I visited yesterday the very interesting exhibition “When Forms Come Alive” in Hayward Gallery in Southbank Centre in London. This is a contemporary sculpture exhibition centred on organic forms.
Saturday 1st on July 23 was my first time attending London in Pride. I wasn’t sure about my expectations, but it was soon clear that this is a very popular event.
Our right neighbour
We managed to find a spot near Hyde park corner with direct access to the parade (behind grids though). We were super lucky to have colourful neighbours on our left and right side, so many of the people participating in the parade engaged with them, giving me some opportunities for some “action” to shoot.
Tom was here!
As much as I like taking snaps, I like enjoying the moment, so I stayed at the same place all afternoon, this is not necessary a great idea as after a while I had some serious backlight which is visible on the later shots.
Flying proud and safe with BA
So on the gear side, I brought the M262 for the digital shots and the M6 for film as usual. I carried a 50 cron v5, a 35 cron Asph v2 and the 90mm Elmarit.
The fireman’s kiss
On the M6 I had a few shots left on a Ilford Delta 400 ( black and white ) and rummaging in my film box I realised I did not had many rolls, I stopped hoarding films a while back. I bet that colour would be best suited (good guess) so between a Ektar 100 and an expired Cinestill 800T I settled for the later.
Ni hao
Ok that’s a bit silly, to shoot in daylight with a tungsten film I know, but being unsure of how easy it will be to shoot film that day, I settled for the cheaper film. I purchased this Cinestill as least 5 years ago so it probably cost me half of the Ektar cost, it was time to shoot it and I had decent daylight shots in the past. We ‘ll see in a couple of weeks how sound was this reasoning. And I compensated a bit for the old age of the roll by shooting at 400 ISO
ReflectionSo here are a selection in my 600 or so pics. On the M262 I switched a few times between the 90mm and the 35. I think I rarely used the 50.Pups out for a walkA camera friendly diva
The flare due to the backlight is quite pronounced in the above, I did serious ( for me) Lightroom edition to compensate, but that’s not 100%. Also I did not put my reading glass when formatting my SD card so I inadvertently reset the camera to factory settings, so I lost the compensation control on the thumb wheel, which I normally use a lot.
Everything is better with bubblesMind the GapMister Leather was in townY.M.C.A.
A lot of fun, charm, good spirit and probably quite a dose of courage for some participants. I’ll be back.
So 4th of June 23 was a beautiful Sunday, where I forgot receiving an invite to join “Drum & Bass On The Bike” at 2pm at Wellington arch. But anyway as fate has it, by 5h30 I passed by the said arch and noticed there was quite a crowd.
Gurdwara Ber Sahib is situated in the Sultanpur lodhi town of Kapurthala Distt.
It is situated on the bank of the rivulet Kali Bein, half a kilometre to the west of the old town; Guru Nanak performed his morning ablutions in the Bein and then sat under a Ber (Zizyphus jujuba) tree to meditate.
Guru Ji meditated at this tree daily for 14 years, nine months and 13 days. While Bathing here one day in Bein River Guru Sahib disappeared and was missing and returned after three days. Upon returning enlightned Guru began his life long mission of preaching Sikhism. (http://www.sikhiwiki.org)
I was most impressed by the pond, the contrast of its green color and the white stones around under the harsh midday sun. The black fish adding to the scenery, but I am afraid I did not manage to capture it properly.
As in every Gurdwara, we had to visit the langar hall, which was quite empty at that time. But being one of the most sacred place for Sikh it is quite big and can host quite a crowd.
The tea master
The man poured us some massala tea with the device below; which is quite a clever invention to serve the usual crowd.
The device
As an eminent foreign guest after having our tea we were hushed into the kitchen, where a group of volunteers were making chapatis.
A beautiful light was pouring from the windows.
We had to decline the invitation to make chapatis ourselves.
Back in the Langar hall.
Around the pool a enclosed bathing areas for women only.
The living quarters.
Outside the Gurwara, volunteers shining the shoes you have left before entering the temple.
India is a feast for the street photographer, photo friendly people, a lot of color, everything is so different, so many things happening all the time. The tea merchant with his yellow scarf is one of the first pictures I took. Through the window of the car stuck in the traffic jam.
One of the many horse carts around
Soon we had to step out and walk to the golden temple as the traffic was so bad on Sunday. I stumbled on one of the many horse carts with the driver standing up gauging the traffic.
After the temple visit looking for our car, I came across this friendly rickshaw driver.
In the afternoon we went to Wagah border ceremony; here also the crowd after the ceremony on the way out offers many photo opportunities.
Ice cream
The crowd after the ceremony is eager to partake in ice cream, pop corns
The last pop corn parlor before the border
It gets dark quickly, and there is nearly one km of little stalls stretched along the car parks.
A fruit stall
Some more spicy stuff
“Let’s ride”: the burger stall
There is not enough time to stop at every stall to take some shots of vendors and their patrons. In this early evening, the lights, the fumes and the colors of the stalls make a beautiful composition every meter.
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