365 Project: Photo 243

It took me a long time to get an angle of this statue that I was happy with; in the end I sort of just had to lay on the damp ground and make the best of it.

365 Project: Photo 242

I was wondering through the lobby of a hotel when I spotted all these little wellies against the wall. I don't know whether there were masses of adventurous children staying there or if there was some kind of dwarf wading convention in town. In any case, I thought they made a pleasant enough scene.

365 Project: Photo 241

A bit of Grizzly Adams-esque Lego lumberjack action....

365 Project: Photo 240

Considering I was really quite drunk when I took this photo, and I didn't have my tripod, I'm relatively pleased with how it turned out. You may, or may not, just about be able to make out a stripe of higher density of stars running top to bottom through the middle of the frame. That's the Milky Way.

365 Project: Photo 239

Shrigley Hall in Cheshire, totally off topic. And date.

365 Project: Photo 238

I've always had a bit of a thing for lone trees in verdant, green pastures. 

365 Project: Photo 237

One of the benefits of being at the very terminus of a tube line late on a Sunday night is that you get the whole carriage to yourself, so I thought I'd take some photos. I had the place to myself for about ten minutes, which is just as well; do you realise how difficult it is to balance a little lego dude on your knee on a moving tube train? Let me tell you: it's difficult; very, very difficult.

365 Project: Photo 236

Work on my friend's new place is slow but steady....

365 Project: Photo 235

The theme today was Local Landscape. This landscape isn't local to me, it is in north London, but it is local to a couple of my friends that have just bought their first place. It's, erm, a fixer upper, shall we say? I've been helping them and their family completely gut the place in preparation to have some works done and then get it decorated. It'll be a long slog but totally worth it in the end, especially if they have a pleasant view like this to greet them on their way home each evening. Good luck guys....

365 Project: Photo 234

I hate spiders. Mostly because I'm scared of them, which I know is irrational but I don't seem to be able to help it. This little dude isn't so bad because he's small and outside, but when one of his big brothers crosses the threshold then SHIT IS GOING TO GET REAL.

365 Project: Photo 233

A trip to the roof top cinema at the Queen of Hoxton pub tonight. Unbreakable by M. Night Shyamalan is a great film.

365 Project: Photo 232

This is another little photography project that I'm working on, a mosaic of the Palace of Westminster. This is my first attempt at getting the photos I need for it and I was sort of treating it as a proof of concept, just to see if I could pull it off. It isn't bad, but it's not good, and I want it to be perfect. I've learnt a lot from this trial run, about having better control of the zoom, the exposure and also the post processing. It takes quite a long time to take all these photos but the next time I have a spare few hours I'll be back down in Lambeth to get it right. Hopefully I won't have to convince the police that I'm not a terrorist this time; it turns out that if you spend ages taking highly detailed photos of the seat of Government you attract unwanted attention.

Anyway, as a proof of concept, it works. I can imagine lots of potential subjects for this sort of project, Buckingham Palace; the Royal Naval College; even people's faces - if I could find a willing model. Watch this space....

365 Project: Photo 231

This sunset was taken in the Barnett area of north London. The lamp posts annoy me but I can't be bothered to clone them out so there they stay. We have had a long, warm, dry summer here in the UK and that has certainly helped produce some wonderful sunsets. Here we have a nice combination of small cumulus clouds with a higher cirrus layer above. Beautiful.

365 Project: Photo 230

I was thinking of making up some elaborate story about how this might fit in with today's theme but I can't really be bothered. The truth is I was just wandering around Parliament Square and took a quick snap of the Elizabeth Tower.

365 Project: Photo 229

The theme today was Pink, so I'm a few shades away from the sweet spot but nevermind. Luckily a grown up was on hand when I took this photo to tell me it was buddleia. This stuff seems to grow everywhere with the veracity of a weed, but a pretty one at that. But, then, what is the definition of a weed? I would define it as any plant that is growing unwantedly, no matter how beautiful it is. I guess not all weeds are created equally.

365 Project: Photo 228

Another random sunset. It's a bit lazy but they are pretty. This was taken in north London, somewhere near Chingford.

365 Project: Photo 227

A random sunset today....

365 Project: Photos 225 and 226

A first for the 365 Project but these two photos really do need to be together. Today's is this lovely photo of what's left of my arm. The second is tomorrow's photo, the role of which will become clear.

