How did it begin part 2?
Welcome back to part 2 of how did it begin? in this part we carry on into the year 2017 where my photography carried on at a slow pace. Mainly in this part we will be talking about London as I spent most of my time in London with my camera (well my brothers camera)
Moving into a new year which is 2017. You always say to yourself where did that previous year go. It always seems to go very quickly. At the beginning of the year dad came out of hospital and was making a slow progressive recovery which was a good sign. I really didn’t think what I would do with my photography this year and didn’t know where it would take me.
The fountain located in Trafalgar Square on a beautiful summer/autumn evening in London. The water makes you want to dive in when it’s really hot.
Date-2nd September 2017
I was in college most of the time in my second year, I didn’t have much time off during the week. It was mainly weekends I had off (which I really miss nowadays). During the middle of the year I got my first ever paid job working for a travel company that I did work experience for. Then in the month of May they hired me for the summer.
I took this opportunity to maybe save some money, potentially buy myself a camera for myself as I kept borrowing my brothers (which he was happy about). It was also a big year as I was turning 18 and had a big trip coming up with my brother to the magical place called Walt Disney World (which may or may not feature in a later part)
Later on in the year me and my partner (I was with at the time) made our way to London for the afternoon/evening. I remember borrowing my brothers camera (Canon 1300D)as we was going onto the London Eye during sunset. We first made our way to the Emirates Air Line. This was the first time for both of us.
I was still very new to Canon cameras and was using the basic settings on the camera. You know I was still new, basic and simple as I was using JPEG files and also was using the auto feature on the camera. I will then start to learn over the next few years that I will move away from using JPEG files and the auto feature.
First time riding the Emirates Air Line Cable Car across the River Thames. I remember using my brothers Canon 1300D camera (the same as my dads. It’s a good beginner camera to use. I remember when I looked back at this photo and gone, I really like this photo (it’s what a beginner photographer says)
Date-2nd September 2017
Located in Leicester Square. the famous shields are significant to the Swiss Canton Court. This is as you walk from Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square.
Date-2nd September 2017
As the picture shown as above from the Emirates Air Line it was very long and very modern. It lasts about 15-20 minutes. They give you information about what is around you. It is a small history lesson about the east end of London. This wouldn’t be the first time that I would be travelling on this transport across the river.
I don’t remember taking a tonne of pictures while on the cable car as I was scared about causing a few blurry shots as I may get bumped and it become blurry but actually it came out alright as you will now see below…
Sun starting to set on the London Eye as we was making our way to the big ferris wheel.
Date-2nd September 2017
Some of the photo that’s came from the cable car experience I actually liked. Again I was in this stage where I would say ohh yes that is a good photo but I would then start to learn about taking more photos and deleting some as I like more of some than others.
I remember saying in part 1 about not using the London Underground in London especially in the centre of London as it’s easy to walk around everywhere. The cable car was located in Greenwich (o2 Arena). We had to catch the Jubilee line back into the centre as it would take quite a while to walk it. (Nowadays I would probably do that)
In 2017 I was using two cameras, so I borrowed my brothers Canon 1300D but I also had my own camera which is a Lumix (I don’t remember what model type it was) I just remember its a camera that I used in the early days of my photography.
I also didn’t know much about photo editing through either Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop. Whenever I took a photo I just left it the way it was, as I said I used to shoot in JPEG format and now shoot in RAW. The image would be processed with more colours when it is in a JPEG file. I had my iPad Pro 12.9 inch that I would transfer the photos to make it easier to look at. I used the photo application on the iPad to do a little bit of editing such as making it a bit brighter and vibrant (I remembered that I use to go mad with making it so vibrant and have so much contrast in in)
This was one of the earliest photos I remember taking and starting a slow start to street photography. I was walking down Bond Street/Oxford Circus. I didn’t think about framing or the subjects. Back then I was more of a point a shoot type of guy.
