[Naim Khan]

I live in the UK although not in London. Personally I don't mind visiting London but would hate to live there!
Anyway, regarding your query, I agree with most of what the other people have said - enjoy yourself and don't worry about something that may never occur. Remember, for the few people that are bothered by the police, there are hundreds or thousands who have had no problems.
What I am going to say next may be controversial but try and see where I am coming from. I am originally from Pakistan and with my skin colour am much more likely to be stopped and asked questions (but no one has done so) than someone with white skin (which I assume you have). Just like week, on my way back from Istanbul, the security at Munich airport opened my bag and examined each and every lens that I had (I had 4) and also got me to take a picture with my camera. I pointed the camera at the security guy but he told me to turn! Do keep in mind that I was in transit and was coming from 'air side'.
Anyway I hope you have a good time and the weather is good.
Cheers.

[bymy141]

I live in the UK although not in London. Personally I don't mind visiting London but would hate to live there!
Anyway, regarding your query, I agree with most of what the other people have said - enjoy yourself and don't worry about something that may never occur. Remember, for the few people that are bothered by the police, there are hundreds or thousands who have had no problems.
What I am going to say next may be controversial but try and see where I am coming from. I am originally from Pakistan and with my skin colour am much more likely to be stopped and asked questions (but no one has done so) than someone with white skin (which I assume you have). Just like week, on my way back from Istanbul, the security at Munich airport opened my bag and examined each and every lens that I had (I had 4) and also got me to take a picture with my camera. I pointed the camera at the security guy but he told me to turn! Do keep in mind that I was in transit and was coming from 'air side'.
Anyway I hope you have a good time and the weather is good.
Cheers.

Yeah, we cannot choose how we were born, we choose how we treat other people however.
I'm sorry for what is happening to you.

I've crossed the Dutch border hunderds of time, they allways check my passport in the computer.
Apparently I look like I'm not paying my taxes
One place I know white skinned people are treated the same on the border is Israel.
Try crossing an Israelian border without somebody opening your camera, looking through all your lenses and browsing through you dirty laundry...

- Bert

[rparmar]

Poor food (try Indian)

It is easy to find great food in London, whether you are looking for Lebanese, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean... or English. (I have had all of these there... I am sure more can be added.)

Simply avoid tourist traps. England has a higher quality of food than many other European countries, though their reputation was forever damaged by how long it took to recover from WWII rationing.

Warm beer (no foam)

Beer is not served warm in London. Bitters might be served at room temperature, but that is never to be confused with warm.

Other beers are served chilled as they should be.

The biggest problem is finding a place that is not a chain pub, though even some of those are fine and sell drink cheaply. I am sure someone with more London ale experience than myself can chime in.

[axl]

well, first of all congrats on the trip
second, if you'll want a pint and mini Pentax meet up drop me PM

third: hotel in South Kensington close to Gloucester rd. station?
Chances are you will be within 10-15min of walking distance to Kensington gardens (which is essentially a part of Hyde park now). Kensington palace right in there.
Few meters down the road in Kensington high st. is St. Mary Abbots:



definitely worth paying visit to if you like churches.

There is one nice church in Gloucester rd. itself. I don't know the name but it's between the tube station and Hyde Park. Never shot it, but liked it... much smaller than St. Mary's though....
From HSK it's only 10mins up the Church street (right next to St. Mary's) to Notting Hill. Another 5mins is Portobello market.
Natural history musem, Royal Albert hall, Albert memorial will probably all be within 15-20 mins from your hotel too. Worth seeing IMO.
Not too far in Earl's court is Royal Empress building. Interesting skyscraper I've been wanting to shoot for a while but never go around to it.
In Hammersmith (35mins walk along High Streen Ken.) is St. Paul's church, freshly renovated. Haven't been in myself but I have it my diary....
One place you'll love if you like churches is "Spanish Place":




stunning piece of neogothic architecture IMO.
It's just of the Marylebone High Street (closest tube will be Bond street)

Another small and relatively unknown church I'd recommend to see is St. Giles in the fields:

Just behind the Centre point:

Which is itself good photographic object IMO.
(Tottenham court rd. tube station)

From there you have it only 10mins walk to British museum which you want to see....
Most of the time it's not worth taking tube. London is much more enjoyable when on foot. Lot of places and people to photograph.....

If you want other pointers, let me know... I'll be happy to help.

