The bell inside Elizabeth Tower is called Big Ben and Elizabeth Tower is part of the Palace of Westminster. If you visit London you can find easily the very location this picture was shot. This is an extremely popular place for social media influencers and Facebook people to shoot. So getting the area clear, so I could take this shot, required help from my friend, and patience by me. I did not have a lot of time to fire off a few shots, before this area became flooded with pictures. This was a pre-planned composition, but getting the shot, required a bit of international politics!
This shot of Harrods, from the middle of the street, was from my London visit in February of 2024. Who doesn’t like to shop at Harrods? This shot was conceived by my friend who said, “Harrods has been lit up blue for the first time in 173 years. We can shoot from the middle of the street, push the wait sign, and capture a double decker bus going across in a time exposure.” So this picture wasn’t an accident! It was planned by my friend. Harrods was lit up blue for Tiffany’s 150th anniversary. Likely it will not be lit up again in blue again for a very long time. So this picture is special for many reasons, and a blue Harrods is truly something special. And if you were wondering how this was done, well 7,500 white light bulbs that typically light up Harrods were replaced with blue bulbs.
This was shot on the island of Burano, on my Italy trip in September of 2023. Burano is in the Venetian lagoon. It is about a 30 minute high speed boat ride from Venice. This is a small fishing community. Even though many tourists go there, this place doesn’t loose it’s charm. Osteria Da Bubi is a wonderful place for lunch. For this picture, thank goodness for in body stabilization! I shot this with a fast lens, on a medium format camera, from a boat that was being jostled around. Even though it is a plywood door, everything fits and looks almost like a painting. Even though it is in a way run down, it doesn’t seem poor. One of the ways people keep their privacy is keeping their drapes pulled during the time tourists visit and some have drapes pulled over the doors. I wondered if this plywood door was just temporary and came down later in the day?