adetorrent; photography, lifestyle.

Sunset was fast approaching on the day and it was getting seriously cold.  As I turned to head off home for the day I was confronted with this view. It's King George the IV riding into the sunset, apparently being led by Lord Nelson, and, er, a pigeon. "Holly...." I thought to myself, what must the parliament building and its clock tower (also incorrectly known as ' Big Ben ') look like against the setting sun? So I aborted my departure and literally ran through Charring Cross and unto the Golden Jubilee Bridge and across the Thames so as not to miss the magical sunset. Yes I did stop to take some snaps on the bridge itself.  Who doesn't?  The light was getting more incredible by the minute.  Then I noticed I only had less than 5 shots left in my Olympus 35 RD, and I had to make them count.  The gulls, as if they knew of my limited number of shots, danced around in the air temptingly, but I resisted :)  Well, ok, so I took at least one shot...

So what's the big deal with ' golden hour ' ?  And why do photographers seem always to be chasing it? Well, I was reminded of why in Trafalgar Square that sunny winter's day.   Below is the same subject [coincidentally called the ' Golden Cross Hose']  taken about 5 seconds earlier when the golden rays of the sun were momentarily blocked by a cloud.

Again, mesmerising winter trees, silhouetted against that clear blue winter day sky.

Golden hour hit and everything suddenly became radiant.  That signature London red became even more so as the temperature descended along with the altitude of the sun. And boy, do you notice the low temperature when using a metallic camera such as the Olympus 35 RD!  I'm not one to wear gloves, and I was paying for it dearly. My fingers were threatening to shut down completely if I carried on shooting, so I put the camera away and the hands in the pockets.. for a short while.

This guy had found the perfect scam.  I envied him slightly.  Right in the middle of Trafalgar Square he had drawn the flags of most countries in the world.  Tourists were to drop money on the flag of the country from which they come.  There was a text ' Which country is the most generous ?' cleverly scribbled at the top of the flags, so obviously it quickly developed into a competition of sorts. France was generous enough, expectedly, there are many French tourists here being our closest neighbour, but I believe it was between Poland and Ireland for the top spot.  Again, obviously :) This kind of thing is only possible in London.  Maybe New York or Paris. Between Slovakia and Slovenia "Yorkshire" was upgraded to country status, including two heart signs. Clearly Yorkshire holds a special place in the artist's heart, and I'm quite sure some people in England would agree with his notion that Yorkshire is a country onto herself :) what say ...

'Twas a sunny winter's afternoon in Trafalgar Square, London, and I had my faithful, if at times capricious, Olympus 35 RD . The sun was playing very beautiful games with the old structures and leafless trees.  The rigid and predictable architectural structures juxtaposed to the infinitely random fractal nature of the winter trees just left me breathless.  A musical metaphor I suppose would be a Sergei Rachmaninoff +  Dizzy Gillespie duet.