As far as the restrictions in photography go...
Well, in museums you can't use tripod, so high(er) ISO, fast(ish) lenses and SR will be handy.
Most of the time you are fine with taking shots, but there are places where security will ask you not to.
a) Canary wharf (skyscrapers etc....) Apparently they are not too happy with photogs, BUT they will let P&S shooters alone. That fact alone defeats any arguments they have so just point it out.
b) Trafalgar square... you may meet some people trying to convince you that "big cameras" are not allowed. Just politely tell them to find something else to do... you are tourist etc... it's allowed and they can't stop you...
c) Train stations..... strictly no pics most of the times most of the stations.... but you may get lucky
d) Tube stations no flash...
...
that's as much as comes to my head now....

BR
Peter

PS: Happy trip
Hope you'll enjoy it

PS2: as far as street photography goes... all of these are taken in streets of London

[axl]

......



Beer is not served warm in London. Bitters might be served at room temperature, but that is never to be confused with warm.

Other beers are served chilled as they should be.

The biggest problem is finding a place that is not a chain pub, though even some of those are fine and sell drink cheaply. I am sure someone with more London ale experience than myself can chime in.

I always have bottled beer.... drought is just blaaaaaaaaaaaaaah in London IMHO

[RBellavance]

Wow, thanks Peter, very helpful and detailed information !

St-Mary-Abbots was already on my short list, but not Spanish Place (it is now!). I'll also have a look at St-Stephens (on Gloucester Road).

Your street photog gallery is stunning ! I especially like "Take a look at me now".

As for a pint/mini-Pentax-gathering, I'm not sure it will be possible, as both my wife's and my parents will be accompanying us. But I'll PM you if I find some free time (maybe when they all go shopping ).

Now I'm just hoping that %$#&$ volcano in Iceland will stop spewing ash in the air soon, so my plane can take off on sunday night...

[Nass]

Now I'm just hoping that %$#&$ volcano in Iceland will stop spewing ash in the air soon, so my plane can take off on sunday night...

Hmmm, looking at this chart it looks as if the winds for the next few days are not changing direction too much. Let's hope for you it stops belching.

[RioRico]

Nice photos above, highlighting the need for a 12-24 or 10-20.

I've never been nor am I likely to spend time in London. If I could drive there from this side of the pond, maybe, but I'm not keen on commercial flying. I recall a news story of a family that drove a DUKW (amphibious military truck) across the Atlantic, but that must have been in good weather.

All the surveillance doesn't put me off. The USA is quickly approaching total coverage too -- ONE NATION, UNDER SURVEILLANCE -- I just figure that any venture outside, physically or cybernetically, will result in my being tracked. That's modern life, kids. Privacy is an illusion. Deal with it, or melt down.

My Irish kin and friends haven't turned me totally against the place either. Some of my in-laws, descendants of the diaspora, hate the English with a passion. On o'friend says he was 13 years old before he learned that F*ckingEnglish wasn't one word. I don't hold current British subjects accountable for the sins of past aristo leaders.

What puts me off from voluntarily touring London (and other places) are high costs and high density. For the latter: I can just do without most big big big cities. I might hold my nose and visit a few museums, galleries, etc, but urban vibes are too often gut-wrenching. And I'm not a country cousin; I've lived in the hearts of NY, SF, LA, Zacatecas. They're just hard to take after a short time.

And the cost. I've an in-law who was a SENIOR EXEC of a LARGE CORP and she's spent much of her life traveling the world to business meetings. She made BIG MONEY and spends it lavishly -- and even she is appalled by London prices. Not quite so bad as Tokyo, worse than just about anywhere else.

So, for anyone going there: Have fun. Watch your wallet. Smile at the cops and cams. Avoid blood sausage. Watch the traffic. Grab all those Kodak (or Pentax) Moments. Act like a bloody tourist. BE a bloody tourist. Return alive and happy.

If I want to see London Bridge, I'll drive to Arizona again. Hey, I saw it just a few weeks ago. Nice and sunny there. Cold beer. Hot tacos. Rational traffic. Cheers!

[bymy141]

Hmmm, looking at this chart it looks as if the winds for the next few days are not changing direction too much. Let's hope for you it stops belching.

Oops, things do not look good!

Here in the Netherlands all airtraffic is stopped at 18:00 today, for an unknown period.
Speculation is that it could last for 6 up to 72 hours.

See also: Met Office: Icelandic volcano eruption

- Bert

[Nass]

London's a great city: vibrant, diverse, scenic. You'll have a great time. Axl's shots are cool - there's just so much history here.