The tale begins as our hero, me, was engaged in that most dangerous of occupations: picking which DVD to buy in HMV. I was with a friend and she was wearing what I would call a ridiculous pair of heels. Without warning, and just out of my eye line, she inexplicably fell off her shoes. Instinctively she grabbed at my arm to steady herself but she ended up on her arse anyway. She also has what I would call ridiculous nails and I was left with several gouges in my arm that could testify to this. Pictured is one of the larger ones that was right in the crook of my arm and took over a day to stop bleeding. By the time I'd got home I looked like someone had tried to murder me. Below are the offending pair of 'shoes'.

365 Project: Photo 224

This photo didn't quite turn out as I liked but it's not too terrible. I was walking through Westfield and just emerged from under a bridge when the extremely high contrast caused by the sun caused me stop in my tracks. My phone was not altogether capable of capturing what I wanted. I also wonder if I should have cropped the top a little.

365 Project: Photo 223

This photo is sort of a companion to yesterday's. Probably doesn't need explaining.

365 Project: Photo 222

Like all men of importance I have a seal with which to secure important correspondence. I also have a variety of waxes with which to make the seal. This photo is a bit shonky as I took it with my phone on the tube on my way to a cousin's birthday bash.

365 Project: Photo 221

A summer shower left a lot of puddles on the roads. I would have preferred it if the oil slick wasn't there but I still like the regularity of the painted lines and kerb with the juxtaposition of the lamppost's reflection.

365 Project: Photo 220

Another pleasant sunset over the Olympic Park. One day I'd like to get one of these shots with my proper camera as opposed to just with my phone but I've never been that confident that I wouldn't be murdered/mugged/ridiculed. 

365 Project: Photo 219

This is a close up of a sculpture installed in the cafe of the Serpentine gallery in Hyde Park. You literally have to climb through it to get your coffee and find a seat.

365 Project: Photo 218

New flat mates moved in today. Expect to see a lot of these guys in the future.

365 Project: Photo 217

No prizes for guessing where I took this. The theme was Delicate and I reckon it must have taken some rather delicate metalworking to produce this.

365 Project: Photo 216

I went for my first jolly around the newly opened Olympic Park today. There still seems to be lots of sections that are closed, there are still significant building works going on, but some of the green spaces are available which is good news as this is something that Stratford is severely lacking. I was a little underwhelmed by the park. The section I was in consisted of a pleasant enough river with some good reed beds that local wildlife will, presumably, love. A couple of footpaths corkscrew their way up a little artificial hillock that I suspect the designer wanted to look like Hobbiton but actually looks more like Teletubbyland.

Having said this I am aware that I am, in general, fairly biased against the Olympics and anything to do with it, except the sport. I've no problem with people having running and jumping contests, long may they continue, but the Olympics is little more than an expensive, bloated, corrupt cartel of tax dodging business opportunities. This probably tints my view a bit. To be fair it probably just needs a year or two to bed in; it wasn't that long ago that this was a heavily polluted industrial area so ultimately it has to be a good thing that it is now a potential haven for wildlife. One definite positive that only occurred to me later on was that it is possibly a good dark sky site; there didn't appear to be any street lights in the area and no fences to keep people out so stargazing options may have just significantly improved. Obviously it's not the mountains of Paranal but as far as Stratford goes it's as good as it gets. Hopefully. 

365 Project: Photo 215

Today I had to go the dreaded foot clinic for a check up on my gammy plantar. I left with a new set of orthoses in my shoes that the podiatrist said I would likely find 'challenging'. She wasn't kidding. After five minutes of walking back into town I was limping along so slowly that I was overtaken by an asthmatic ant carrying heavy shopping. So it was that I decided to repose in the churchyard of St. John's. As I lay there I thought I spotted a chance to make a nice silhouette out of the stonework against the clouds, Silhouette being the theme of the day. On my phone this silhouette looked much better, the church was properly black, now that I see it on the laptop there is more detail visible than I'd like. In any case, here it is.

365 Project: Photo 214

A piece of graffiti I spotted on a walk in north London. I thought I would use a bunch of imagination in the processing of it. I've gone fairly overboard but deliberately so.

365 Project: Photo 213

Totally off theme today, I just liked the line of these blocks of flats and there happened to be some decent clouds around.