London on foot

Other than three years at University, I've always lived in London. Lived, but not loved. For some reason, me and my home city just don't get on well. The people, the traffic, the smells... it all gets on my nerves, and in return for my dissatisfaction, the city continues to show me the finger. If it's not a double decker nearly running me over, it's a kid on a scooter ramming straight into me, a woman with a pram telling me to "F*** OFF!" or a pigeon's swoop making me hit the pavement. London and I? Not the best of friends.

But in an attempt to make peace, my Nikon and I decided to spend the day exploring on foot. The route: Holborn, Covent Garden, Leicester Sq, Picadilly Circus, Regent Street, The Mall, St James' Park, Westminster, Westminster Bridge, Southbank, St Paul's Cathedral, Fleet Street, Covent Garden, Holborn. With a pause for lunch and many a photo pit stop along the way, I walked around for eight hours. And even though my journey didn't end with me falling in love with my home town, I came to accept it a little bit more.

These are just a taster of the photos I took. To see more, go to my Flikr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/memories_smile/

A compact holiday

So I've just returned from a week in Menorca, and it was lovely. Relaxed, peaceful and completely necessary. With only a beach, its hut and a pool for entertainment, I was in Heaven. I'd never been to this particular Balearic before so didn't have any expectations, but I was still extremely surprised to discover just how beautiful it was. Small coves with beaches that weren't made for long walks but with crystal clear waters that could certainly have been created for swimming, it was paradise (with perhaps a few too many children, but I can overlook that...)

I'd um-ed and ah-ed before going about whether to take my Nikon. What with it being my baby and hating to be apart from it for even a second, I was more than tempted to bring it along. But because the purpose of the holiday was relaxation and not photography, and because I knew the majority of my time would be on sand or in water, I decided it probably wouldn't be wise to take the Nikon with me. So whilst it stayed safe on my shelf, my little Fujifilm Finepix Z35 came with me instead. 

Now, if you're in the market for a compact I wouldn't recommend the Z35. Everything about it is just about average. The settings are limited, the quality -especially at night- can be quite poor, and its lens is situated in an awkward place, just asking for finger-in-the-frame shots. 

However, despite all of its shortcomings, I was still determined to take some decent shots on this holiday. So armed with the less than perfect compact, I was very aware that these photos were going to have to be about the subjects and not the abilities of my below par companion. Add to the mix a certain amount of editing once I got home, and I'm pretty happy with the results.