Monday 17 December 2007

A Preview of my weekend in London

Things are carzy around here, so it is probably going to take a few days for me to get my post together about my trip to London. In the meantime, I thought I'd give you a little flavour of what I saw. So,here are a sample of the photographs that I took....

London by night - Skyline of St Pauls

London - The London Eye 5

London - Harrods at Christmas 2

London - Fortnum and Masons 7

London - Marble Arch

London - Westminster at night 2

London - Doolittle's of Covent Garden

London - Covent Garden early in the morning

London Trafalgar Square at night 3

I'll be sure to publish the full post before the week is over.

Best wishes ~ Graham x

31 comments:

Sue said...

Ahoy! You're back?

The last shot was very charming!

And I very much love the Westminster at night shot... did I spell that right? hehehe

no more said...

amazing pics, as usual! Especially the evening shots. Let me ask - how did you lug your tripod around? I'm curious, i know you didn't take those exposure shots holding the camera. I seriously want to get a zoom attachment for my camera or something. Looks like everyone is starting their christmas shopping!

What's curious is the phone booths, those are pretty obsolete here. you see them at gas stations and maybe the courthouse or something but in general cellphones have taken over so much so that phonebooths are mostly non-existant...especially just sitting on a street corner. And certain not the superman phonebooth! They got rid of the privacy booth years and years ago. (which was actually made fun of in the 2nd superman movie)

Choc Mint Girl said...

How come you always take pictures and they all look like postcards to me?? He he...Great shots, Graham!! I'll be in London someday... ;D

Anonymous said...

I love the night pictures!!! Cities by might are just magical... mysterious yet friendly. Beautiful!

I can rarely put my camera steady enough for these kind of pictures (yeah, I know, the tripod is my friend...).

Hope you had a good time... it doesn't look cold, from the last picture! Or at least, YOU don't look cold! :D

Anonymous said...

Ahhh, the picture of the telephones reminds me of the old Dr. Who television show.

Looks like a nice trip.

Anonymous said...

Those photos are stunning, Graham! The one of the xmas shoppers looks alarmingly familiar, as I finally finished my xmas shopping last weekend. Went for a long walk yesterday to get away from the madding crowd. It's a great shot though. Really captures that frantic pace!
Lives Less Ordinary

Chick said...

pitter pat!! I LOVE london and these pictures are amazing. thanks for stealing a free moment to post these during your busy week. I am coming to london in march and now I'm more excited than ever!!

Simon said...

Looks incredible. London sure is a beautiful city. Have a great time there!

Graham Ettridge said...

Ahoy to you too Sue! Thanks for the kind words. I hope you are well. You certainly did spell Westminster correct...lol! I'll be sure to post more photos of the trip soon.

Hey Muse, I didn't take a tripod with me. I had enough problems lifting my luggage bag with enough clothes to last me a month (baring in mind that I only went for 2 nights...lol!). The trick is to find a lampost or a wall or a bench or something, that you can rest the camera on (kinda like a tripod in situ' lol!) The other trick is to take several of the same shot, so although most of them will be out of focus because of handshake, at least a couple of them will turn out okay. I took loads up on the London eye that are completely out of focus. Phone booths are pretty much a 'has been' here too. I think they keep them in London as a nostalgia kinda thing.

Graham Ettridge said...

Hey Crystal, thanks for the kind words. I hope you do manage to get to London someday :)

Hey Zhu! I very rarely carry my tripod around with me, I just try to find something to rest my camera on... it usually does the trick. The art is to snap away at everything and then throw away the rubbish ones (which in my case is about 95% of them...lol!)

Graham Ettridge said...

Hiya Kris, yes the phone boxes remind me of Dr Who too...lol!

Hello Amy, and thanks for your kind words. London was sooo busy when I was there... almost bursting..lol! I had to climb the stairs at the back of the store to take this photo - it was sooo packed in there...lol!

meleah rebeccah said...

hey you!

wow. these photos are AMAZING.

I guess it really is shopping MADNESS everywhere!

Glad your back

xxoo

Marjie said...

hey graham, what a beautiful place. london does have it's greatest spark, and I can't wait until the day I get a chance to see it in the flesh. I've come prepared for such excitement ;)!

thanks for sharing it m'dear.

big big hugs to you
xxxx

Anonymous said...

I've just tagged you here for Crazy 8s!
Lives Less Ordinary

AZZITIZZ said...

