brrr!

brrr!
Originally uploaded by rachaelr

that's not a job i'ld like to be doing... almost raining, about 16 deg C, and having to hassle a bunch of suits to have free drinks, when they all just want to get home on friday night

Shot from our lounge room window :)
I love my 70-200L!

an oldie and a goodie

This is an image I really like. Stood out in the cold for a few hours during a photography class to get this one. Night Bus, London, Dec 2006.

© Photographer: Rachaelr | Agency: Dreamstime.com

TubeStatus on iPhone

Further to my call for a public API from Transport For London (for journey planning and live status), I found an App called 'TubeStatus' in the Apple/iTunes App Store on the weekend, that seems to scrape current status + notices for the Underground and Docklands Light Railway.

So there's part of my wish come true! I think this is being achieved by Screen Scraping tho, which isn't very elegant for the future (if the TFL site changes, the dev needs to be pretty quick to update their app), tho I might be wrong!

Thanks to Malcolm Barkley.. can't find a website for ya tho - shout out if you want a link Malcolm!

Oh yeah, I finally upgraded to the 3G iPhone this weekend too, as can be seen by the screenshot above. Ended up sticking with 8GB, as I was struggling to find a 16GB in Central London, without queuing or ordering then going back every day to see if it was in... (as one guy did in one of the O2 stores I was in). As to the old 1st gen iPhone, it's still in use, but I'm keeping quiet about that :)

more red bull shots for sale

another set of shots are up for sale on shutterstock.

go buy em! the new 'on demand' plan looks good from shutterstock - much cheaper than the old monthly subscriptions.

shameless pimpin'

here's a bit of pimping of images taken this weekend at the Red Bull Air Race in London (full media accreditation yay!). all are available exclusively at shutterstock under editorial licenses, through either the subscription, or the new 'on demand' license model (a bit cheaper for those that only want a few images here and there).

Go buy them here.

Penny Farthing Lady

Penny Farthing Lady
Originally uploaded by rachaelr

I love the smile on this lady. Taken at the 'market' on Cheapside, City of London this weekend. Shame I didn't get the flash out to lift some of the face shadow, might clean it up in photoshop at some stage - this is straight from the camera at the moment.

tfl api...

Anyone out there know if tfl (Transport for London) have an API for accessing the current Journey Planner and real time travel updates?

I have a cunning plan (so cunning you could do something that blackadder once said with it) that would require access to the TFL journey planner, preferably by an API to make it simple. But google gives me no joy, so I'm guessing it's not out there. TFL are owned (I think? Might be wrong here!) by the Mayor's office, or at least (partially) funded by the Mayor's office, so that data should be free for all to access, no?

cricket shots

A few shots from Lords yesterday. NZ v England, final ODI.

Yeah mate, that was a cracking delivery...


This guy kept our entire stand entertained for a good 5 minutes looking for his friends. Half the icecreams had melted before he found them.


Just a nice action shot in the late afternoon sun.

Heaps more on my flickr set. And another couple of hundred still sitting unprocessed on the hard drive! Shot with a 70-200mm f4 L IS, from up the very top row of the Upper Grandstand, so about as far away from the action as possible - mostly around 1/640th, varying ISO depending on how much sun was about.

Papparazzi alert! Joe Satriani

Joe Satriani
Originally uploaded by rachaelr

A shot I took last weekend at a London Music show, of Joe Satriani looking rather inconspicious while signing autographs.

Shot with a 70-200mm f4 IS lens from about 10 meters away (looking through a gaggle of security guards) and the trusty 430ex on camera, with horrid dim red and blue ambient lighting :)

run run run!

Went for a training run on Sunday in prep for this Sunday's Race For Life.
Did just under 4km in 30 mins, which I'm pretty proud of, as I'm not a runner at all!

race for life 2008

I'm running in the Race for Life again this year, to raise money for Cancer Research UK on June 1st around the City of London. Would be great if anyone wants to sponsor me!

It's only 5km, but I am NOT a road runner at all, so I always find it quite challenging. Did the last one in just under 40 minutes and am looking to beat that this year. Time to get training!

crazy for caffine

It always frustrates me that some coffee chains in the UK are so hopeless when it comes to ordering and recieving your order. This morning I went to one of the many UK coffee chain (not the one in the pic!), and was totally amazed at the hopelesness of the ordering system.

After standing in one queue, I got to the counter and ordered, where the girl kindof barked the order to the barristas (well, the guys who push the buttons on the automated espresso machines). Who didn't acknowledge her, but carried on with whatever they were doing. Then I hung about with everyone else that was waiting for their coffee/teas, while they asked everyone again what they wanted (as they had forgotten), and did the drinks in the wrong order. This was still going on when I finally left.

As much as I don't like that big american coffee chain that is trying to take over the world, at least they have the most successful system I've seen so far for passing on coffee orders - writing the order on the cup, and queuing it up so it doesn't get missed.

At 8.30am in the city, we need our caffine fast and efficient!

Photo thanks to Lost in Scotland(Creative Commons license)

oh behave!

I forgot I took this while out shooting the London Olympic torch relay. Just around the corner from our flat. Not too sure what the City of London Police mean by this, maybe they are congratulating the local residents on their nice manners?

A cold, dark and wet marathon!

Some pics from the London 2008 Flora marathon. I stuck it out shooting in the cold until it started pouring with rain! Must have been pretty hard for the runners (most of whom are still out there - I just heard the Mens race finish on the BBC)

More pics on flickr here -- drop me a flickrmail if you want to buy a copy.
There are a whole lot for sale on dreamstime also.

London for Dummies :: Begone the Meanderthal

K and I have been slowly formulating an "Idea!" to create a book/pamphlet or something to guide the uninitaited through the funny little things that go on in London, which every seasoned Londoner knows about, yet nobody ever tells you.

If only there was a compulsory test at all UK immigration points to check any visitor/newcomer had at least this amount of knowledge, it would make my life a whole lot happier :)

So here's my first entry, entitled: Begone the Meanderthal!

Definition: See the Urban dictionary entry

Habitat: Usually congregating around Oxford and Regent Streets, the common London Meanderthal are also to be found in tight congregations around Tube Station and Bus Exits. They generally surface when the Londoner is late for a train, meeting, or dying for a pint.

Combatting the menace: The majority of Londoners tend to smash straight through a Meanderthal gathering, muttering and stomping on feet/bags/any loose appendages. While this causes a temporary weakening of the Meanderthal herd, the herd quickly regroups to protect the outsiders.

Survival: For a Meanderthal to survive in the wilds of London, it is advisable for them to: a. pull off to the side of the street if lost or undecisive of their destination; b. always move away from exits to stations/buses/stores on exiting and regroup in a more defendable position; c. avoid wandering at times when Londoners be hunting en masse - between 8 and 10 am, and 4pm to 6pm

For the rest of this series, follow the "London for Dummies" tags

An Olympic Dissapointment

The Bejing 2008 Torch relay just went through Tower Bridge, so we hustled down to watch it go through. Despite having a really good posse on a traffic island in the middle of the road, there was barely anything to see.

Look closely, and you might spot the torch in a huddle of police.

Loads of police vans and motorbikes, a bizzare parade of buses with people rocking out on them, then 20 mins later the torch came through, but the runner (no idea who he was!) was completely surrounded by about 10 rows of chinese security and Metropolatian police officers (who were shoving spectators off the road).

Pretty weird! Only saw a few people protesting, and they were pretty quiet.


This lady was having a rather animated discussion with a Chinese guy next to her, but nothing out of hand.

mmm wide angle

swiss re/the gherkin
Originally uploaded by rachaelr.

picked up a canon 17-40mm f4L lens last night, and took it for an outing in the city.
this is one of my favourites from that night. nice and sharp :)

pied pipers

not sure where these guys are from
Originally uploaded by rachaelr.

these fellas are funny! Found them at the British Museum on the weekend. Shame the lighting was a bit dim, so hard to get a good shot in focus. They are only about 5cm in height.

long time, no rants

Dunno what's going on, but I'm not ranting very much at all lately!
Got one for today tho... drycleaners!

Queued for 10 mins to drop my stuff off today, ended up with a newbie dude who had no idea what he was doing (almost messed up the credit card payment grrr). Go back tonight to pick everything up, and they've only got one of my suits in the bag! The manager type dude remembered me, and that I dropped off 2 suits + extra trou, so he's all scratchin his head and asked me to come back in the morning.

Those were my favorite suit trous too... got them from an Aussie shop, so a bit hard to replace :( Fingers crossed they find them. Should ask for a refund too, cause I paid extra for same day service.

nice hedge things

I like this - taken this weekend at Hampton Court Palace, London :)



buy it at shutterstock