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Inside Shakespeare and Company bookshop

Inside Shakespeare and Company bookshop

Shakespeare and Company is an independent English language bookshop in central Paris. It’s across the river from the Notre Dame Cathedral on the Left Bank. This bookstore opened in 1919 by an American Sylvia Beach. It has become a tourist attraction in it’s own right. The inside is compact but much bigger than I expected. Photography isn’t allowed inside without permission. There are many people reading and writing like the lady picture here. She is on her phone and I didn’t use flash or make any noise to capture this interior scene.

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British Museum – Great Court

British Museum - Great Court

An iconic view from the second floor of the southern wing of the British Museum. It’s home to one of the largest collections of works of human history, art and culture. This central quadrangle has become Queen Elizabeth II Great Court and was opened in 2000. The incredible looking glass and steel roof has kept the museum high on my list of locations in London.

Since first seeing this interior online, I’ve wanted to photograph it. On a recent trip to London I didn’t bring a DSLR camera and my very wide angle lens. Just my travel compact camera. Its lens wasn’t wide enough to fully capture this view. I took dozens of different photos to stitch them into a panoramic photograph later. This is the best pano I was able to record. Surprisingly it came from my iPhone 6 using it’s built in pano mode.

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Inside Fountains Abbey

Inside Fountains Abbey

The largest indoor area of the Abbey is called The Monk’s cellarium and it was where the food was stored. Presented with this low light environment and not having a tripod with me was a challenge. My solution was to put my camera on the floor. This meant I was able to capture a much longer exposure and get the details in the darker areas of the ceiling. Taking off my jacket, I was able to put this under the camera to lift up the front of the lens and adjust the angle to frame this photograph properly.

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Grand Central Station, New York

Grand Central Station, New York

With such a crowded space I was amazed to see so many people moving at various spends and in all different directions. Some stood still, waiting around looking at their phones. Others were almost running through the crowds to catch their trains. It was amazing how people avoided bumping into each other. In an attempt to capture the movement I had the camera resting on a wall and was able to capture this photograph with a ten second long exposure time. The people moving (which was the majority of people) have turned into weird ghostly blurs which is exactly what I was after.

Back in 2006 I was in New York with my college friends and we went for a meal at TGI Fridays at Grand Central Station. Going around in a big group of students made it difficult for me to wonder off and get some photographs of the station. This is actually my second recent attempt at this super wide angle view of the Main Concourse. The previous day I had taken a photograph from the exact same spot but in the day time. Being inside the time of day didn’t really bother me. That was until I reviewed the shots on the laptop that evening. The large windows on the opposite side of the concourse had so much light coming through them that they were all white and this reflected off the floor and basically ruined the first set of photographs. I was fortunate that I had another few days in the city to return in the early evening and capture it properly.