Police Seek Man After Assault on Amateur Photographer

London Transport Police are seeking the man in the above picture after he assaulted an amateur photographer on December 12th 2007. It appears that this person did not like his photo being taken:

"The photographer told him he could not delete the shot as it was not a digital camera. The man then attempted to grab the camera and punched the victim in the face. The victim suffered cuts and bruising to his face as a result of the incident."

Quite amusingly the picture that the photographer took, and that the man was so keen to get hold of, is now being used on his wanted poster. Read the full article by clicking on the photo of following the link here.

As both an amateur photographer, and one who uses 35mm film, I understand the predicament. From my point of view, if I take a photo of someone and they do not want me to have it, I can only assure them that I will honour their request, and would offer to send them the negative and photo for their piece of mind. The article does not say if the photographer had offered this option. I can only hope he did.

As an interesting aside, one of the places linking to the story is the blog Going Underground. It is an excellent blog and well worth a look. One of the questions in the comments on this article was if photography is permitted or the London Underground or not. The reason for this is that the London Underground is private property, and therefore the owners can decide on the rules, rather than the area coming under a general 'public places' rule. Anyway, John B read through all of the info and it appears that amateur photography is allowed provided flashes and tripods aren't used.

Photos I Want to Retake

One thing that has helped me continue to rekindle my love of photography is taking photos with my mobile phone. The more photos I take, the more I find myself looking for photo opportunities. This has lead to me having quite a few photos which were taken in good places, just badly composed or out of focus.

West India Quays At Night

This photos is one I would like to retake given a chance. This is the view along West India Quay at night taken with a Nokia N73. I think it is a very nice photograph but would look better taken with my Minolta. Maybe one day I will revisit the area to recapture this view.

Twins By Antony Gormley

If you walk down Euston Road between Euston and Great Portland Street stations you will encounter the Twins by Antony Gormley.
These statues are positioned either side of a window which makes them look like one statue reflected in the mirror-like window of the building. It is only upon a closer and concentrated look that one notices that both statues are significantly different.

For a map of where the statue is located click on the picture.

Another Photo for Sale

WooHoo! Another photo for sale on Picture Nation.

This one is a scene taken at a train station after a snow fall.

Train Signal in Snow

Many of my friends have commented on how this is one of, if not, the best picture I have taken. I must admit, I didn't think anything of the picture at the time of taking it. I moved the lights off centre because I thought that would give better perspective.
See what you think. Click on the small icon below to take you through to Picture Nation.

If you really want to see a larger sized version, you may view it on my flickr or on Picasa. Please take a moment to click through to my photo on Picture Nation though as every hit shows support for them and they are a relatively small company in quite a cut-throat sector.

More Streatham Graffiti

I noticed both of these recently in Streatham. I'm not going to pretend that these pieces of graffiti might be Banksys. But they are definitely worth putting up here as they are quite cute. There is rumour of a third cat around Streatham which I will post if I find it.
If you would like to see where the photos are in Streatham, click here.

Banksy in Streatham?

Last night I took a photo of a stencilled bat on the side of the Horse and Groom pub in Streatham. It looks like a Banksy but I am unsure. There's a couple of others around Streatham, but my phone ran out of space after taking this picture.

Night Photography

I seem to be taking a lot of photos at night recently. I guess that is because I have a little bit of free time during the evenings more often than during the day.

I love night photography, particularly in London. Parts of the city come alive at night, or seem to glow in the dark with all of the lights. The Canary Wharf area has many, many lights in quite a small area. As a result, I often find myself staring at the buildings trying to compose photos incorporating the lights, water, and grandeur of the area.

I recently took the photo to the left while walking around West India Docks in the Canary Wharf area of London. I quite like how this photo turned out. It was already in colour, but I used Picasa's incorporated tools to change it to black and white.

Last night I was out in the South Bank area of London. This is the area that contains the Royal Festival Hall, National Film Theatre, and National Theatre, not to forget the London Eye.

The London Eye has been kitted out in new red livery to celebrate the start of Comic Relief 2007. If you have a chance to go and have a look, it is quit spectacular with the trees still wearing their blue LEDs and the London Eye with its new red livery.

Unfortunately my camera is nowhere near capable of doing this view justice, but I think this photo in particular looks nice because you can just make out the two large poles holing up the Eye looking like dim red beams thrusting upwards from the ground.

As always, click on the photos for their larger versions.

The Way We See It

No photo for today's entry. I'm doing a mixture of recovering from a heavy weekend, and trying to catalogue all the photos I took. I therefore have a new photo site for you to look at. The Way We See It is an excellent London photo blogging site. Every week the owner, dicksdaily, puts up a location for people to visit, take photos of, and submit to the site.

I am quite looking forward to joining in with this community. I think it is a woderful idea for getting out and about and taking more photos of places one would not otherwise consider visiting.

Snowing!

Last night the conditions were perfect for snow to happen in Streatham. Here are some photos I took this morning on the way to work.


Snowy Weeds


The light looks like a bright candle


A Snowy Tree


Light and Dark at Streatham Station


Cold and Waiting for a Train

The Millenium Dome

It's been a few days since I last posted any photos on here. I haven't been out and about to take photos for nearly a week now. The last time I was out, however, there was beautiful sunshine. I walked all the way to the end of the West India Docks and took the following photo.

Millennium Dome from the Thames

Out for a Walk With a Phone

At the moment I am on a bit of a health kick so I try and go for a brisk walk as often as possible. Yesterday I decided to walk to Streatham Common to take some photos of the Rookery [map].
The Rookery is a Victorian Garden (actually visited by Queen Victoria at some stage).

I entered the woods from the Eastern end of the Common and walked through the woods to the Rookery.

Into the Woods

Once in the Rookery I spotted this lone flower in small stream running through it. I thought it looked lonely.

The Lonely Flower

Onwards down the hill into the walled garden.

Western Entrance to the Walled Garden

It is is very peaceful in this garden. Even in winter there is some colour.

The Centre of the Walled Garden and the Wishing Well

At the end of the rookery, some more pillars leading you back up the hill. The photo of the sqirrel isn't particularly good, but it was nice enough to pose for all the passers by, so it's photo makes a guest appearance.

The Eastern Exit From the Walled Garden and the Posing Squirrel

Finally, on the way home, I saw that someone had trapped cemented a flower pot to a wall around their garden.

Trapped!

This photo invokes a feeling of being trapped. This plant will never be free. **sniff**

The main reason for this entry is to show that, with a bit of patience and a steady hand, reasonable photos can be obtained by using a 2megapixel camera phone.

Photo With Movement

I am in the middle of a blog post which will cover my journey to and from work. While doing this I attempted a bit of a study in movement within pictures. Most of the photos looked pants, but I did take one on the platform of New Cross Gate station which didn't come out too bad. Here it is:

New Cross Gate Station at Night

I like the mixture of static and movement. I think it works well in a photo about a train station.