“Big Cam” and I En-Route
First day back at the office after the best holiday break I’ve had in a while. The city is still empty. I suspect the usual hustle and bustle to resume tomorrow (Tuesday). In the meantime, I’m utilizing this quiet period to go out during my lunch break before things get busy.
It’s a funny thing, those few initial photos. The warm up. I never take them seriously, but you have to start somewhere. Today we start from the train.
I have some here I liked, and some I can work with, but they are by no means perfect. I have to think quickly in these moments before the train departs the station. There’s no time to adjust shutter speed and motion blur, not unless I do it with intention.
Down towards Shad Thames, I found myself capturing the same old same: one of my favourite historic streets and the overhead walkways where they used to roll the barrels to and from the ships. This is now filled with million dollar flats, can you believe it?
The area was straight up Dickensian (literally, Oliver Twist is supposed to be set around St. Saviour’s Dock, which is around the corner… I should take photos of that too!). But I don’t feel I captured it well and also feel I never really could. Maybe it’s one of those things you move on from and come back later with a fresh perspective.
Then, at the ascent of Tower Bridge, there are a few lookout points. I wanted to see if my little 28-70mm could take something I had in mind, but alas! It requires a telephoto… I should try again with better equipment, perhaps rent a lens initially.
I’ve started to think about the rules of carrying Big Camera with me everywhere. 1) Everything I post that day must be edited and uploaded to the blog or else I won’t do it, I know myself. 2) These don’t need to be perfect. There’s beauty in imperfection. 3) Only the “best” will be uploaded to Instagram at the end of the week. I’m tired of keeping up with these algorithms. No, I do not need to post everyday, I don’t care if that penalizes me being seen.
It’s so interesting how carrying around your camera subtly changes the way you think, how you process information. I’m looking for potentials everywhere and in everything. It’s like my mind is in overdrive.
We try again tomorrow. It’s supposed to snow.
