I was back on the South Bank on Friday after a day down in Brighton.  Well I say a 'day' it was no more than an hour to trade up my Canon 350D for a Canon 40D with minimal payment thanks to also trading in my lens.

Am LOVING the new camera,  it feels more me and I already feel more confident taking snaps.  Just a bit meatier and snappier.

There is an Eat cafe right along the river which I love going to,  it's one of the only places in the world I can feel comfortable sitting in,  doing nothing,  without feeling like I have to get the hell out.  And surrounded by so much art and design around the South Bank you can't help but feel inspired.  Be it from the Tate Modern,  or the busker out under the bridge.

So as I waited for friends to finish work and join me for a drunken night out I sat,  and people watched. 

And loved it actually,  I was so tired from the whistlestop tour on Brighton that I didn't care if people minded my camera resting on the table,   I watched hundreds of people come and go.  Families,  office workers,  artists (well a painter & decorator) and wondered what they had been up to,  where they had travelled to,  where they were going,  where they had been.

It was a bizarrely deep moment where I sat and thought and occasionally tried a sneaky snap. I guess for want of a better solution to kill 2 hours letting your mind wander isn't the worst thing...

These are by no means good snaps - but I like them - they captured the moment of fleeting people breezing in and out of the frame,  my frame,  my view...  As quick as they arrived they were gone again...

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I sat outside near the river for the final 20 minutes of my wait for the masses to finish slogging and saw a man standing near the river.  I snapped him as he seemed out of place,  on edge,  and not really comfortable standing where he was.

I tried to work out what was wrong as he furiously sucked on a cigarette and he was approached by two police officers and taken away.

I don't know what he was being taken in for,  it was probably nothing,  it might of been something.  But whatever it was he didn't look like he wanted to be there.  As I walked back to the front I overheard two South Bank security guards discussing him and heard them say he'd been caught stealing in one of the shops.  Why he was hanging around then I have no idea!

Suspect

Finally,  wipeout...

Wipeout

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After cutting my first grass ever (it's a lot harder then I thought in 100 degree heat) our back garden now resembles Wembley (an area of grass cut by amateurs with patches and divets and clearly not fit for purpose)

But where I failed in my smooth astro-turf aspirations for the grass my girlfriend has decided to brighten it up with some flowers.

And I decided to make my self useful and try and snap them!

Pinky Flower

Oooo yellooow...

Girlfriends Green Fingers

I like this one the most as it has been battered by a mental wasp.  I like it's imperfections more than anything.

Wasp Battered Pinky Flower

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I love the South Bank at London,  so armed with nerves and my camera I went out and about on my day off in the sunshine a week or two back and decided to snap away.

I had mixed results I have to admit but my confidence definately grew as I went on,  am starting to just snap and move,  snap and move.  Like a photography John Barnes jinking away from any awkward questions about why I am so concerned with photography a skateboarder!

And here is said boarder...  Nice fella too I think secretly he loved the attention of getting snapped,  I got quite a few of him with his board half a mile away having slipped over which he asked me not to publish (erm - if only he'd of seen the results)

Boarder

Underneath the skateboarding area I found this strange plug contraption - took a few shots but this is my favourite,  strangely in colour (albeit muted) but it's just a weird looking thing!

Plugs

As I walked back along sweating in the sunshine I saw a busker underneath Hungerford Bridge,  not an unfamiliar sight but the sight of him playing (and making a great sound) from tins and plastic buckets turned upside down caused quite a stir.  So much so the police were also watching him - I didn't see whether this was in awe or whether he was being moved on - I'd like to think the former..

Hear The Drummer Get Wicked...

Hear The Drummer Get Wicked...again!

And it's not a South Back stroll without a familiar London Eye shot or a sunshine signage shot...!

Sunshine Sign

Eye Eye...

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Went to Brighton for a few days and left my camera in on the day it was blistering,  and took it out on the day it was windy and raining.

Just my luck.

