City Buildings
Saturday was quite a productive day for photography - as well as the flypast and the Docklands motor show, I got a few nice pictures walking through the City. We discussed architectural photography on our photographic course last week, so I thought I'd try some.
Richard Rogers' Lloyds building is an obvious photo-magnet. Whilst I was setting up the shot a couple of American tourists came up and asked if this was the Lloyds building; on hearing that it was, they asked what I knew about it. I was able to give a quick explanation of the inside-out design concept, although I admitted that my apparent expertise was entirely down to having been round an exhibition on the architect's work a few days earlier!
Just opposite is this odd structure:
It's what's left of 122 Leadenhall, which is being demolished to make way for Lord Rogers' next project (the 'Cheese Grater' tower). The existing building's construction means that it is being taken down by removing the suspended lower floors first, leaving this strange concrete mushroom.
Just up the road is my favourite London building: Norman Foster's 30 St Mary Axe, alias the Gherkin. It's one of those structures it's hard not to get striking images of.
I love the way surrounding buildings are reflected in the triangular and diamond-shaped facets of the Gherkin's glass cladding. This photo was taken through a polarising filter to enhance the reflections, which had the intriguing side-effect of showing the stress patterns in the glass (view at original size for best effect).
The impressive structural bracing at the base of the Gherkin also rewards photography:
Richard Rogers' Lloyds building is an obvious photo-magnet. Whilst I was setting up the shot a couple of American tourists came up and asked if this was the Lloyds building; on hearing that it was, they asked what I knew about it. I was able to give a quick explanation of the inside-out design concept, although I admitted that my apparent expertise was entirely down to having been round an exhibition on the architect's work a few days earlier!
Just opposite is this odd structure:
It's what's left of 122 Leadenhall, which is being demolished to make way for Lord Rogers' next project (the 'Cheese Grater' tower). The existing building's construction means that it is being taken down by removing the suspended lower floors first, leaving this strange concrete mushroom.
Just up the road is my favourite London building: Norman Foster's 30 St Mary Axe, alias the Gherkin. It's one of those structures it's hard not to get striking images of.
I love the way surrounding buildings are reflected in the triangular and diamond-shaped facets of the Gherkin's glass cladding. This photo was taken through a polarising filter to enhance the reflections, which had the intriguing side-effect of showing the stress patterns in the glass (view at original size for best effect).
The impressive structural bracing at the base of the Gherkin also rewards photography: