Week 11: Paddington Station, London

Details: Nikon D80 with Tokina 18-200 lens; ISO 800; 1/8 s, f/5.6 with -1.33 EV compensation (highlight control :-)

This was the week that I was really suffering from a lack of inspiration. Then I was asked to meet some clients for dinner in London and I figured that maybe there was a chance of making something from nothing. So I set myself a 30 minute challenge at Paddington station to try and capture some of the vitality that exists in a train station when the commuters are on their way home.

I was on one of the passenger bridges at the exit end of the station, looking towards the main passenger entrance, when I noticed this train starting to leave. Hand-held shot, balanced on the infrastructure of the bridge, and then post processed to open the shot out a bit.

Week 10: A Touch of Spring

My wife and I went for a walk in the nearby "Linear Park". A beautiful day with sunshine and a general air of Spring. While walking I happened to spy these daffodils and decided that they are a great proclaimer of the rebirth of the land.

The sad thing is that a major land developer is trying to install a whole new community not too far from Linear Park, which is likely to have an adverse effect on the park and its wildlife. Their first attempt to get planning application for the development approved was defeated but, with the drive for profit seeming so high, they are planning another application. Looks like there is more to come.

Weeks 8 & 9: India

I spent the last two weeks on a business trip to India and the experience was almost life changing. The sights and sounds of India – combined with the contradictions that make India what it is – threaten to overwhelm your senses and sensibility but instead seem to envelop you in some kind of exotic wrap.

I spent the first week in Noida, just outside of Delhi and got to spend Saturday itself in Delhi. This picture is from the Red Fort and attempts to contrast the old while looking through to the new. I tried to capture the spirit of Old Delhi, perhaps with a western sensibility. There is a definite “something” about Old Delhi that is at once timeless and “off the day”.

As I was there for two weeks I have also included a second picture, this time from Mumbai, the second city I visited. I did not manage to get out and about very much in Mumbai as I was attending and speaking at a conference. However, I did manage to get this shot of one of the many impromptu “shanty towns” that seem to appear almost anywhere. This one was on the beach that lay about 100 meters from the hotel where I staying, paying $300 per night while the folk who lived in this shanty town probably do not earn that in a month.

As to the traffic... well, that is another story, as told here.