By my standards am quite pleased with how a few of the shots came out.  Am relying too much on the black and white function recently,  I need to work out how to take the kind of rich colour shots I want to.

There was the obligatory pier/tourist shots...

This was just before another downpour and when the sun inexplicably came out!  Was looking around for a rainbow but it never appeared.  I do like the way the light is breaking through,  it's a nice shot but maybe in the hands of someone more experienced it could of been brilliant.

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Another shot I quite liked,  captured the whole of the pier and I think the black and white added to the eeriness of it.  Sad to see it slowly withering away.  I had to snap it,  despite it being possibly the most photographed object in Brighton!

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The famous pier,  again the weather was turning so it was better in monochrome.  24 hours earlier would of seen a much more vibrant shot but given the throngs of people around then I probably wouldn't of been able to snap it through fear of getting bumped off the edge or the camera being swiped by some chav sun slag.

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2. Boat

3. BoatBird

And then I went for the REALLY tourist postcard-esque images.  Can't get much more seasidey or Brighton then these!  The ice-cream shot,  this was quickly taken before my girlfriend ate it,  I didn't snap an unsuspecting passer-by fear not - that would of been just weird...

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Here's a shot most won't of seen....! (ahem) Probably not suited to the monochrome approach but looked very dull in colour.  Again a problem of the day mixed with my piss-poor ability to take vibrant shots

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A couple of the carousel on the beach,  quite like the framing of the seagull on top of it.  Added a tint of blue to both images,  just a bit of trial and error and something away from the orange/gold monochrome style.

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Then the rain came,  tried to get a couple of snaps of people on the beach with umbrellas - eerie kind of shot of being near a place most go to for sunshine while cowering from the rain.  Just looks like people with umbrella's really!  Not the kind of atmospheric images I was looking for...

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Few other shots from the weekend....

A local game of basketball,  the sun was just coming back out and it was getting very heated.  Shame the snaps can't replicate the trash talk that was going on.  Very 'White Men Can't Jump' and this is 'ma house!'.  Could barely snap through laughing so much.

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Couple of people shots,  fear not the child wasn't some random on the beachfront he was my girlfriends nephew.  Think it came out quite well and the grain adds a lot to what is quite a simple image.  I like the perplexed expression on his face.

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I like this shot too,  tried to frame it well and it came out okay - still not sure whether this could do with some tweaking too but I've left it exactly how it was shot bar changing to black and white...

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And finally some hotel room snaps (easy!) - was in quite a photo mood so started playing around with objects in the room,  and irritating my girlfriend too with constant snapping while she was trying to relax. 

Champagne

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Snowing in April for god sake!

And as I drove my way through the Kent Countryside for the first time since moving down there I wanted to stop at every field and have my SLR with me.

Sadly I was going to a friends wedding where I should of also taken my camera,  but chickened out.  I would of got some lovely shots but I didn't want to be "that guy" at the wedding standing there with a zoom lens.

Silly I know.

Did snap a couple of the garden though,  nowt special - it was freezing out there!

Frozen Pigeon

April Showers

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Had a day out with my girlfriend in town over Easter,  decided to crack open the camera and take some snaps.  As you can see they are hardly going to be hung in a gallery but I quite like them.

Some idiot proof changes in iPhoto (not quite ready to tackle Photoshop CS3 yet!) and these are the end results.

Like everything else though the more I look at them the more I think they look crap!

But I am just beginning so hopefully I'll be able to chart a bit of improvement over the coming months

Nelson Horse Pigeon

The below photo looks strange,   a) because it was such a beautiful day and b) because the guy in the hooded top looks a little menacing.  It would of been nice to get the two shots after this of him bending down to donate to the guys and then shaking one of their hands.

Strange how you can make a snap judgement (I certainly did) and be wrong.

Hoodie Donations

This isn't the greatest shot in the world and I can't work out why I like it. But I do...  And sometimes thats all that matters!

Batman

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