east | PK PERSPECTIVE

East London, 31/8-2/9 2010

The Sun Slidding Down Behind The Olympic Site

The time had come to visit my sister and her family in London again. So it was on to the 6 hour train journey on a busy train where I had a sandwich and plum drama, leaving myself little to eat, my walkman phone (cheap in the meantime one after the last took a leap down a drain) decided it only wanted to play music for 20 mins before going all weird and when I got on some woman was asleep in my booked seat! All in all not the best journey. However my sister meet me at kings cross with her beautiful girls and guided me back through the underground maze to her flat in east London. Where we played with pearl, stitch, McMickey and McMinne until the girls dad traumatised them with a surprise McMickey attack. After the girls had eaten, well thrown around, their dinner and they’d had their baths, the sun set over the Olympic site with a flash of colour and bringing beauty to the overly huamised area. I may detest London but it does have its moments. Natural beauty sliding down behind industrial construction. Leaning out the window on my tiptoes and balancing the camera on the frame I squeezed off a few shots with a a low ISO and not too low a shutter speed so I wouldn’t flood sensor with light and lose the colour in the sky, there’s always more light at twilight than the naked eye sees.

The next day we had a trip to Valentines park after Georgie had tried to sneak out the door in her dads work bag. We had a lovely and not too expensive lunch there and enjoyed the sunshine in the haven of the lovely old mansion grounds. We all played in the shade of a tree and I let my sister take control of the camera and although she was terrified of dropping it, she didn’t do too bad at all. In order to let the girls sleep a while we wandered around the park, which is small but enjoyable and had a wee look in the mansion and wondered at how there were different rooms for different times of day, to go with the different outfits I assume. If I had that there would be a large part of the day I would have to stay in the bathroom, wonder if it is better to make that the morning room as the afternoon one? Then it was back on the dirty tubes with all the rude people and through the busy stations with lifts not working so had to lift the double buggy up the stairs. God knows what you’re meant to do if you’re in a wheelchair! Then more photo fun at home with the girls, more throwing food around and smiling and laughing at each other and climbing and crawling or belly dragging and standing and bouncing. All in all a good day. By the end of it we were all shattered even McMickey who Tabby was tentatively touching again. So just after 10 I settled down to the lights of the city spreading out to forever over the horizon and worried about how Errols paw was to be fixed and if he could stay together until Continue reading →

Fife coast- Crail to Leven Fri 11th June afternoon

As my usual photo buddy is busy being a dad to a most beautiful little boy I dragged my friend Louise along on a wee photo trip instead. She wanted to meet up for lunch anyway so we agreed to have a wee picnic at the beach. Louise is a fantastic cook so I jumped at the chance of some of her homemade soup. After picking her up in Dundee we headed over the bridge and round the coast to the Firth of Forth. Our 1st stop was Crail where we sat like a couple of old women on a bench at the sea front drinking our soup from proper mugs. We were the envy of the passing pensioners. As we chatted and ate the tide slowly crept in and the old sea water paddling pool in front of us succumbed to high, cold water. As the clouds had blown over and it was getting a bit colder so we walked along the front then back to the car and on to Anstruther where we could maybe catch the sun again.

Lovely Beach at Leven

Anstruther was a lot brighter and we took a walk around the harbour after laughing at the prices of a fish supper at the renowned chippy. Being Veggie I have never had a fish supper from it but I am told although it is pricey it is very good. Again there was no fancy photo work to be had and I worked in fine format on Aperture priority to control DOF, and got a few nice shots of the harbour with the picturesque village behind it. Anstruther (pronounced Ain-ster in fife) is a lovely little village set around the old harbour with its houses nudging each other for space and in a collection of coastal Scottish colours. After shooting the lighthouse at the end of the harbour we decided we deserved some ice cream and, although Louise tried to throw hers away in the enjoyment of them, we finished off some lovely cones at the harbour front before moving on to Leven.

Now Leven is a bit of an odd place and is really quite run down and the town centre has little to offer but the beach is lovely and the sun shone through the clouds for us as we walked along its golden sands. We passed the time taking photos and discussing Louise’s upcoming wedding and hen night, which I can’t share with you as is top secret girl stuff!!! Once my mother had phoned looking for her car I had borrowed, we headed back up the beach. Unfortunately The view back up the beach is not so pleasant as you are walking towards an industrial looking harbour and almost urban looking town, all grey with an edge of dirt and harshness to it. Then it was a drive back through the countryside to drop Louise off in Dundee then home to Perth for a slightly cheaper chippy. All in all a lovely day with good company and although I didn’t get loads of shots I’m sure I will return again.

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Smelly London again

Fife Coast