Date-2nd September 2017
The famous and iconic red toy shop Hamleys located on Regents Street. I have only brought only one item from here. It’s fun to walk around and see what they have on offer (it can be pricy so beware)
Date-2nd September 2017
Thinking back to when I slowly got into street photography I knew it was something that interested me and would become one of the main subjects I focus on in my life. I love London as a city (as I live on its doorstep), there is so much to see, visit and explore. I usually spent a lot in the same places in London, mainly the popular tourist places as seen below…
In the evening on he 2nd September 2017 I headed to the London Eye. The sunset was going to be perfect for photos. Below you’ll find some of the photos I took while on the London Eye. Back in this time I didn’t take a tonne of photos because like I said before I didn’t think about the subject and how to frame shots. This was something that I would get better practice at. As you’ll start to see and read over the next coming parts I start to improve on a few things. I would also like to point out during these multiple part series, I self taught myself in photography I have never taken a course or have a degree in photography. It’s always interested me in maybe taking on a photography course so I have a qualification incase I want apply for a photography job.
Some of the earlier photos always came out blurry but I am happy to share so I can show my earlier work, yes they aren’t the best, they may not be the sharpest image. At this time it'll be something I will learn to be better at. Below you will see a few photos while on the London Eye.
Sometimes when you look through old photos be it memories or just ones you just randomly take. You usually find ones that you completely forgot you took. This one here was when I came off the London Eye and was chilling in the sun. I took this photo of people just relaxing in the summer evening. I always love a blurry background while also focusing on the subjects such as the people in the photo. I learnt a little bit by this point on how to get some blurriness in the background by taking pictures of plants in my garden at home.
Date-2nd September 2017
Nigh-time photography was still not my strong suit at this time but was something I was going to try and improve on (still something I am trying to improve on now). As I was leaving London I remembered looking back and seeing the London Eye lit up in red (as the sponsor was Coca Cola) It has now changed to being the Lastminute.com London Eye.
This was one of the earliest pictures I took of the London Eye at night. I always find it very beautiful to look at when its all lit up in colour. There is a light blurriness to the photo but still keeping its sharpness as well which worked quite well as I still didn’t feel confident but I came away happy with the photo.
Date-2nd September 2017
Moving to the end of the year 2017 around November time. I came back to London with my partner (at the time). We went to Winter Wonderland for the first ever time. For those people who don’t know what Winter Wonderland is. Winter Wonderland comes every year to London in the massive space of Hyde Park. Inside this area you will find many funfair rides, little stools that sell all Christmassy bits and you’ll find many eateries, ranging from hot dogs to hot nuts to a delicious hot chocolate. I’m going to be honest I didn’t spend a single penny in there as it is very expensive to visit. I know it’s changed on how you enter Winter Wonderland due to the pandemic that hit in 2020.
Pre 2020 you used to just rock up to the venue and they would do the most pointless bag search then you would be let though into the land of Wonderland. Before I went I said to myself, this would be a good time to try more of my night-time photography. Luckily with Winter Wonderland there are plenty of lights which helps with the photography settings.
The family commemorative stone Wembley Stauduim.
Date-25th November 2017
Before we went to Winter Wonderland we took a trip to Wembley to find this commemorative stone that my family had placed outside the stadium. We got it as a Christmas present from someone to get it placed at Wembley.
The winter sun was out which made it perfect for some nice photos of the beautiful stadium (which at this time I have been to once to watch an American football game with my family back in 2015). You can’t actually walk round inside the stadium unless you are doing a tour (which I have done) highly recommend it if you haven’t done it or visiting the shop as well.
In 2017 Tottenham Hotspur were currently playing at Wembley because their new stadium was currently being built. The famous arch of Wembley which makes this stadium stand out to the rest of the other staduims in Europe.
Date-25th November 2017
I didn’t think about straightening photos if I took them at an angle because I still didn’t know much about photo editing. I left the photos the way they were. You can see the curvature of the arch way which makes it unique. The nice blue sky as the background makes the white arch stand out in the photo.
Date-25th November 2017
We was staying in a hotel called the Moxy which is part of the Marriot group. I have never stayed at this hotel chain before. The outside of the hotel has this purply pink colour logo which at the time I took this photo it was at night. The inside of the hotel had some nice decorations which were really cool so as seen below in picture number two. they are rings that are lights.
Simple, modern and sleek. The logo doens’t need to be something so big and noticeable. I mean this picture is nothing much but this is still me getting used to nighttime photography and neon lighting.
