When I go to a famous landmark I am quite aware that those landmarks have been photographed more times than can easily be counted, and by far better photographers than I have hope to become. That said, they have not been photographed by me and because I am THERE on that day it is my photo that documents what I saw and experienced. That is the value to me, being able to say I was there and this is what I saw.

I had been to Big Ben before when I was doing a clinical in London, I actually got a decent photo that I printed in my brothers darkroom, and had hanging on the wall for quite some time. If I can find it and have time to do so I will try get a digital file to add to this post at some point. But, that was may years ago and I was excited to see what I could do with what the weather and light I had to work with on this trip. I had two different sessions on two different days, including that first afternoon/evening after we arrived. Now, photography is fun for me as it combines both technical as well as artful components. Learning to take a picture that is reasonably level, in focus and correctly exposed is technical. Knowing where to stand, crouch or lie, where to put the subject and what to include in the frame and what to exclude that is more the art side. There are many people who have written many words trying to describe what a good composition and a bad composition is systematically, rule of thirds, golden spiral, et cetera ad nauseum. I can see and understand what they are saying, but at the same time the synthesis of the technical and the art is something that needs to be in a certain place or realm for me to really... be there? be in the flow? It is hard to explain, if I am thinking too much I take crappy pictures, if I don't think enough I often take crappy pics but occasionally get something. When I am in the mental space that I think I can term as being "In the zone." there is something different going on in my brain. I start to see the details, the shapes, the colors that define my memory of something and MAKE it memorable. I attend to the technical on a subconscious level and see the composition. Then try to capture it, sometimes succeeding often missing the mark. But still getting something I may like. That zone happens seldom, and requires many uncontrollable aspects to come together and it happens.

Jetlagged and tired, wandering because I am cussedly stubborn and didn't want to miss my first chances for photos in London and heading to a super busy touristy spot, that flow wasn't happening, but stubbornly I persist.

This is a similar composition to my old black and white film photo, I liked the flow from bottom left to the right with the bollards and then the splash of color leading up to the clock tower.

As you move closer, that little splash of color can become a more major element, slight shifts in where you stand, or in the case of the last photo, crouch, change HOW the scene presents itself. I could not choose between these two so you get both.

Now this is where I will diverge from what most people would have used as a subject, at least in my opinion. This is a facade just below the clock tower. If you are only looking up you will miss it. The richness of the carving and decoration blows my mind, and this is the kind of details that take me back, not just, "Here is the clock tower called Big Ben."

This is where I go a little off the rails, trying to locate "The Zone" Wide angle looking up, off center, distorting what is the standard shot. Yet I like it because it is DIFFERENT. 

Now the tower becomes less the focus and the clouds become co-equal, that and the sun rays. Allowing the tower to lean due to the distortion of looking up with a wide angle lens, it doesn't look right, but it looks cool. Saying farewell for the first night I head back to the hotel. 

A few nights later, with my lovely wife as my "Guard" to keep people from stealing my stuff while I focus on photos, we head back out, first stopping at Tower Bridge (Those photos later) then to the area of Big Ben for night photos... my favorite kind.

Why do I like long exposures at night? You can capture movement in a still photo. The way things move the way things look are different in the night, it is unpredictable and to me exciting. I deliberately try to catch a bus moving by, or blur people out by using the longer exposure. 

Reflections are also a useful element that look different at night, and when you are taking pictures of something that has been photographed maybe a trillion times... different is something to strive for. 

Turning around in the general area proves that you cannot stay too focused and forget to look around. The Thames provides a nice foreground to the London Eye, you can see the current moving a little. The discouraging thing with a long enough exposure to get shadow details is that I missed the rainbow colors moving across the building to the right, they just muddied up. Had I thought about it, I could have raised my ISO and had a shorter shutter speed and captured that, but I was focused on a certain look. That IS one of my biggest flaws I think, I focus on "I want to get this" and am oblivious to THAT...

Still really like the photos though...

I do want to throw in one more shot just because. In the area of Big Ben and ON Westminster Abbey there are details, carvings, fun things that I get a kick out of. Here are a couple of them. 

Do you see the dragon and gargoyle thingies on the buttress? This kind of stuff cracks me up, the playfulness on a serious building is proof that humour is universal! 

As always, thanks for reading, happy to have comments and questions.