FighterControl

My last visit to London was 4 days before it was announced in Parliament that a lockdown was imminent. 5 months later and with lockdown restrictions being lifted I thought it time to venture back so being Covid-19 safe, I had my face mask with hand sanitiser and antiseptic wipes packed, I got the train to London. It was strange being back as the silence was deafening from the lack of vehicles on the road and it felt weird that there were no tourists milling about, especially on a Saturday. London was deserted. Fortunately I could get people free photos I couldn’t get before. As I was just intending to have a look around with nothing specific to photograph, I was travelling light camera wise with my Sony DSC-RX100 M6 point & shoot which fits nicely in my shirt pocket.

Trains from Cambridge to London on a Saturday were half to three-quarters full pre-pandemic. There were 4 of us waiting on the platform and I’ve never had a carriage to myself before.


By 09.30 on a Saturday morning, this area of The Tower of London is usually crowded with tour parties, tourists and queues for tickets for the Tower.


Girl with a Dolphin Fountain(1973) by David Wynne with fountain turned off. A lot of water features I came across were turned off.


Selfie in the The Tooley Street Triangle, a new 'wayfinding beacon' outside London Bridge Station with the Shard in the background.


View of the dome of St Paul’s through the trees. The forecast was for sunshine all day but there was thunder as these dark clouds rolled over to the west. No rain fortunately.


View down a deserted Fleet Street and up Ludgate Hill to St Paul’s.


Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-RX100 M6 ~ 1-inch/20.1MP Exmor R™ CMOS back illuminated sensor/ Zeiss® Vario-Sonnar T* f2.8-4.5 - 9.0-72mm(24-200mm equivalent) lens

Brian

Great photos as always Brian. Great to have people-free shots but rather bizarre for a city like London even in post-lockdown times. Love the dark clouds setting for St Paul's.

That's Nighthawke+1, Brian

and me, great to see your Bimble again Brian

Interesting shots

Quaffed a few beers in the Cheshire Cheese on Fleet St over the years.

Execution Dock was near the shoreline at Wapping and was used for over 400 years to execute pirates, smugglers and mutineers. Captain William Kidd is probably the most famous pirate to meet his death there in 1701. His corpse was put into a gibbet, a metal framed cage, and was left hanging at Tilbury Docks for 3 years. With the last execution in 1830, the exact location of Execution Dock is not known today but it’s claimed to be in the area where two pubs stand, the Prospect of Whitby and the Town of Ramsgate with the latter being the most likely. Round the back of the Prospect of Whitby there is a gallows with a noose hanging from it commemorating the location of Execution Dock.











Sony E 16-55mm f/2.8 G APS-C Wide-angle Zoom Lens
Sony a6500/24.2MP E-mount APS-C Camera.

New one on me, Brian

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

Bimbling around London with a Tamron 28-200mm f2.8-5.6 Di III RXD zoom lens.

Reviews of the new Tamron 28-200mm f2.8-5.6 Di III RXD lens for Sony E-mount full frame cameras describe it as lightweight weight, compact, convenient for travel photography, an all-in-one lens for day-to-day photography so I attached it to the front of my 24MP, or 41MP with uncompressed RAW, Sony ILCE-7M2 full frame camera and went for a bimble around London to see how it handled. First week day visit since lock-down started in March and Liverpool Street Station and the City was quite busy with office workers and contractors scurrying about but nowhere near as busy as it would have been pre-covid. The further out of the City I got the quieter it became, people wise. In the order taken.

01. HMS Tamar/P233 a River-class offshore patrol vessel of the Royal Navy tied up next to HMS Belfast. Due to leave Tuesday 15Sep20 at 14.15.


02. Early morning sunlight reflecting off the facade of London Bridge Hospital and the Art Deco facade of Hays Wharf, built on the site of St Olave’s church which was mentioned in the Doomsday Book, and now part of London Bridge Hospital.


03. Inscription on top of the Tower Hill Memorial dedicated to the Mercantile Marine casualties from WWI and WWII with the tower of the former Port of London Authority building in the background.


04. Tower of London reflected in the glass curtain wall of Tower Bridge House, St Katharine’s Way.


05. A view from the pedestrian steps up to Tower Bridge that usually has a queue of tourists at the weekends trying to get a people free shot.


06. A brick red feral pigeon sunbathing on a cast iron support of Tower Bridge.


07. The Shard, taken along More London Riverside walk, reflected in 1 More London.


08. The Shipwrights Arms, a Grade II listed public house, outside London Bridge Station is reflected in one of the water features at More London.


09. St Olave was an 11th Century Norwegian King and ally of English King Æthelred the Unready


10. A nearly people free shot taken low down along the Millenium pedestrian foot bridge with the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral behind.


11. A third quarter moon setting over the top of One Blackfriars, a residential tower block next to Blackfriars Bridge.


12. A feral pigeon having a bad feather day.


13. Bet you can't get this Uber to pick you up from home.


14. Tourist shot from The Queen’s Walk of Westminster Bridge and the Palace of Westminster a.k.a. The Houses of Parliament.


15. Another feral pigeon this time in St James's Park.


16. Great White Pelicans have been resident in London since they were first introduced as a gift from the Russian Ambassador in 1664.


17. Great White Pelicans have been resident in London since they were first introduced as a gift from the Russian Ambassador in 1664.


18. Great White Pelicans have been resident in London since they were first introduced as a gift from the Russian Ambassador in 1664.


19. Some of the smaller wildlife to be found in St James's Park.


20. Some of the smaller wildlife to be found in St James's Park.


21. Some of the smaller wildlife to be found in St James's Park.


22. The lunatics outside the asylum.


23. A mounted trooper of the Blues and Royals on duty at Horse Guards.


24. A horse from The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment at Horse Guards.


Sony ILCE-7M2/Tamron E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 zoom lens.
Brian

Hi Brian

Well worth the early start there

That Shard shot has shades of Sagradia in it

Cheers

Paddyboy

11 is stunning Brian, I'm quite partial to architectural photography.

I used to be an Architectural Technician and still have a soft spot for buildings but they are not to everyone's taste.

Brian

An Early Nightshoot.

I usually wait until the clocks change in October and it gets dark earlier before venturing out at night with a camera but I was on my way back to the hotel, trying to beat a rain front bearing down from the north, and the opportunity was there.

01 View from the South Bank of Westminster Bridge and the Palace of Westminster behind which is undergoing a £5bn refurbishment.


02 Souvenir stall on the northside of Westminster Bridge.


03 The South Bank from Waterloo Bridge.


04 The illuminated clock face at the top of No. 80 Strand, better known as Shell Mex House which opened in 1932 as the London headquarters of Shell-Mex and BP, with Savoy Hill House to the right.


05 The clock face on the Shell Mex building is the biggest clock face in the UK.


06 Entrance to the Savoy Hotel and the Savoy Theatre to the right, which were closed when I took this photo with the hotel due to open again on the 24th September.


07 Due to the lack of tourists, the fountains in Trafalgar Square and their lights are turned off when it gets dark.


08 The Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square has a new sculpture called ‘THE END’ a giant swirl of whipped cream, a cherry, a fly and a drone that transmits a live feed of Trafalgar Square.


09 Bugs Bunny still in Leicester Square.


10 The exterior of the Paul Hamlyn Hall, an atrium and public meeting area for the Royal Opera House next door. The metal frame dates from 1860 and was known as the Floral Hall when it was in Covent Garden and used to house a flower market.


Sony E 16-55mm f/2.8 G APS-C Wide-angle Zoom Lens + Sony a6500/24.2MP E-mount APS-C Camera.

Brian

Pre-Post Lockdown London Bimble~ Friday 16th October 2020.

With London about to go into Covid-19/Tier 2 lockdown on Saturday 17th October, I thought I’d better get a stockpile of photos to work on over the winter months before the next total lock down comes along. Up Friday morning at stupid o’clock to get the 05.35 bus out of St Ives to catch the 06.39 train from Cambridge to London and was in King’s Cross for 07.35. Normally at that time King’s Cross is packed with commuters going to work but the place was deserted. Same in the afternoon with people heading north for the weekend but again deserted as is the rest of London.

01 In the words of a well known Bing Crosby song, ‘Christmas Is A-Comin’. Once again Regent’s Street is going with the Flying Angels.


02 Harry Potter has now joined the ranks of film and TV characters dotted around Leicester Square. Mr Bean and Paddington are also visible.


03 Looking very similar but not quite, you could almost do a double take thinking this was the door to 10 Downing Street. In fact it’s the door to 10 Adam Street, which is just off the strand, and the only thing the two have in common is that they were both built around the time in the late 1700’s using the same design patterns and materials.


04 Just south of Lincoln’s Inn Fields on Portsmouth Street is the Old Curiosity Shop which dates back to 1567 and having survived the Great Fire of London in 1666, is believed to be the oldest surviving shop in London. As he lived in the area, It is thought to be the inspiration for the Charles Dickens book ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ published in 1841. Must go back for a decent shot when the contractors street furniture is removed.


05 ‘The World Turned Upside Down’ is an art installation by Mark Wallinger in the London School of Economics campus.


06 Not much call for cattle troughs in central London but the Smithfield Meat Market is just the other side of the trees. This granite double cattle trough has a human drinking fountain at one end was erected in May 1881 and is classed as a Heritage Category Grade II listed building.


07 On the exterior wall of St Bartholomew's Hospital, facing Smithfield Market, is a memorial to Sir William Wallace (a.k.a. Mel Gibson) who was put to death near that spot on the 23rd August 1305.


08 The sun was shining and there is a nice seating area opposite the Costa Coffee shop on Tower HillI so I decided to have lunch, cheese with Branston pickle on 50/50 bread, with my Cappuccino and no sooner had I unwrapped the cling film when I was joined by three pigeons. Within minutes the place was crawling with pigeons and seagulls. Must miss the tidbits from the tourists.


09 Wedding photo shoot on Tower Bridge.


10 HMS Belfast, still closed to visitors.


11 ‘Park Your Backside’ at Bankside.


12 New mural under Blackfriars Railway Bridge on the Thames Path. Must go back when the sun isn’t shining and casting shadows like a night shoot.


13 Where Is Everybody ~ 1
Normally at lunchtime, this area of More London is packed with tourists and office workers having lunch.


14 Where Is Everybody ~ 2
A deserted Millennium Time Citycruise riverliner, delivered in 1999, about to pass under Blackfriars Railway Bridge.


15 Where Is Everybody ~ 3
A deserted Blackfriars Underground Tube station.


Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-RX100 M3 ~ 1-inch/20.1MP Exmor R™ CMOS back illuminated sensor/ Zeiss® Vario-Sonnar T* f1.8-2.8 - 8.8-25.7mm(24-70mm equivalent) lens