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London my photos, my words

My work required quite a bit of travel. Depending on the volume of travel, I was either fortunate or cursed to be able to visit a number of cities around the world.

Double decker bus in front of Big Ben, London, England.

When I knew in advance that I would have a few hours of down time during a trip I packed my camera and a couple of lenses in hopes of adding to my collection of travel photos. I would grab a few shots around sunrise, between meetings, before dinner or during after-dinner walks.

Phone booths sitting in Shepherd Market in Mayfair, London.

It’s not the optimal way to photograph cities. I would prefer to scout a site, determine the best angles for photography and the time of day with the best sun position for lighting, then return at that time. But I had to make the “between meetings” technique work.

London is a city I visited a number of times on business. Its many iconic locations — Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the stoic guards — provide opportunities to capture recognizable travel shots during quick walks in the city.

A member of the Queen's Guard stands guard beside an entrance to St. James's Palace in London.

Unfortunately, many of my trips were during late winter so I had few blue-sky days for shooting. If I was lucky I would get a day with some broken clouds and a bit of blue sky peaking through. But I’ve seen mostly gray, overcast skies behind Big Ben. Not the image I’d prefer, but it’s the best I could get.

Traffic flows from Regent Street onto Coventry Street around the north side of Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster in London's West End.

My typical photo kit when I’m on business travel includes one camera body (I’m currently using the Canon EOS 7D) and two lenses – the Canon EF-S 10-22 for ultra-wide zoom capability and the Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L for standard to short telephoto zoom capability. I’ll occasionally pack the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L for telephoto capability if I think I’ll need the reach and don’t mind hauling some extra weight.

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Created By
Pat Hemlepp
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All photos and text © Copyright - Pat D. Hemlepp. All rights reserved.