Tower Bridge

Whilst in town working on my new project, I was also able to spend a bit of time on one of my old ones. So here are a few more shots of Tower bridge by night to add to the collection.

Elephant Parade - London

Currently in London there is a huge public art exibition, called the Elephant Parade. 258 model elephants have been individually designed and painted by artists, designers and celebrities and spread across the capital. The aim is to raise funds and awareness for the endangered Asian elephant. The elephants are proving to be hugely popular with Londerners and tourists, and quite a few photographers seem to be doing projects based around them.

Having come across them by accident last weekend whilst in town for my birthday, I have decided to do my own elephant mini project. In my case I have decided to shoot all the images using my 10-20mm ultra wide angle lens. The aim is not just to show the beautiful elephant statues, but also the context of their settings. Besides, I have a new toy and want to play with it. This is a very limited time project. On 23 June all of the elephants will be moved from their current locations to the Chelsea Royal Hospital for a grand viewing prior to their auction on 3 July.

Those Magificent Men In Their Flying Machines

Finally, here are some flight shots from the recent club outing to Shuttleworth. The selection phase was even more extended than usual, as I had to sort through hundreds of images taken during the flying. None of these would have been possible without Ann, who not only lent me a lens for the afternoon, she even lent me a CF card, after I had filled mine.

Bird Of Prey Portraits

First few pictures from a club out last weekend to shoot birds of prey and vintage aircraft at Shuttleworth. I thought I would start with the most straightforward ones. Some portraits taken in the bird of prey centre. I decided to avoid the tethers by concentrating on head shots.

Bluebells

Okay, it is about time I posted some Bluebell pictures. Despite their late showing this year, events conspired against me and I only had time for two visits to shoot them. First to Pryor's Wood and then to my favourite Bluebell wood, Dockey Wood on the Ashridge Estate.

For my visit to Ashridge I was able to use my new toy, a Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 lens.

Skye - 6 days

Not counting the travelling days, I was on Skye for 6 days. I thought I would sum up the 6 days in 6 photos.

Day 1 - A trip to the top of the Cuillin outlier, Blà Bheinn, gave spectacular views of the ridge.

Day 2 - A climb to the summit of Bruach na Frithe gave a first taste of the Cuillin ridge. The image below is of the considerably more challenging Sgurr nan Gillean.

Day 3 - The only bad weather day, but we still managed a quick visit to the the Trotternish Ridge. The rock formations along the Trotternish are interesting photographic subjects, even on a wet day.

Day 4 - The image below sums up the hell that is the Great Stone Chute. 400 metres of precariously balanced rocks, leading to the top of Sgurr Alasdair. This day destroyed my boots and saw me diving for cover from suitcase sized bouncing rocks on two occasions.

Day 5 - Sgurr Dearg and a traverse along a section of the Cuillin Ridge in glorious weather.

Day 6 - A gentle walk along the Trotternish Ridge. Despite all the hard scrambling that the week had seen, one of our group still had plenty of energy.

Skye - Black Cuillin Ridge

Last week I spent a really enjoyable time walking and scrambling on Skye. The weather was great and naturally I took a lot of photos, although not as many as would have liked. There were just too many sights and not enough time (or energy after all the hard walking).

Below is a a view of the Black Cuillen ridge from Bla Bheinn. It is a panoramic stitch, consisting of 14 portrait shots, joined using Autostitch.