Date-25th November 2017
Now it is a bit blurry when you look at this photo because I know I didn’t set the setting as the right one for inside photography. You can tell somewhat i’m trying to take a picture of. It made the hotel feel modern inside compared to your standard Premier Inn’s and Travelodge’s (which have been the hotel chains I have stayed in the most).
Date-25th November 2017
After checking into the hotel we made our way to Winter Wonderland. We caught the London Underground to Hyde Park Corner which was one of the entrances of Winter Wonderland. I mean it didn’t take us too long until we found the queue line to get in. Now I am a very patient person when it comes queuing in a line because hey I am British and we are known for queue like champions (well most of us really)
This was one of the front entrances to Winter Wonderland. I think you can guess by now that nighttime photography was something I really needed to work on (as I may of mentioned once or twice in the segment) I remember that this is only one of the entrances that has one of these signs. This is where I had the most pointless bag search ever. Literally they didn’t check anything.
Date-25th November 2017
The famous archways that are in the middle of Winter Wonderland. This is where many people take selfies and hashtag it as saying their at the famous Winter Wonderland. I wanted to put this in here (its not my proudest picture and not the clearest photo due to the blurriness) but it was one of the better pictures I took that evening.
Date-25th November 2017
I think this was one of the cleanest photos I took that evening. You can see a couple of rides that they had here. One was a drop tower and the other one was where you go upside down. At this time I didn’t do rides that went upside down (but that all changed a few year later). You can see how busy it was, Now I didn’t bring up the brightness on the picture so it is very dark. I thought at the time when I saw this I thought yes I like the look of that. I was still a beginner at this time. I was happy with where I was but I knew I wanted to improve on my photography skills to get better and be more of an amateur photographer.
Date-25th November 2017
After visiting Winter Wonderland, I made my way down the famous Regent’s Street to see the Christmas lights. They have these angles all the way down the street. They haven’t changed for many years (I think this was the second time seeing them ever) This was one of my favourite early nighttime street photos. To have the shadows of the famous black taxi’s with their headlights on makes this photo a little warmer due to the time of year.
Date-25th November 2017
This is the centre piece of Winter Wonderland. It stands very tall, illuminated in colours. I have never done this before I just find it very impressive you have this erected in the middle of Hyde Park. There is a slight blurriness at the top of the tower but I think that’s because I focused more on the bottom of the tower than the top.
Date-25th November 2017
Next day after the 25th we walked around London, but firstly we did the Emirates Air Line Cable Car again. It was still sunny so it made for good photography. I think to this day, even if my nighttime photography was 75% better I would say that daytime photography is better for me. We made across the River thames and saw this little sailing boat.
Just this single sailing boat floating along the River Thames. Its very simple to have one subject in the photo. I look back at this photo and if I edit this photo now I would turn this photo into black and white and focus on the colour of the boat with the people in it. To make the colour pop (which I have done in many of my more recent photos)
The famous and iconic o2 Arena, highly recommend walking up over the top of it. It is very fun and its very steep coming back down as me and my brother found out.
Date-26th November 2017
As it was November time, it is an important month not just for the UK but for other countries in Europe. November 11th 1918 at 11:00, the guns stopped to signify that World War One had ended. This picture above shows the cenetaph in all its glory with the poppy reefs laid around the base of it. The military means a lot to me in my life, this is due to the fact of me being a Royal Air Force Air Cadet for many years. I think to this day this is the only photo I have on the cenetaph after November 11th with the reefs laid around it.
Date-26th November 2017
Walking across Westminster Bridge heading back to London Waterloo station. This photo will become a favourite place to take pictures of the famous Ferris wheel (as you will see over the next coming parts. The winter sun was setting to have this nice blue/purple background. I felt somewhat confident with sunset pictures as the light is pretty good. The structure of the London Eye always catches my eye all the time, it doesn’t matter how many times I have seen it.
Date-26th November 2017
As we approach the end of this part we have seen a slight improvement in some of my photography but there is still a long way to go in how I would improve my photography over the next few years. The next part will be coming in the next few weeks as I am going to be on a small little break away.
Thank you readers for being part of Mr_agh_photography community. Fell free to contact me through my email or if you want to DM on instagram then my Instagram is located on the website down below.
