3 July 2011

A Lumix in London

Last week I went to London for a conference. As I was carting around work kit, I naturally didn't take all my camera gear, but I did tuck my smallest camera away in my bag. (It's a Panasonic Lumix TZ6, if you're interested. I didn't get on with it at all well to start with, but I have learned to appreciate its strengths.)

As it happens I was very tight for time on the day, and as I was working I had no time for wandering off looking for photographic subjects. Luckily, the subjects turned out to be right in front of me.

The conference I attended was held in the British Medical Association's offices in Tavistock Square.

On my way out of the meeting room, I noticed the BMA symbols on the glass doors out into the courtyard and thought they might make for an interesting shot, as they explain visually what the building behind is all about. It helps that the BMA building is beautiful and photogenic, so provided something attractive as the backdrop!


In the courtyard were some benches. Nothing very exciting in themselves, but against the stone, with some nice curved windows and a suitably positioned small tree in a pot, there was another picture for my set. Shame the lighting was a bit flat, but you have to go with what you've got in these situations.


Did I mention that I think the building itself is beautiful? I did? Oh. Well here's a shot showing a bit more of it.


Walking back along an attractive street of stone, glass and brick buildings, I passed the Wellcome Trust, who had some huge displays in their windows:

This was the most striking of the resulting pictures, but I did take several shots of the other display windows in their building. (Including the opening shot in this post.)

Perhaps I could have got better shots with my DSLR. Perhaps not. But I did manage to get some interesting shots (IMHO!), quite literally all taken within less than half a mile of each other. If I hadn't taken my little Panny with me that day, I would have come home frustrated and empty handed.

It just shows that sometimes the littlies outdo the big guns. Even when it comes to cameras.