A wide angle lens is a wonderful thing.

A clear bright blue sky, some scraggy trees next to the cycle path.  Nothing to look at, nothing to see.

There’s always something interesting there if you look at it the right way.

There’s not much I could add to the article in this link..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/mar/20/trayvon-martin-fatal-history-american-racism?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

A kid going down to the shops gets shot, because he is black.

Words fail me.

I’d like to hope that his death in some way will move society forward, but being realistic, I doubt it.

My challenge was to get a view of the Palace that was a bit out of the ordinary, and if I’d have approached it head on, from St James Park or the Mall I think I would have struggled.  You see that familiar profile, and it’s so hard then to come up with an original view.  I walked towards the Palace from Bond Street, then past the Ritz, and across Green Park.  This way, my first view of the Palace was side on, through a tangle of leafless winter trees.

I was attracted to the view through the gates of Green Park.  Painted a gloss black, with gold trim and bright gold statuettes on top, I tried a number of angles, framing the Palace with the gates, and I’m convinced there’s a great image in there somewhere.  I didn’t find though.  Not until I decided to change tack and get in close.  I focused on the Palace and made sure the ironwork of the gates was out of focus.  I finally got the shot I was looking for, and this is my favourite of this series. it has the Palace, its busy London context, and those gates all in one off-beat view.

I’m always amazed by how much land there is behind the palace.  If you’re ever in London, with time to kill, try walking all the way round, it’s quite a distance.  Crossing the road from Green Park to the Palace I paused for a moment and took a shot looking up Constitution Hill.  There’s no funny perspectives going on here, that’s the Wellington Arch in the distance, at Hyde Park corner, roughly the end of the gardens.

In front of the Palace now, and an excellent example of how to distract a Policeman.  All you need is a handful of teenage girls.  It seems to work quite well.  This guy must spend all day having his photo taken, perhaps I got a slightly different view to the norm.

Finally, a view through the railings.  Now maybe Her Maj was dancing around naked in full view, f so I missed it.  You’d think something really interesting was occurring given the row of people taking photos through the railings.  I thought that this shot captured the tourist circus that surrounds Buckingham Palace.

I like the atmosphere outside the Palace, there’s nothing much to see unless the changing of the guard is happening, you can’t go in, there’s no souvenir shops I can think of in at least a quarter of a mile.  All there is to do is to stand and look, soak up the remnant aura of all the throngs who’ve stood here in the past, at both royal and national events.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m no royalist, far from it, but I like the place, it’s got character, history and though tourist hotspot it maybe, it retains it’s dignity.  How rare these days that we have to use our imaginations – no multi media presentations, just pause a while and take it all in.

and she thought he was the ticket

just a sensitive kid he was

and she to he was perfection

she’d had her problems

underneath she was just lonely

his folks had left him at sixteen

a retirement cemetery in Devon

I never thought they’d make it

too much baggage going on

but she was so good for him

and the he, she thought he was, was all for her

her ex was a dealer

the big guy with the bigger friends

weed speed LSD and whatever

a reputation to keep

and his ex wasn’t part of the image

I never knew what was said

by who to who about what

he didn’t talk about it

just seemed to get on the weed

later came the speed

seems they drifted apart

I didn’t see her for ages

his new flame was in smoke

and this time it was for ever

last time I saw him he was laughing tripped on LSD the next one was bad and lasted for days

we all lost him from the image

This is dedicated to a guy who was a good friend.  The story is true.

Dead End Street

well the rain’s coming down

another night on the town

and I’m thinking of you

but I know where you are

so the beer’s looking good

and I’m having my fun?

but I know you won’t see me

’cause I’m nothing to you

well the juke box is playing

some american song

and the gutters are draining

making mud of the lawn

there’s a fight brewing

but I’m not involved

I think it’s all over

a particular word

well I keep on with my drinking

but you don’t go away

I’m turning to whiskey

my gut’s full for the day

and I’m feeling so empty

when your friend she walks in

I say how ya doing

she asks where I’ve been

well I’m out on the town

just looking for you

and I know you won’t see me

but what else do I do

you’ve got into my heart

and I can’t let it go

don’t tell me I’m nowhere

’cause I already know

crowds

waiting

pushing

bored

news

gossip

fiction

adverts

indie

grunge

garage

easy listening

hurry

rush

slow

lazy

the day ahead

the night before

weekend to come

fantasy

late

organised

worried

who cares

self obsessed

voyeur

goal driven

what’s it all for?

