Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/04/29

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Subject: [Leica] Nathan's PAW 17 substitute - London snaps
From: Nathan Wajsman <wajsman@webshuttle.ch>
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 21:03:03 +0200

(I am cross-posting it to the Rollei list due to Rollei content)

Last week I did not take any pictures. My dog was hit by a car and is
still in the hospital; immediately after the accident she was in shock
and instinctively bit my right hand, which is now swollen and taped up
so I can  photograph only with the greatest difficulty. And frankly, my
mind is not into it. So instead I am cheating (but at least admitting
it) by posting ten pictures from the last 3-4 trips to London. While
none of them were taken last week, they are all very recent, from late
March until the week before last, so I hope to be forgiven.

At the end of March I took the family to London for a long weekend;
since this was a vacation, I did not have to drag along business attire
and papers+notebook, so I was able to take my Leicas and use them. One
of the days I took the children to Legoland Windsor while my wife was
let loose in the shops, and the first three inages are from there:

http://www.wajsman.com/2002_17.jpg
http://www.wajsman.com/2002_17alt1.jpg

Both of these rollercoaster shots with Leica M6+24mm Elmarit on Fuji
Provia 100F.

The next shot of a balloon vendor is also from Legoland Windsor, with
the 35mm Summilux:

http://www.wajsman.com/2002_17alt2.jpg

The remaining pictures are taken during business trips to London in
April, and hence with my preferred pocket camera, the Rollei 35. The
more I use it, the more I like this little jewel.

One of my business partners in London is a member of the Athenaeum Club.
It is one of the old, very traditional gentleman's clubs (although it
does admit women nowadays). Anyone who has ever walked from Picadilly
Circus to Trafalgar Square will recognise this statue, but few have had
a chance to photograph it from the vantage point of the club's balcony:
http://www.wajsman.com/2002_17alt3.jpg
Inside, this is the drawing room of the Athenaeum:
http://www.wajsman.com/2002_17alt4.jpg
Both of these images on Agfa Scala.

The next shot is from one of my homes away from home, a pub in North
London (Finchley Road). The Underground runs only about 1 metre beneath
the bar, and the passing trains can be felt and heard.

http://www.wajsman.com/2002_17alt5.jpg
(Rollei 35, Ilford Delta 3200)

As with most big cities, the most interesting part of London it its
diversity of people. Here is one of the many buskers, with a somewhat
unique choice of instrument, taken outside the HMV shop on Picadilly. I
especially liked the symmetry between his traffic cone and the HMV logo
on the door:

http://www.wajsman.com/2002_17alt6.jpg
(Rollei 35, Kodak Supra 400)

When I am around famous landmarks, I usually look more at the people
than at the building. Here is a Japanese tourist photographing St.
Paul's Cathedral:

http://www.wajsman.com/2002_17alt7.jpg
(Rollei 35, Agfa Scala)

I almost always stay in a cheap hotel near Finchley Road. Since this is
a traditional English hotel, the coffee is terrible, so I usually stop
at a proper coffee shop next to the tube station to get my central
nervous system up and running. The last time I met this nice lady with a
cat. It turned out that she was a volunteer with a charity, visiting
nursing homes and the like to provide the residents with much needed pet
contact (for more info, see: http://www.petsastherapy.org/). So she and
her cat were just getting ready to go to work:

http://www.wajsman.com/2002_17alt8.jpg
(Rollei 35, Agfa Scala)

And finally, these two vendors at the Covent Garden market. This is not
a posed shot, they were really having their conversation in this way,
although I did ask for permission to photograph them (as was the case
with the cat lady):

http://www.wajsman.com/2002_17alt9.jpg
(Rollei 35, Agfa Scala)

The complete PAW site is at:
http://www.wajsman.com/indexpaw2002.htm
and comments/critique are welcome and appreciated as always.

Nathan
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Nathan Wajsman
Herrliberg (ZH), Switzerland

e-mail: wajsman@webshuttle.ch
mobile: +41 78 732 1430

Photo-A-Week: http://www.wajsman.com/indexpaw2002.htm
General photo site: http://www.wajsman.com/index.htm


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