An iPhone in London

Covent Garden, 9 August 2013.

These days, often the only camera I have with me is my iPhone.  It's all completely automatic, but it takes quite a good quality photo and is always there.  So here are a few shots taken in London this year; nothing special, just things I wanted to capture. There is only a little nature involved.  There will be more of that next time.

This sandy arena (arena seems the right word for such a thing!) had been set up at Covent Garden for some sort of marketing publicity.  It looked rather like a giant hovercraft except for the ball players inside.

Queue for the V&A on 30 May 2013

I went with my sister to see the David Bowie exhibition at the V&A.  But these queues are quite usual even without a popular exhibition.  The whole place is popular.

Diana's Diner, Endell Street, 9 August 2013.

Probably the last chance to take a photo of this shop front.  It's sad when small places like this close down, specially in the heart of London.  Though, it might just be a refurbishment.

Harris Hawk in Trafalgar Square, 23 July 2013.

And here's some nature .. but well tamed.  This is a Harris Hawk, used to control the pigeons in Trafalgar Square.  Not to hunt and kill them, but to scare them off.  It works well, too, combined with the banning of stalls selling bird food.  There used to be drifts of pigeons everywhere, and everything was covered with bird droppings.  Now there are hardly any, and the whole place looks better for it.  You can see a couple in the background.

I was surprised to find this bird apparently unattended.  I have seen their handlers before, in quiet side streets with their birds on their arms, but never birds alone like this.  And look how normal the people seem to think it is to have a large, sharp-beaked raptor perched nearby! 

London Planes

Pollarded London Plane trees behind Tate Britain.  8 January 2013.

 I took this photo on a grey day in London when I went with a friend to see a Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at Tate Britain.  These trees always look fantastic, winter or summer; they look architectural, as though they were designed to counterpoint the red brick buildings behind, and they seem to go on forever.

They are London Plane trees, a hybrid related to the American Sycamore, and they manage very well in a polluted atmosphere.  I have read that this is because they shed their bark every year.  You can see the patchy effect this creates on their trunks.

London Planes and a view of Lambeth Bridge.  8 January 2013.

Walking back along the river, I tried to get some more planes to frame this picture nicely, but it's not really satisfactory.  But anyway .. those are the fruits of the tree, and behind you can see a typical London scene combining the old and the new.  Straight ahead is Lambeth Bridge with Lambeth Palace behind.  The bridge was opened in 1932, but the earliest part of the palace dates from 1440.  Behind is the Shard at London Bridge Station, dating from 2013. 

The bridge is guarded by two pairs of obelisks.  I always thought their finials were pineapples, but according to Wikipedia they are pine cones.  The London bus on the bridge is advertising the film of Les Miserables.

Lightning Conductor

Fastener on the lightning conductor on Nelson's Column.  Trafalgar Square, London, 5 June 2011.

Serious Business

Cars on the London to Brighton Classic Car Run. Haymarket, London, 5 June 2011.

Not to be confused with the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, which takes place in November.

Sterile Ground

Seed of London Plane,  Platanus × acerifolia, lodged in the relief around the base of Nelson's Column.
Trafalgar Square, London, 5 June 2011.

Coloring Book

Coloring Book, by Jeff Koons. Claims to be bronze.
In the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Arts, London. 5 June 2011.

The plaque at the base of this installation says it is made of bronze, but the Royal Academy's site says it is stainless steel. Are plaques believable?

Coloring Book, by Jeff Koons. Claims to be bronze. Another view.
In the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Arts, London. 5 June 2011.

What Moves Him

Dramatic dancer in Trafalgar Square.  April 2011.

No Cuts

A man repairing a No Cuts protest on the river bank below the Hungerford Bridge, London. 19 April 2011.
See this web page: No Cuts Artwork.

Mouse Under Book

Detail at the back of the statue of Terence Tenison Cuneo by Philip Jackson in Waterloo Station, London.
I do not think that this statue is cleaned very often.

What I Saw #13

Over the door of the Freemasons' Hall on Great Queen Street, London. 10 April 2011.

What I Saw #5

Orwellian sighting in Brewer Street, Soho.

What I Saw #4

An Acacia tree flowering in Regent's Park at the beginning of March

What I Saw #3

Around the base of the statue of Anteros in Piccadilly Circus