After taking a couple of shots of the big guns outside we made our way into the building. As with a lot of museums there are bag checks. As I already had my camera out I placed my bag and the camera on the table and opened the top zip pocket to reveal my personal bits and pieces, keys and the like, and then the camera section which had my additional lens and other related items in it.

Imperial War Museum - Guests

On spotting my camera the security guard, without hesitation, piped up saying that photography was fine in the museum. Having been to museums and galleries before that haven’t allowed photography it was really nice that they made it clear that it was ok. Whilst I wasn’t trying to push my luck or anything and because I wanted clarification I said to the guard that I presumed that it didn’t include flash photography which I thought would have been fair, but no he said it was OK around most of the museum. Whilst I didn’t see any “no flash photography” signs in the areas I saw, the fact that a lot of the exhibits were in glass cabinets in dark areas which would have been difficult to shoot without a flash because of low light and with a flash because of reflections made me think this is what he was referring to. The same guard also mentioned that photography was fine to a friend in the group when his bag was checked as well.

It’s nice to see a museum being photographer friendly and their staff clued up on it all.

On this visit the new thing for me was the tree-top walkway After a first failed attempt to take a 3 year old round, he wanted to go up but didn’t like it when we got up there, I went back up and wandered around. The view was good but not amazing, mainly due to the cloudy weather. It was nice to get up close to the trees and see things from their point of view. I reccomened a trip to Kew for anyone living in or visiting London and you should make a point of getting up the tree-top walkway if you don’t mind heights, just don’t forget the green houses, other buldings in the grounds and the large pond.

Silhouette view from the Tree-Top walkway

Flickr Set – Photos from February trip to Kew Gardens

The Offices I’ve worked in and flats lived in have all been no more then two or three floors up and whilst some had nice views of the river others had just other buildings and dirty high streets. I’ve been up the London Eye once and took in the view of the main tourist sites you can see from there. The weather wasn’t especially great but you could see quite a few things.

This weekend the impact of London on me changed, I knew London was big, I’ve travelled through most stops on the tubes to nearly all the ends of the lines, and headed further out on the mainline trains but nothing prepared me for the view I got Saturday afternoon.

I’d spent the early afternoon walking through town, I strolled from Bond Street, across Oxford Street and down to Forbidden Planet on Shaftesbury Avenue to look for Christmas presents for friends and family. Whilst the shopping trip wasn’t fruitful for presents it was for me (DMZ vol 1, 100 Bullets Vol 3 and Firefly – Better Days). After leaving the shop I placed a quick call to a friend to see if the arrangements they had said they would be able to sort were still on and they were, and with that I made my way to the junction of Charing Cross Road, Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road.

This is where the fun began. I made my way into Centrepoint and met my friend who spoke to th receptionist who let us through. Standing waiting for the lift nervous excitement was beginning to bubble up and once in the lift a small smile took over my face. We zoomed up missing floor after floro before quickly reaching our destination. I walked out and stepped into Paramount’s bar and dining area taking in the beautiful brass bar and the swish seating, but this wasn’t why I was here. we walked back out and up a short set of stairs. I was here, the viewing gallery. The view took my breath away and the small smile was now a massive grin.

Sunset Over London

The viewing gallery goes round 360 degrees with various armchairs and seating all the way around the middle and it was on one of these chairs I placed my bag and took in the view across West London. The sun was starting to fade and the sky was clear, I’d luckily got good weather and thats whwen I began to get to work. I ended up spending an hour going in circles around the gallery with the light quickly fading to being really quite dark and the city lighting up. Using my tripod and remote I managed to grab plenty of long exposures over the course of the hour trying to fit in the main landmarks and roads.

New Oxford Street

It was great to experience London from a view I had never seen before and my luck with the weather and light made it so much more amazing. To see the rest of the photos from the top of Centrepoint take a look at View From Paramount / Centrepoint – A Flickr Set

Al on Someone Once Told Me

I also had the pleasure of meeting Mario again last night as folloing on from my picture another friend signed up to take part and had his picture taken, being a notably shy person when it comes to haveing his photo taken he was quite leased with the results which should hopefully be up on the site in the next few weeks

I’ve been lucky enough to meet Mario who runs the site and had my picture taken for the project whilst out on a mutual friends birthday celebrations, I was more than happy to take part and I wasn’t the first to indulge in the project that evening and helped Mario rope in a few more participants.

The basis of the site is very simple:

“Black and white photographs
A new one every day
Each person writes a message
Of something that someone once told them”

For mine I used a quote from a friend that I had received a couple of months earlier in a birthday card from them. The quote just stuck in my head when I read it and when I found out about this project I knew exactly from the start what I wanted to write. It was also timed nicely as the birthday celebrations I was at when the photograph was taken was for the person who wrote me the quote in the first place.

You can see my quote and my slightly dramatic pose over at the Someone Once Told Me websites archive

My quote on Someone Once Told Me

I think this is great project and as well as an interesting photography project I think it is a great insight into peoples minds and how things people say can influence us.

Watching installations at the camden arts centre

quick feet on steps