Greenwich Foot Tunnel was completed in 1902, and runs from Isle of Dogs on the North bank of the Thames to Greenwich on the South bank.

It’s 1200 feet long and only 50 feet deep – which doesn’t sound deep enough to me, you’d almost expect to see fish in there at that depth.  The length of the tunnel is covered in white tiles, apart from a short stretch at the north end which is encased in steel as a repair to bomb damage in the Second World War.  The tunnel is a Right of Way, so it officially has to be open at all times, and there is no charge for using it, so at any time day or night, you can walk underneath the Thames.

Personally I wouldn’t go down there at night, but that’s just me, I haven’t seen any reports of anything nasty going on down there, but a night time trip down there doesn’t sound sensible – especially being as it is underground, so looks exactly the same in broad daylight!  Don’t be scared of a trip down there during the day though, there’s nothing scary, there’s a steady stream of people walking though, it seems a popular route for cyclists who were all dutifully obeying the request to walk with their bikes.

The tunnel joins two spots that have excellent views, the view from both sides to Canary Wharf is pretty spectacular, while from the North side there are good views across the river to the former Greenwich Hospital and Maritime Museum.

If you’re interested in a different view of London, I’d thoroughly recommend it.

London Pigeon

ok so my feet ain’t clean

they’re covered in oily muck

but I don’t reckon that the fault of my kind

it’s you humans who create that slush

I’m just clearing up your mess

picking your left overs clean

sandwich bits and discarded crap

it’s you not me that’s obscene

look at my sheen

look at my bright keen eye

see my feathers preened so neat

you got the cheek to call me

rat of the sky

well then you’re the rat of the street

I was born to the cliffs

where the sea waves crash

and a ledge of rock was my home

now I live with you lot

tidying up your mess

and all you can do is moan

you can say what you like

I know I’m cool

I know where my life is at

I’m a beautiful bird

a king of the air

don’t you call me sky rat

Not my first post about a pigeon, and it won’t be the last.  These birds are closely related to the rock dove, if you ever see one, you’ll see the similarity.  Rock Doves live on wild sea cliffs, and look to be the least likely birds to colonise major cities all over the world.  I love animals that are adaptable, it doesn’t matter to them how much we mess up their habitat, they won’t be beaten, they even thrive on it.

The average pigeon is quite capable of flying at 50 mph, if you see one alongside you while you are driving, it’s incredible to see just how easy they make this look.

Some people hate them, they call them sky rats, yet like rats, if we didn’t leave so much food lying around, we wouldn’t see them, they’d stick to their natural home.

As you’ve probably gathered, I think they’re great, and look at the colours in those feathers, that is beautiful, we should be grateful that such a colourful resourceful creature has decided to spend its life with us.

and she's buying a ladder to hell

look across the bridge

to the train

to the wheel

through the steel

and the rain

and the cross beam rivets

blue cold feel

grey sky wires

graffiti covered spars

where the wild ones deal

and the bad ones dwell

and paint their tags

while tourists take snaps

and the tag on the rail

lets you know too well

you’re climbing the ladder

to hell

Tagged: Graffiti, Hungerford Bridge, Ladder to Hell, London Eye, Photography, Poetry ]]> http://photolancaster.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/the-ladder-to-hell/feed/ 0 54.049586 -2.798432 54.049586 -2.798432 malcolmjay Hungerford Bridge Graffiti and London Eye http://photolancaster.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/office-lights-blue-haiku/ http://photolancaster.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/office-lights-blue-haiku/#comments Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:10 +0000 Malcolm Newell http://photolancaster.wordpress.com/?p=2753 ]]>

Office Lights Blur

colours blur time speeds past

searching many new days to see

we miss days of now

Taken from the train out of Euston, somewhere near Wembley.  I don’t know what this building is, or even where it is, how much do we miss by rushing on to the next thing, and not experiencing now.  That Zen kind of way of looking at the world, seemed to me to deserve a haiku.