London 2012...

In July 2005, London won the vote to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. London has previously hosted the games in 1908 and 1948, but this time round a new stadium is being built to honour the event. In 2003, nine cities had submitted their bids to be the host for the event, they included; Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Mosow, New York, Paris and Rio de Janiro.
In 2004 the International Olympic Committee, reduced this number to 5 cities; London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, and Paris. Moscow was knocked out followed by, New York and Madrid, leaving head to head between London and Paris.

The Olympic Stadium in progress...

How the stadium will look...

I think this is really exciting, and I have even considered volunteering to help be part of the biggest team recruited in Britain since WW2, working at the Olympics.

Flowers... My Photos from Kingsway Gardens

London... My Visit in August 1st-6th 2010

The main purpose of my London visit was to visit family, but I also wanted to take advantage of the time in the city, shopping and galleries. Originally the plan was to go on Sunday (in the car with my Auntie Rachel and my cousins who had been visiting in Scunthorpe) and return on Tuesday... However, I was enjoying myself that much I had to keep extending my trip everyday, and I finally returned home on Friday, all spent up...

I have visited London every year for over 10 years and still I find new places to explore, and sometimes head back to places I have been to before and really enjoyed. Family attractions I have visited and thoroughly enjoyed over the years are:
- Madame Tussauds (visited twice)
- London Planetarium
- London Eye
- Natural History Museum (twice)
- Science Museum (twice)
- National Gallery (three times)
- London Dungeon
- London Planetarium
- London Zoo
- London Transport Museum

Art Galleries/Museums I have visited over the years:
- V&A (three times)
- National Portrait Gallery (three times)
- Tate Britain (twice)
- Tate Modern
- Taschen Exhibition Space - Duke of York Square
- The Saatchi Gallery
- The Design Museum

And then obviously there are the shops... which I will not list as the list could go on forever.

I do also enjoy walking around London and just taking in the sights and surroundings, especially when I have a camera with me to document this. The following photos are from this August trip...



Looking down the Thames landscape.



Looking across the Thames portrait.



Shopping/ Places to eat along the Thames bank.

Flowers... My Photos from Twigmoor Woods

Past Visits...

Of all the years I have been visiting London, it is only in the past few years that I have been creating what I call a London 'stock library'. Instead of photographing the people I am with, I photograph everything of interest to me, this first started when I went with my AS Level Graphic Design and Photography group, and the experience really opened up my eyes to what was really in London. I visited again with my Art foundation group in 2009, and built on this library of photos, and I visited earlier this year on my own for my trip week.

From February 2010:

Art on the Underground - different coloured circles which from a distance make the Underground symbol in the centre.



The very famous Underground map. Fantastic. Enough said.




Untitled - Bharti Kher 2008
Taken in the Saatchi Gallery, at The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today exhibition. I loved the bright colours of the bindis stuck down, it even inspired my book fair project earlier on this year.

This piece consists of 4,500 bone shaped letters to form the speech by Gandhi on the night before the 400km 'Dandi March'. I thought this was an innovative way of exploring a historic event.

'Public Notice 2 recalls the historic speech delivered by Mahatma Gandhi, on the eve of the epic Salt March to Dandi, in early 1930 as a protest against the salt tax instituted by the British. Through this speech he lays down the codes of conduct for his fellow revolutionaries, calling for complete civil disobedience, the only fierce restriction being that of maintaining ‘total peace’ and ‘absolute non-violence’. In Kallat’s work, Gandhi’s ardent speech is recreated as a haunting installation with around 4500 bone shaped alphabets recalling a turning point in the nation’s history. Each alphabet, like a misplaced relic, holds up the image of violence even as their collective chorus makes a plea for peace to a world plagued with aggression.' - The Saatchi Gallery website.

This is also from the Saatchi Gallery, it is a sculpture of a deer, which comprises of many different sized glass spheres. Close up it is even more impressive...

Out into London...

Taken from Trafalgar Square.

Taken in the Underground.

This is also taken at Trafalgar Square, I really like the contrast of the blue against the white building. The blue progresses from a light blue to a darker blue, but still has a warm feel to it. This area was actually really busy so to take this picture with hardly anyone in the foreground was quite lucky.

This is looking from the top of the stairs at Trafalgar Square too. This shows more accurately how busy the area is.

This is again at Trafalgar Square looking up at the National Gallery.