Changing of the Guard October 18, 2011

 

I swore I’d never do it.  It was too touristy, too cheesy, and too crowded.  I’m thinking of writing a book about my time in London, though, and I know that it would make a good chapter.  So today…. I went and saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.  This isn’t the first time it’s happened; as I mentioned before, I accidentally ended up in the middle of it once near the beginning of my trip.  Today was totally on purpose.

 

I got to the Buckingham Palace area at about 10:30am, which is a full hour before the guard is supposed to change.  The crowd in front of the Buckingham Palace gates was a full six people deep already.  That was okay with me, though; I wasn’t planning to watch from there.   I was going to set up shop in front of Wellington Barracks, which is where the guards come from on their way to the palace, and where the band warms up as well.  There was plenty of room, so I had my choice of spots.  The guards were already getting into formation by the time I found a good place for pictures.  Basically, “getting ready” consisted of a lot of indistinct yelling, stomping, and occasional shuffling to get into formation.  The commanders inspected the troops at one point, and it looked to me like everyone passed. 🙂

 

The band arrived on the scene to warm up after the rest of the guards did.  They circled up and kicked off with “Summer Nights” and “Greased Lightning” from the musical, Grease, before moving on to “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”  I’m not kidding.    It…definitely wasn’t what I would have expected from a military band.  Not to worry; they played proper marching music as the guards actually left the barracks and proceeded to the palace.  What happened after that?  I wish I could tell you, but like I said…I wasn’t over there, and there was no way I was going to get close enough to see at that point.  Overall, though, it was interesting to see the beginning of the ceremony.  It did seem like a bit much to go through to protect the Queen….in a palace that no one can get into anyway….WHEN SHE’S NOT EVEN HOME.  Even so, I’m planning to go back twice for photographic purposes: once to watch from the middle of the route, and once to watch from Buckingham Palace.  If you’re ever in London and you really want to see the Changing of the Guard but only have a chance to do it once, wait outside Wellington Barracks.  You’ll get just as many photo ops, and the crowds will be smaller. 🙂  Just remember to clean your camera lenses often; I’m  TERRIBLE about doing that, which explains the weird haze that appears on some of my shots from today.  Shooting into the sun didn’t help, either, but that was easier than I thought it would be to work around.

 

Speaking of photo ops, I went out last night to try my hand at some nighttime photography.  The good news is that London is fantastic at night.  The bad news? Although my Canon had great nighttime settings, it was really tough for me to get anything decent without my tripod.  I had to use a fairly slow shutter speed, and when you add that with the fact that my hands are NOT steady (plus the fact that it was windy)…let’s just say there were a lot of indistinct blurs.  I got a few that I like, though, and I’m not giving up.  It’s just a matter of finding creative substitute tripods. 😛

Worth a Thousand Words September 26, 2011

Courtesy of Google Images

 

I think there are few travel souvenirs that are better than photos.  Good shots can really capture whatever you were seeing at any given moment, and bad ones can be REALLY discouraging, especially if you can’t figure out what you’re doing wrong.  I should know; I’ve taken PLENTY of good and bad pictures since I’ve been in London!  I’ve made mistakes and I’ve learned a lot, so I thought I’d share some of my “rules” for good travel photography with all of you.  I’m NOT a professional, and I’m NOT an expert, but if my mistakes (and the ones I’ve seen other people make) can help somebody take better pictures during their own travels, I’m happy to help!  Read on:

1. Know your camera well before you leave home.  It can be awfully tempting to buy a fancy new camera before a big trip, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that.  What isn’t so smart is not knowing how to use all of its features prior to leaving home.  Case in point:  not long after I got here, I was wandering around St. James’s Park.  A fellow tourist walked up to me and asked if I could help him with his camera; he’d gotten it stuck on the self timer and didn’t remember how to return to normal shooting mode.  Luckily, it was a Canon like mine, so I was able to help him out in about 2 seconds.  You don’t want to find yourself in a situation like that, just in case there aren’t any nice people around to help you out! 😛
2. Shoot with the sun behind you.  The colors will stand out better, the pictures will be sharper, and you’ll be happier with your results.  This is one of those simple things that I NEVER thought to do for the longest time, and I couldn’t understand why so many of my pictures were washed out and faded, no matter what camera settings I used.  If you’re into people photography, you may need to tweak this rule a little.  After all, if the sun is behind you and your camera, it will be in the eyes of your subjects.  I’m not the one to talk to about people photography, though…not my forte.
3. Get creative.  Shoot from different angles, at different times of day, in different camera modes, etc.  You never know what you’ll end up with!  Plus, you WON’T end up with the same old pictures of the same old landmarks as everyone else.
4. Know your camera’s limits.  Everyone’s will do some things really well, and some things not so well.  Mine is great for flowers and wider architectural shots, but the lenses I have tend to compress things together.  That makes it very hard to get wide shots inside cathedrals that show all the fabulous detail.
5. Accept that not every picture you take will be fabulous.  This is something else I’ve been kind of guilty of not doing; I want every picture I take to be perfect. 😛  That’s just not possible, even for professionals.  I remember reading that only 10 out of every 100 pictures that the best photographers take are good, and out of those 10, only 1 is excellent.  Not great odds, but it’s true. 🙂  There will always be times when the weather and light won’t cooperate, or you don’t have the right lenses for a particular subject, or you just aren’t in the right place at the right time.

 

Again, I’m not a professional, so take everything with the appropriate grain of salt.  There are plenty of good books out there (some specifically geared toward travel photography), and I recommend picking one of those up if you DO want advice from the pros. 🙂  Happy shooting!