From dull to bright

There is always lots happening at London's South Bank and well worth a visit ... even on a dull day like today!

I took the tube to Waterloo and walked towards the river (Thames) - One can't but help immediately see The London Eye. At a second glance, however, it looked a bit odd today ... hey, one of the capsules was missing ... I wonder how much that cost the company in revenue?!

The main cultural attractions of the South Bank are The Queen Elizabeth Hall, The Royal Festival Hall, The Hayward Gallery and The BFI as they offer a variety of cultural events.

One may be forgiven for not liking the modern architecture of these building but they are bang opposite Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament which means a great view is virtually guaranteed.

I walked around concrete jungle for a while ... admittedly there are some interesting angles from which to get some unusual shots but that grey sky acting as a dull backdrop for these grey buildings just put a creative dampener on it for me.

But as I came round a corner, close to the BFI I saw a young man practicing some free run moves. I immediately got a bit excited and and moved my camera up to my eye to. Fortunately I had my Canon 135mm f2.0L lens on and could get a tight enough image without disturbing the athlete.

I guess it's in my blood and I just love capturing action. This guy was pretty impressive! He must have been there for a while cause after performing three immaculate somersaults ( which I all got!) over a set of stairs he took his bag and moved on.

With those shots on the bag I moved on too.

I wanted more action and got it immediately. Below the Hayward Gallery there is an area for skate boarders and BMX riders.

This time I needed to switch lenses and reverted to my Canon 50mm f.1.4. Good choice as I got all of the action as well as the wonderfully colourful background.

Nothing like finishing on a high note!

Breaking the rule

It's been chucking it down relentlessly all afternoon.

I could even go as far as to say that it really was an unpleasant day to be roaming the streets of London. Still, I could no longer delay my mission to getting out the house in search of my shot of day.

Armed with a huge umbrella I ventured out. I decided to keep my equipment simple and used the 50mm f1.4 lens. Generally one refers to the 50mm lens as being the one that is closest to our normal radius of vision. It's small in size, handles very easily and although I always refer to the 70mm-200mm zoom lens as being my favourite lens, I really like the 50mm lens a lot! It takes me back to my first ever shots taken with an SLR camera. When I started to photograph, cameras were usually sold with a 50mm lens as a customary package. I had to buy this one separately though and I went for one with an opening of f1.4 as it is more light sensitive than the cheaper f1.8 version. Canon also make a f1.0L UMS version which is amazingly bright and the fastest interchangeable SLR lens! Needless to say, it is beautiful and cost the earth!

But I am happy with the one I've got! Grateful that I wasn't carrying my customary heavy equipment I made a dash down my road, across the main road and straight into to nearest shop which happens to be my local stationary shop. The two brothers who own "Miss U" are great! The shop is tiny but has everything you can think of and more! While fighting to close my umbrella I take a shot of Ilesh behind the counter - he smiles and wants me to give him my camera!

"I like cameras! I'm always the one who takes all the family photos."

"Great!"

Telling him about my blog and that his shot may very be the one for today provoked another big smile!

Little did I know at that time that as I stepped out of the shop again struggling with the wretched umbrella I instinctively pointed my camera first across the road to take a shot ... and then again out of the hip to take a guy running towards me...

What can I say? I like all 3 shots! They were all taken in the span of 5 minutes, if that, and really communicate the mood of the day.

Do I really have to make a choice and only publish one image or can I break my self inflicted rule?

I tell you what, I'm going to go for two!

You simply need to meet Ilesh and you also need to see that I wasn't telling fibs!