Being a Tourist Again

London Eye, Photo Plod

Sometimes, it's fun to be a tourist again in my home city. On my way into work, I pass several of London's most famous landmarks. Although I always admire them, I don't have my camera with me when I pass them, and I'm usually reluctant to spend much of my leisure time wandering around the city because of other commitments. The other day, though, I decided to take advantage of the Bank Holiday and an early shift and take my camera with me into work.

After my shift had finished, I wandered down to Waterloo Bridge and took a series of photos down the Embankment, facing towards the famous South Bank. Nearly 3 hours went past in freezing conditions, and I barely noticed. I had enormous fun, carting my kit around from one position to the next, taking photographs of things that I knew had been photographed a million times before - I spent most of the evening fighting for space in among all the tourists and other amateur togs - but it was a strangely liberating experience.

There are probably not many original ways to photograph the London Eye - so I didn't try. In the picture above, I just applied basic rules of composition, set the aperture to f/14 and fired off a 30-second exposure to bring out the colours on the river, which has been reduced to a smooth sheen. A Google Image search for "London Eye" will bring up millions of results - and, overall, this probably looks like most of them. But this is my shot and I enjoyed taking it. After all, isn't that what this hobby is about?

Getting "out there", taking photos and not giving a damn about what other people think of them is great fun. So, be a tourist again - get the camera out and take your versions of all those landmarks you've seen a thousand times before.

You can view my full set of images over on my Flickr stream.

Happy New Year!

Photographer - Not a Terrorist

I am, by virtue of my occupation, expressly forbidden from engaging publicly in politics - so I don't seek to use my blog to forward any personal political agenda. Photography is my concern, and this is what this space is for. However, it is impossible to to ignore the Photography vs s44 Terrorism Act debate that is currently raging.

On January 23rd, there is to be a protest, most likely in Piccadilly Circus or Trafalgar Square. It is organised by Photographer Not a Terrorist. This is a direct result of photographers' anger at recent stop & search tactics under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act.

Since the organisation was founded, there have been considerable policy changes instituted by the new Commissioner, and its use by the Metropolitan Police has been scaled back enormously. I expect the recent ECHR judgment, thought not changing any UK law, will also contribute to it being cut back.

s44 was never intended to be an indiscriminate stop-all power or a return to the days of the 'sus' laws. It *does* remain important, because it allows officers to take action in circumstances where existing powers under s1 PACE or s43 TACT would not give rise to grounds or objects for a search. We know that hostile reconnaissance does go on - I've seen it for myself - but we're limited in what we can release to the general public. On the other hand, I don't believe that it should be used indiscriminately against photographers because of the risk of angering the public. I was arguing for a balance in the use of s44 nearly three years ago. This is now current force policy, I'm pleased to say.

As an aside, it may also be worth pointing out that the incidents pointed out at the top of the Photographer Not a Terrorist web page all occurred within the City of London jurisdiction - not the ground covered by the Metropolitan Police. While we're by no means blameless in the current poor relationship with photographers, I do think we're taking the lead over other forces.