Will you be stopped? Who knows, maybe - as opfor correctly mentioned, the UK has a lot of community police offers and they're perhaps a little hazy about rules governing photography. The UK minister responsible recently clarified the rules and clearly the top realises that some of the police are being a bit silly about this. Whether it's filtered down though isn't certain. It's also general ignorance that causes this because let's face is no self respecting terrorist choosing targets is going to walk around with a big telephoto zoom lens announcing his targets to the world. They use cellphones for that.

On the other hand speaking as a UK resident I'm kind of glad that our police officers possibly stray on the side of caution; I'd personally rather that than have nutters blowing up people with bombs. I know photography is cool and all but I can't think of many shots that are really worth innocent people's lives. London is high on the target list especially with the olympics only a couple of years away so whilst occasionally inconvenient and definitely annoying, I can live with a little extra vigilance myself.

[axl]

Wow, thanks Peter, very helpful and detailed information !

St-Mary-Abbots was already on my short list, but not Spanish Place (it is now!). I'll also have a look at St-Stephens (on Gloucester Road).

Your street photog gallery is stunning ! I especially like "Take a look at me now".

As for a pint/mini-Pentax-gathering, I'm not sure it will be possible, as both my wife's and my parents will be accompanying us. But I'll PM you if I find some free time (maybe when they all go shopping ).

Now I'm just hoping that %$#&$ volcano in Iceland will stop spewing ash in the air soon, so my plane can take off on sunday night...

You are very welcome. I just hope I persuaded you not to leave your camera on your side of the puddle.... you'd regret it, trust me!

and good luck with the highlighted part!

[rparmar]

On the other hand speaking as a UK resident I'm kind of glad that our police officers possibly stray on the side of caution; I'd personally rather that than have nutters blowing up people with bombs.

I am appalled that people actually think like that, but I guess they must for such fascistic practices to get by unchecked. Please name one terrorist who carried an SLR in public to take photos of sites to bomb. Please name one terrorist activity that has been prevented by oppressing the freedoms of every single citizen in the land.

(OK, I will stop, so this doesn't end up in the politics thread.)

Stop being so afraid of bogeymen. Be far more afraid of your government. Who kills more citizens, them or the terrorists?

I recall a news story of a family that drove a DUKW (amphibious military truck) across the Atlantic, but that must have been in good weather.

Across the Atlantic? I do not believe it! That's a fairly large body of water.

Avoid blood sausage.

Heck no. Try the blood sausage... it can be great!

axl: Great photos, especially the tube station building. That totally rocks.

[RioRico]

I recall a news story of a family that drove a DUKW (amphibious military truck) across the Atlantic, but that must have been in good weather.

Across the Atlantic? I do not believe it! That's a fairly large body of water.

I can't find a reference now to the family with the DUKW (I think I saw it in a late-50's issue of LIFE magazine) but here's a brief WikiPedia entry about a fellow who drove an amphibious jeep around the world: Ben Carlin, Half Safe, Across the Atlantic by Jeep, Andre Deutsch (London), 1955.

IIRC, the family drove the larger DUKW, with fuel barrels strapped on and a mast and sail hoisted to boost the mileage, on a Virginia - Bermuda - Azores - Portugal route. This was before weather satellites. Wow. And of course, petroleum cost less then. Or maybe it was this Carlin story I've mis-remembered. Whatever. It's been done.

And there's this web page on a site devoted to amphibs, with an interesting entry from June 2004 -- Here is some real heavy stuff: Mark Roehrig - the inventor of the Amphigeo - is going to circumnavigate the globe in a old schoolbus. He is even taking it across the Atlantic Ocean on the tracks of Ben Carlin as he is converting the bus into a true amphibious mobile home.

Yeah, that sounds about my speed. Drive a floating RV around the world. Skip the hassles of airports, hotels, restaurants, all those impediments. Take as large a camera kit as needed or desired. Put the Who's Going Mobile on the speakers. Et cetera.

[RBellavance]

Well, London will have to wait, it seems. Our flight was officially canceled this morning (not that I really had hope since yesterday morning). Thanks again to everyone who gave me advice, it will come handy when we reschedule this trip.

[Nass]

Sorry to hear that - but I suspected that might be the case - all flights are still cancelled in the UK today (and BA just confirmed tomorrow too). There's talk of pilots doing testing to see if it's really such an issue but if there's any doubt and the ash still has the same composition then I'd say we're in for a bit of a wait because the winds are still northerly.