Hi Graham,
You've done it again! Wonderful pictures!
I think (as previously suggested by someone in the comments section of another of your posts) you should get them done as a calendar or postcards, you could make a bit of money out of it for doing something you are really good at and thoroughly enjoy doing.
Anyway, hope you and yours have an absolutely fantastic Christmas, I know it's only the 19th, but I have a feeling things are going to get a bit hectic in our house over the next week and I probably won't have much time nearer the day to send you greetings.
So, as I say, hope you have a wonderful Christmas and wish you all the best for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008.
Loadsaluv and big hugs.
Azzy X

Lorelai236 said...

I would LOVE to go to London. Wishing you lots of fun!! :)

no more said...

ok now i've got to ask if you just rested that camera on a lamppost what settings you had it on. Where they preset or did you manually set the ISO, aperture and shutter speed? Everytime i take a nighttime shot, if i can get the exposure right i have a problem with graininess. next time i'm going to try reducing my ISO to see if that helps. i used to be into all that years and years ago but i've forgotten as digital cameras spoil you. you should publish some of them in a travel book or calendar

Elise said...

How on earth did you make London look pretty?!

Its nice that you diverted your camera from the gritty streets. Makes me feel proud of where I live! xx

Graham Ettridge said...

Karoly, thank you for your kind comment. I look forward to visiting your site.

Christine!!! Oh My Goodness! You are coming to London in March!!!! WOW! You must absolutely let me know when you are here, and if you need anything, just give me a shout!!!!

Hey neoauteur, thanks! And a merry christmas to you!!!!


Hello Marjie :) It's great to hear from you. London is just sooo magical! You must come and visit sometime!

Graham Ettridge said...

Meleah Rebeccah, the shopping absolutely was MADNESS... it was like sardines in a can. As I was just wandering around, it wasn't so bad for me... but for those who were trying to do their shopping - it was a NIGHTMARE!!!!!


Hey Amypalko, I'll be sure to come and have a look at what I have been tagged for :) I'm always up for a challenge!

Graham Ettridge said...

Hey Azzy !!! Merry Christmas to you too :)))) I look forward to hearing all about it! I will definitely consider sending some photos off to make a calendar. I'll let you know how I get on :) Merry Christmas once again :)))

Lorelai, how are you? Thanks for your nice words! I had loads of fun and am going back there this weekend, so more fun lays ahead!!! I hope you are having fun too :)

Graham Ettridge said...

Hey Muse :)
If you double click on any of the photos, it'll take you to my flickr account with my photo on. If you scroll down the page, on the right hand side you will see an option that says "more properties". If you slect this option, it will show you the settings that I used to take the photograph. I hope this helps. I still have to learn how to take proper night shots, as mine are coming out far to orange. The ISO setting I used was 200 - any more than that and it comes out quite grainy. Most of the shots on this post were taken with my small Canon Powershot.

Graham Ettridge said...

Elise :D

London is lovely (compared to Swindon...LOL!!!!). I just love the buzz and the atmosphere. I am glad you are proud to live in such an amazing City!!!! We are going back to London this weekend to the Royal Albert Hall for a Christmas Carols Concert... I can't wait!!!!

no more said...

i'm so temptd to upgrade my cannon a620 but then, they say it's not the camera it's the photographer that makes the pictures good. My ISO is 200 default, and the pics i took of my parents xmas lights came out grainy, so nexttime i try a nightshot i'm going to lower it and take multiple shots at different ISO's just out of curiosity to see the difference. In any case i need to reread all my photograph books on fstops and that mess, it's something i wish i had realy learned more about when i was younger

linda said...

Now seeing all these photos has made me SO excited about going! I must renew my passport. So much to do - March 20th is officially looming.

Yippeeeeee! London - museums, galleries, shops, parks, fairs, things and more things - just being there - cannot wait.

happy, happy and more happy!

Cocaine Princess said...

It's Cocaine Princess again,
I know I just left you a message but I forgot something. If you come across a FLAKE, eat one for me ok?
XOXOXOXO,
Cocaine Princess

Anonymous said...

You have great sets of pictures. The place is great. Thanks for sharing.

B said...

Hi Graham

your blog makes me want to travel but my mortgage won't let me :)

Happy Holidays

and Have a fantastic New Year!

B

London hotels said...

Hey Graham! what a great illumination of the London's top sites! but what about some hotel's Photos to recommend my upcoming trip staying place? I gonna book with LMT and need some advices :)

architectural renderings said...

Very nice pictures. What type of camera are you using to take them?

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Kind regards

Graham's Photobook....Through The Eyes Of A Dreamer

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