More spring beauty in the capital. The view atop the Primrose Hill, despite the slight haze, offered wonderful views over London - with many of the prominent sites clearly in sight. It is one of the most expensive residential areas in London, and this article from the FT explains:

"If you want to understand the appeal of London’s Primrose Hill, an expensive enclave just north of Regent’s Park, simply take a stroll through the area.

Among the matrix of pretty streets and squares, you will see desirable, four-storey Victorian terraced houses neatly painted in pastel colours; G-Wiz electric microcars parked next to Porsche Cayennes; lampposts carrying makeshift signs for local book clubs and spinning classes; and, in Regent’s Park Road, about 30 small shops, half of them cafés or restaurants, with not a chain store in sight.

Primrose Hill’s unique selling point is that it is a small settlement near the centre of a world city. It may be just five minutes’ walk from gritty Camden Town or a 10-minute drive from Selfridges but “village” is the word you hear from local residents and estate agents alike."

Technical details: Fuji X-M1 with Tamron 35-80mm MF lens.

Another beautiful Friday afternoon lead me to Greenwich is internationally recognised as the home of time. This is where to find the Prime Meridian of the World - every place on Earth is measured from here. