Another weekend. Another adventure.

[TomMote]

Me again. Thought I would share some of the pictures I managed to take this weekend in London.

Playing around with some close ups in a jewellery shop whilst concerned the shop staff might have issues? Do you ask to take pictures, be sly and hope no one notices, or do you find no one actually cares?! Certainly could have refined the image if I had taken more time.

We walked from Oxford Street, through Soho and Chinatown, to Covent Garden and then down to Embankment. Took quite a few photos though often rushed due to the busy streets, happy with this one of the street sign in Soho Square.

We stopped off at a Filipino store called Mama Sons. They specialise in Filipino ice cream and desserts, this is a milo doughnut, they also come in ube, queso (cheese), and lecheflan flavour, highly recommend!

This is my partner Jaz. She got hungry so we stopped off in Covent Garden so she could get a pork bun shaped like a paw. I tried to take some pictures of the ceiling why we waited.


Making our way through Covent Garden we stopped to listen to this wonderful Italian singer and once again I am admiring ceilings.

Almost down to the Strand (I really wanted to go to the London Camera Exchange) we stopped once more so I could take some more pictures, sadly got the lighting a little wrong on this dog…


So we actually went to London to go to the Hyper Japan festival near Battersea. We got the boat from Embankment, I then got a few more photos before getting to the festival. Then we had to queue for about an hour.

The queuing was worth it as the festival was awesome. Here are a few shots whilst I was there. I particularly find the out of focus magikarp photo quite humerous, considering I clearly tried but failed to get a good photo, sums up my currently journey into photography, I am trying my best!

A couple more pictures as we made our way home. Tried the photo of the church tower again and much happier with the results this time!

Lastly no post from me would be completely without some photos of my cat Loki.

[blackfox]

Interesting set of pics ,good variety to ..nicely presented

[Ian]

Agreed! He's doing well - reminds me of when I started.

[Phill D]

I think these are great. Nice little story too. Looks like you enjoyed yourself.

[Ian]

And enjoying photography is one of the fundamentals, of course.

[TomMote]

What I have found is carrying a camera around and looking for a photograph makes me appreciate my surrounding so much more. Rather than looking down staring at my phone and bumping into people, I am looking up and around taking in where I am, and still bumping into people.

[Ian]

These are really good for (apologies! ) a self-confessed beginner. You are doing exactly what you need to do, getting out and about and exploring what you can do with your new camera. There are some very attractive shots in there. And you have the motivation to photograph people (and if they are strangers, you have more bravery than many!).

Keep it up! 👍

Ian

[TomMote]

The confidence to photograph others is certainly still something I struggle with. Missed out on so many good photographs at the festival because I didn't want to be seen taking someone's photo or have it even look like I was taking there photo in the cases I was trying to capture something near or behind them!

Though I know that most of this is my own mental barrier. I went to another event dressed up and loved it when people wanted to take photos of me or with me and so I am sure most people would be like that if I asked!

[wanderer]

Keep 'em coming.
Its great your shooting everything (so to speak).

You mention in your first picture about asking for permission to photograph in a shop (or the likes).
Do ask, as it is their place/shop, etc.
A bit about what you would like to do and why is always helpful.
And say you are learning and prefer a'real' camera to a mobile phone.
Yes, you will get refusals but more often than not they will say yes.

Loki could go into the current competition!

[Ian]

In the UK, the law says that if you are on public land, you can photograph what you like. But photographers should show some respect to others, where possible. If you are on private land, the technical law is more complicated and it's definitely advisable to seek permission to take photos at all. Mostly, as long as you make it clear your photography is for non-commercial use, you will be OK, but not universally. Sometimes you might think you are on public land, but I was politely reminded, when taking photos on a pedestrianised area of a town centre, that the land was privately owned.

[TomMote]

Yeah I think I just need to get the confidence to ask for sure. Always have that niggle that they might think I am trying to take photos to copy their work not just have a pretty image.

Certainly am trying to take images of everything and anything, mainly to practice with different focal lengths and apertures to see what I really need/use.