The Shard at London Bridge

In my free-time, I have taken a few shots of The Shard during its construction, from various local vantage points. 

Here are my favourites, which will benefit from viewing fullscreen.

Timelapse, January 2012

 

6th August 2009, from Guys Walkway

24th April 2010

9th May 2010

5th July 2010

25th July 2010

12th September 2010

28th November 2010

28th November 2010, from under London Bridge

12th December 2010, from Southwark Street

31st January 2011, from roof of One New Change

22nd April 2011

22nd April 2011, from South end of London Bridge

1st May 2011, from London Bridge Rail Platform

May 21st 2011, with Emirates Airbus A380

2nd July 2011

3rd July 2011

8th July 2011, from London Bridge

8th July 2011

9th July 2011, from Tower Bridge

17th September 2011, from Broadgate Tower (through glass)

17th September 2011

25th September 2011

19th November 2011, with Southwark Cathedral

19th November 2011, from outside Borough Underground Station

19th November 2011

17th March 2012

14th April 2012

14th April 2012

(Definitely watch the last video clip at fullscreen - and watch what the guys at the very top get up to!)

Feel free to contact me if you're interested in prints (without watermarks!), or any other creative use for any of these images.

Water Vole at the London Wetlands Centre

I spent today at the inaugural London Wild Bird Watch, at the London Wetlands Centre, Barnes.  To start things off, I enjoyed listening to Simon King talk about the live webcams on two Peregrine Falcons in West London.

I then had the chance to listen to a few wildlife photographers - Ben Osborne, Jules Cox and Luke Massey, courtesy of Amateur Photographer Magazine.

As birds were meant to be the focus for the day, here's a Goldcrest (Regulus regulus), showing clearly where its name comes from (click to zoom in):

I also wanted to try to photograph a water vole (Arvicola amphibius) - a mammal I remember seeing as a kid, but not one I've ever been able to photograph.  Despite some pretty heavy rain later on in the afternoon, I managed to take a few photographs I am relatively happy with, given the conditions (click on photos to see larger).  

Tenerife - The natural world meets some serious horse power

I've just come back from a wonderful week in the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Canaries - and it's shattered any preconceptions that I had about it being full of 'Brits abroad resorts'.  


We spent the majority of our time well above the cloud-line, in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Tiede National Park.  It's a stunning 'lunar landscape' of strange volcanic formations, all centred around the twin peaks of Tiede (3718m) and Vieje (3135m), the latter which we managed to hike up.

The landscape is evidently a great set for filming - a production company were making a promotional film for the (I think?) 2013 Mercedes Benz SL 63 V8 Biturbo AMG and 65 V12 Biturbo AMG - I managed to get some sneaky shots:

I'm yet to process many of my photos, but to give an idea of the variety, here is a photo of Tiede National Park:

  ... and another of a Short-finned Pilot Whales, taken between Tenerife and Gomera:

Canon News: Speedlite 600EX-RT Launched

Canon have launched a new flagship flash, the Speedlite 600EX-RT.

• Built-in wireless radio transmitter, which eliminates the need for accessory radio slave units and their inherent limitations
• Radio-based Wireless E-TTL can be performed with up to 15 Speedlite 600EX-RT "slave units", used off-camera up to 98.4 feet (30m) away
• Fully compatible with Canon's legacy optical-based Wireless E-TTL technology
• Enhanced weather-resistant construction
• Flash head zoom range now reaches from 20mm to 200mm
• Includes gelatin filters and a dedicated filter holder to help photographers match ambient light

Canon News: EOS 5D Mark III DSLR Launched

Another much anticipated launch for both still and video enthusiasts, Canon have launched the 5D Mark III DSLR.  

Replacing the Mark II, it brings a host of specification upgrades, albeit nothing extraordinary (except the price initially, we assume!):

• 22.3 megapixel full-frame sensor
• 61-point AF
• 6 fps continuous shooting
• ISO 100–25,600 sensitivity, expandable to ISO 102,400
• Full-HD video with manual control
• 14-bit DIGIC 5+ processor
• Weather sealing
• 8.11cm (3.2-inch) 1,040,000-dot screen
• HDR mode

It will be £2999.99 in the UK, initially at least.

More info here, with sample images here.

Nikon News: D800/D800E DSLR launched

Nikon have launched the D800, with a whopping 36.3MP full-frame sensor:

Features include improved metering and autofocus and uncompressed HDMI output.

There is also a D800E version, which removes the anti-aliasing properties of the optical low-pass filter.

More details here (D800E here).

Canon News: New wide angle prime lenses with IS launched

Canon have launched a couple of wide-angle prime lenses, with image stabilisation (up to four stops), the EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM and the EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM:

More details here and here, respectively.

Canon News: Updated 24-70 f/2.8L launched

Hot on the heels of the Tamron news, Canon have at last released the much anticipated update to their 24-70 L lens, the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM:

• Versatile 24-70mm zoom range.
• All-new optical design.
• Ultra-low dispersion (UD) and super UD elements.
• Fast f/2.8 max. aperture.
• 0.38m close focus
• Sealed against dust and moisture.
• Fast, quiet autofocus.
• Manual-focus override.
• Nine-bladed circular aperture

It does not have image stabilisation.

More details here.