London Grime and Lights

I’ve been down to London for work again, and as usual managed to blag my travel so I get a fair amount of time later in the day to take a look around.

I’ve taken the opportunity again to have more of a wander round Kings Cross again, visiting the Pancras Basin on the Regents Canal. I loved the grimy atmostphere of industry that is still evidennt in this area, though the tendrils of gentrification are evident.

After this I decided to go and visit Covent Garden. I remember going to covent garden market as a small child, with my father, and loving the stalls. I have to say that I was a little underwhelmed now – it seemed much less crafty, and much more like an extension of Habitat. But the lights and Christmas atmosphere werte lovely. I played with the Lensbaby here and got some magical shots.

From here I walked down to the river, and over Waterloo bridge and back over Westminster Bridge. It was getting dark by now and the Christmas lights have again made for some lovely abstracts. I got a nice long exposure of traffic trails too.

I ended up back in Chinatown after this, the long way round from Covent Garden… I used the 50mm f1/8 for these street shots in Gerard Street, which I am really pleased with, there’s a definite air of Bladerunner to them for me.

From here I wandered over to Picadilly Circus and played a little more with the Lensbaby and the fish-eye adapter before heading back to Kings Cross.

The last few shots of the day were taken from the terrace of the Betjeman Arms, where in lieu of a tripod I could rest the camera on the wall for these lovely light trail shots on Euston Road.