Saturday 26 March 2016

Boys, triangles, a tiger, bunnies and an escaped dragon!

The Easter London Street Photography Meetup involved us running around the South Bank hunting not eggs, but compositional elements. We had five to capture: symmetry, rule of thirds, frame within a frame, leading lines and triangles.

Laaaaaaraaaaaaa and I were lurking next to a staircase hoping someone would materialise, but to no avail. We were pondering whether for these challenges we should hire a small child. Of course one of us could bring their own little boy to Meetups. But as he isn't born yet I guess it'll be a whole before he can run into our shot.

I shift to a gap under the stairs to see if I can get a nice frame of people walking past. But to my amazement a small child runs at me at the perfect moment. After wishing for such an occurrence, I'm so surprised I nearly drop my camera. Luckily, I don't and as ever I'm grateful I have my camera safety slung around me.

The last challenge is the tricky (and much feared) concept of three main points of focus in the photo that link and fill the frame. Perhaps three people (or groups of people) at different heights, or three trees framing the scene. If only it was finding a big triangular shape (which is another useful composition technique), think giant Toblerone or pyramid. Sadly we were going for the more oblique version (mathematics pun there!) My photos sometimes follow the rules, many break the rule.

But we had a plenty of fun hunting, plus there was chocolate, rather a lot of bunnies, a possible tiger and an escaped dragon!

 

Saturday 19 March 2016

Windows, walls and wary traders!

We're back on the streets and at a street market for the latest foray for London Street Photography Meetup. We were shooting in Dalston, shooting with cameras, just in case there's any confusion. I think the market traders felt we might be checking their work status or something because they were a tiny bit hostile!

On the streets we were trying to work with windows, graffiti, wall art and perhaps passengers in a bus. The latter works better if the bus is pulling away from the bus stop rather than arriving at, top tip!

Saturday 12 March 2016

Man, architecture and bubbles

Another fine London Street Photography Meetup, the theme was back to Man vs. Architecture but this time in and around the Tate Modern. Our warm-up exercise was "a story in shadows". Sadly, the brief burst of sunshine we experienced meant more of a incomplete sentence, rather than a story.

However on entering the dramatic building we had better luck finding dramatic lines, textures, shady nooks and preferably lone people in them. Though it seems humans generally seem to prefer enjoying art in packs.

I also snuck in a photo of the lovely Laaaaaaraaaaaaa!

Outside I was rather hypnotised by the bubble blower on the South Bank. Today was no exception as most of my street photography is generally realised in monochrome, but I couldn't resist this splash of colour for this ginormous vibrant bubble.

I do really enjoy this theme, especially when you manage to find a lone figure or two in an optimum spot. I love the clean lines, the monochrome, the silhouettes!

Saturday 5 March 2016

An Angel angel!

Another awfully chilly London Street Photography Meetup, stalking angels, or more appropriately stalking in Angel. We were stalking lone humans in a world of their own, and occasionally engaging with other humans. Polly and my favourite was a lovely woman sporting excellent hair and an enviable cape. When we exclaimed our admiration she came over to hug us and I fired off a couple of sneaky shots from the hip.

The extreme chilliness 'forced' me to venture into some of the vintage stores and purchase a cosy new old scarf, well that's my excuse anyway.