Back in March the destination was The Shard in London. You can pay a few quid and head on up to the 69th Floor to enjoy a spectacular view of London. You take two lifts to the floor and then can pop upstairs to floor 72 for an even higher view. However, Croeso’s top tip for visiting The Shard is this… don’t go if it’s raining and misty. The tickets we had were prebooked as part of a rubbish ‘View & Afternoon Package’ from Red Letter Days otherwise we’d have passed.
The view from the top wasn’t good – you could see some of The Capital but not a lot. On a brighter day no doubt it’s spectacular and clever photographers will find ways of shooting good images. There are for example metal fences but you could possibly reach up and over to get an amazing shot. The best I managed on the day was this shot of The Shard in the mist. It has been tweaked a little to bring in a touch of colour otherwise you’d just have a monochrome – without making it that way. The 69th and 72nd floors are up in the mist so you can predict the views for yourselves!
As fate would have it, our second and final day in London was bright and sunny – the perfect day to head up The Shard. Instead we had to head for home, but not before a little womble around the area. One thing I’ve started doing a lot is watching what other photographers are shooting. Down Fashion Lane there were quite a few people taking shots of the graffiti.
I’ve never consider shooting things like this before, but as I discover new techniques and ideas I’ve learnt graffiti can lend itself to all sorts of things – for example adding different slants to famous buildings such as The Shard. If time permits I think I’ll use some of the graffiti images in my Shard image. I’d have done it sooner but I’ve only just learnt how to do this on Photoshop (and only just thought of it as I write this article).
In the end I came back with just nine shots from a brief trip to London. In all honesty I won’t be rushing back to see the view from The Shard – even on a good day – and if you do fancy an Afternoon Tea and Shard View package from Red Letter Days, save your cash and go and find a nice tea room instead.
