London Archives - Page 21 of 22 - Ed O'Keeffe Photography

20 May 200729 May 2017

Millennium Bridge infront of St Paul’s Cathedral

After the past two days of running around London I knew that I couldn’t physically do as much as I did over the past couple of days. So once we had checked out of our hotel, we got the tube back over to the banks of the Thames River, Blackfriars station to be exact. I wanted to see Millennium Bridge. I have heard in the Media that it is described as the “Wobby Bridge” but I didn’t find it at all wobbly. The photograph above shows the end of the bridge looking over towards St Paul’s Cathedral. Behind me as I took this picture is the Tate Modern art gallery. I have seen the bridge from this angle in a couple of magazines and University prospectuses and wanted to see if I could recreate it. Just as I had my camera set up, two young guys came and stood in my photo and started handing out leaflets. Still, next time I am in the capital I know where I need to go on a quiet but sunny morning.

19 May 200729 May 2017

Buckingham Palace, London

Today was our only full day and night of photograph in London this weekend and we were definitely going to make the most of it. We started off from our hotel and walked up to Buckingham Palace. We then walked through St James’ Park by the Lake, past the Admiralty and through Admiralty Arch. Took a couple of photos of Nelson’s Column and then caught the tube at Charing Cross to Baker Street. From here we walked through Regent’s Park to London Zoo. It was nowhere near as big as Chester Zoo but I felt it was a lot more impressive than Edinburgh Zoo.

18 May 200729 May 2017

Ocean Majesty under Tower Bridge London

Since my very fleeting visit to London in the first week of January for a wedding, I have been desperately trying to plan and organise more time in London taking photographs. Finally I got a train early this morning and arrived in London at about half nine this morning. I am spending the next three days (two nights) with my friend Ciaran taking pictures in and around the city. After checking our bags into the small Holy House Hotel (2 minutes walk from Victoria Station) we set out for the Thames River. Our plan was to go on the London Eye but when we arrived the waiting time would have been around four or five hours so we decided against it. After taking photographs around Westminster and the London Eye we carried on walking along the banks of the Thames, then to St. Paul’s Cathedral and toward the “Gerkin Building” (Swiss Ree Bank).

We finally ended up at one of my favourite sites of London, Tower Bridge. It was a gloriously sunny day and after walking three or four miles we decided to wait around the bridge and explore different angles and sides of the river to best photograph it. Whilst hanging around there was suddenly a large siren and the bridge started to open up, two tug large boats went under the bridge and then the bridge closed up again. Half an hour later the large cruise liner which was moored next to H.M.S. Belfast begin being pulled toward Tower Bridge. Once again the road was raised out of the way for the cruise liner to get through. As you can see in the photograph above Ocean Majesty only just makes it through. Strangely, I was showing this image to my grandparents and they told me they went on a cruise around Norway on this very boat only a couple of years ago. Of all the boats I could have seen going through Tower Bridge, very weird but still a very spectacular sight.

2 April 200729 May 2017

Gherkin behind the Tower of London

Although the bottom half of this photograph is messy and distracting this is a view I wanted to share with you. I took this photograph back in January of this year. I wanted to get some pictures of London Bridge, the Tower of London happened to be between the underground station and the bridge so I took photographs of both. What I didn’t expect was to be able to see the famous “Gherkin Building” from here, on the map it seems to be quite far but being the sixth tallest building in London it could be seen over the top of the Tower of London at certain points. The Tower of London was originally built by William the Conqueror in 1078. In contrast the Gherkin Building, which is actually called 30 St Mary Axe or the Swiss Re Building was designed by the architects Foster and Partners. Construction started in 2001 and the building was completed in 2004. I find it very interesting looking at the difference a thousand years makes to the architectural design of the two “towers”.