Baet

Yet another rainy day in London. There was some promise of sunlight for a few minutes in the afternoon but that simmered down to false hope as dusk was drawing near. You knew there was a storm coming – in fact, they had issued a gale warning today – if you look in the sky and follow where the clouds were headed to. Although the sunset brought in some colors with it, it was cloudy and eery for the most part. At sunset, I took some shots in Trafalgar Square and  headed down to the nearby Golden Jubilee Bridges at which time the rain fell hard. Luckily, it stopped after a few minutes, and I picked up where I had left off.

Despite the nasty weather, I’m still glad I went to Trafalgar Square today. It’s probably only once a year I’d get a shot like this with the poppies. Today, England celebrates Armistice Day. The entire week, I’ve been seeing people wearing poppy ribbons on their lapels, and today at Trafalgar Square, paper poppy wreaths and flowers are strewn into the fountains. In several parts of London, at the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” people stopped for a couple of minutes for a moment of silence. Even in the always busy streets of Trafalgar Square, cars, buses and cabs hushed to a stop when traffic lights turned red.

Here’s my take on this solemn occasion, with a little help from the poppies and the weather.

For more than 90 years Britons have fallen silent at 11a.m. every Armistice Day in remembrance of the day that marks the anniversary of the end of the WWI. The First World War armistice came into effect at 11a.m. on 11 November 1918, the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month". Armistice or Remembrance Day is also known as Poppy Day. The poppy is a symbol of remembrance which is said to have started during WWI when Flanders, the western part of Beligum saw the most concentrated and bloodiest fighting. There was complete devastation and a lot of lives lost and the only living thing that survived were the poppies. The poppies - flowering each year with the coming of warm weather brought life and hope to those still fighting.


Dolphin Rider


Posted by Yen Baet

Here are two variations of the sculpture Girl with a Dolphin. I had posted the first one on Flickr, but I wasn’t sure which one I prefer. The bridge gets plenty of attention already I think, and I wanted to show more of the sculpture, which explains the first image.

As a side note, I had not planned on placing the dolphin in-between the two starbursts – that’s purely by accident. A nice accident!

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Twilight Hailstorm at the Docklands


Posted by Yen Baet

The weather was pretty crazy today. The day started with sunny and clear skies – really gorgeous day, and ended with an unexpected, although brief, hailstorm.

At sunset, as I stationed myself in East India pier looking across the Thames directly towards the O2 Dome, I noticed a reddish cloud moving from behind me and heading straight to the dome. I set up my tripod anticipating a colorful sunset. I took more than a dozen long-exposure shots of the dome using my ND Grads. Shortly right after sunset, while walking around scouting for a different location, hail poured from the skies out of nowhere. Luckily, there was a McDonald’s just down the street to take shelter from and at the same time, grab a bite to eat.

I must say, despite the untimely hail, the weather gods were still considerate because it cleared up for the remainder of blue hour.  Therefore, I was able to do the shots of East India station and part of Canary Wharf’s skyline from Blackwall Way. Perhaps not much of a thrilling view, but I’ll take a little of something over nothing at all.

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QUICK TRIVIA on the 02 DOME : In the James Bond film “The World is Not Enough,” the O2 was the structure that aided James Bond in reaching his hot air balloon destination. It was also shown in the background of a sequence in the 2006  movie “The Da Vinci Code.”

Two ND Grads stacked on top of each other plus a small aperture gave me a long-ish exposure - in this case, 5 seconds. The grads gave me this nice, rich color in the sky and smoothness in the water. F/22, ISO 100, 5 seconds.

I love it when buses come just at the right time, almost at my beck and call. This one came towards the end of my exposure, and saved an otherwise mundane scene. Part of Canary Wharf's skyline can seen in the distance. F/13, ISO 100, 20 seconds.

The East India DLR station. A nice full moon appeared through the clouds right after I had already packed up for the night. 'Would've been nice if I was able to include it in the picture. It will match those pretty "stars" that I've created using a small aperture. F/16, ISO 100, 25 seconds.


Scenes Across the Bridge


Posted by Yen Baet

A few of my photos from St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge.

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Night in St. Paul’s


Posted by Yen Baet

I still can’t believe I live so close to London.

It had rained most of the day so it was not the best night to take photos. I still liked how most of my shots turned out though, and I’ll be posting my twilight (or what’s supposed to be twilight) shots later on, including those of the Millennium bridge – a very challenging bridge to shoot because it moves all the time – it is in fact also nicknamed the Wobbly Bridge.

Meanwhile, here’s some night shots I’ve taken of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Light trails is a popular subject for night photographers, one that I love taking shots of as well. The exposure can be tricky at times, but with practice as with most everything else, it can be perfected. I think I have found my comfort zone as far as exposure time is concerned, but what I think makes a light trail image successful is perfect timing. Buses make nice light trails, but since their light streaks extend higher than regular cars, I try not to overwhelm the scene with the streaks and give ample window to still see the subject behind them, as what I did with these St. Paul’s images. It definitely takes some patience, and sometimes luck, but it’s always fun to do especially in London where double-deckers are all over the place – that’s twice the fun!

I was happy to see how the first image below turned out. It was my last shot of the day, and was talking on the phone while I took the shot – one hand on the trigger, one holding the phone – who say’s you can’t multi-task while doing long exposures? I especially liked the image when I realized that the bus with the trails is a number 26 bus, which incidentally is the same number of the bus I took a photo of while in Valencia, Spain earlier this year. Number 26 seems to be a fortuitous number for me, so now I’m looking forward to shooting more number 26 buses, by accident.

This was my last shot of the day. I took 10 shots of this scene, strategically positioned myself a few feet from the bus stop at the end of the curb. Not bad of a shot, I think, considering I was talking on the phone as I took this shot. I also liked how I was able to include another bus on the other side of the street, and nicely placed in the scene too! Sometimes you just get lucky. I just wished I had done this at blue hour, but that's for next time.

More light trails. Fun fact about St. Paul's Cathedral: Prince Charles married the late Princess Diana here, and more recently, the Queen celebrated the Golden Jubilee and her 80th birthday with thanksgiving services in this place of worship.

Almost wrapping it up after a shoot at the Millennium bridge, I stopped to take a shot before crossing this street to the cathedral. I think it's pretty cool how I got both red and green crossing lights in one exposure.


View of the Thames, Vertical


Posted by Yen Baet

Just wanted to post this vertical version of the same scene I had posted on Flickr. I’m still amazed how I was able to still take sharp photos considering how windy it was on the bridge that night. There’s some motion blur on the spinning wheel and the bobbing boat on the foreground, but the rest of the scene stayed sharp.

While shooting that night, I was talking to this other photographer who said he had vertigo and was having a tough time looking over the bridge and was paranoid about someone pushing him over anytime. It reminded me of the frightening experience I had  in Stockholm when some odd woman stood beside me while I was on the bridge in the dark by myself. I did not have such feelings while shooting from Waterloo Bridge because there were a lot of people around. I guess that’s one thing good about touristy London – there’s safety and comfort in numbers.

LONDON EYE TRIVIA: The London Eye is a 443-ft tall Ferris wheel on the banks of the River Thames. It is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over 3.5 million people annually. When erected in 1999, it was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, until surpassed first by the 520-ft Star of Nanchang in 2006, and then the 541-ft Singapore Flyer in 2008. It is still described by its operators as "the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel" as the wheel is supported by an A-frame on one side only, unlike the Nanchang and Singapore wheels.