Face Down Tuesday – Paint Shop Pro Edition

Another image from my FDT stash taken on 30th April during the last ever Tuesday I spent at BBC Television Centre. We decided to take a walk at lunchtime and found the old Scenic Artists’ Workshop where they used to paint huge cyclorama cloths for backdrops hung in the studios. Last used in anger in 1999, it was just as it had been left for many years (see another colleague’s eerie shot from last year) until recently being cleared out. I still thought it made a fab location for a Face Down shot – ably taken with the help of Marcus my workmate. I was also rather pleased they saw fit to leave me a few appropriate props in a drawer!

Face Down Tuesday – Dangerous Dentures Edition

This is the first of my FDT stash taken on 30th April – the last ever Tuesday I spent at BBC Television Centre before it shut for good. These huge dentures were obviously a prop for a show, and have been on a scenery trolley in the ring road for weeks. I’m sure they are still there because nobody is quite sure what to do with them! It doesn’t look like I’m lying face down, but it’s not terribly easy to do when you are being nibbled by some dangerous out-sized dentures!

Title: Watched By Wallace
Location: BBC Television Centre
Camera: Canon EOS 7D / 50mm EF f/1.4 USM
Notes: The sun in the Helios Courtyard attracted my attention today. I liked this little section showing the bridge made by the second floor and the red stripe mosaic of the inner curved wall. It was only when I got to look at the picture properly on the computer that I noticed a cardboard cut out of animation star Wallace grinning at me from the middle window! Not sure where Gromit has disappeared to though…

The beginning of the month saw me reviewing a Cactus LV5 Laser Trigger for use with high speed photography. But I’ve also been on several group and individual photoshoots. The first was a bit of light painting and fire spinning with The Essex Massive in Colchester. Here’s another one from the session:

Tunnel & Star

Next up was an evening walk around Westminster with a friend; we met up after I’d finished work for the evening at Millbank. There was plenty to photograph and the bright lights of London Town didn’t disappoint:

Charing Cross And The River

I paid another visit to the Graffiti Wall in Wharf Road this month too. It’s changed yet again. Here was a tiny section of one of the tags:

Dripping Details

I went to Southend for a street shoot with some friends from the GNPC one Sunday. It was cold but fabulously sunny, so there were plenty of characters to see along the seafront (one of the dodgiest was one who we brought with us!)

Walk The Bulldog

Cool Customer

The final Sunday saw me out and about again, this time on Chelmsford Photowalk #46 to Coalhouse Fort. As well as the usual static exhibits, there was also a special display of Military History and re-enactors around the place. Some of them posed for a picture for me:

Re-Enactors’ Portrait

I treated myself to a new lens a few days ago too – the lovely Canon 8-15mm f/4 L USM Fisheye. I have been testing it out as much as possible, and I’ll write a proper review in due course, but in a nutshell, it’s fab! Here is one of the first pictures I made with it in Chelmsford Cathedral:

Mixed Light

I’ve been working in Television Centre again for the last couple of weeks of April, and exploring various eerie corridors and locations during my lunch breaks. Almost everyone has already moved out, so the place is semi-deserted, it’s very strange. But I now have a huge backlog of urbex stuff which I hope to sort and post during early May (again, watch this space). Here’s a quick taster for you:

Scenic Artists’ Workshop Lies Emtpy

As you can see, the fisheye has been earning its keep again!

Finally, as this year’s Mono MayHem approaches, I’ve been doing a little practice with a few mono images over the last month.

So there you have it – all quite busy. I wonder if May will turn out to be as manic?

The Fort Forge

Battery By The Estuary

I particularly liked a bendy tree in mono, but here you can see the rest of the images from the day: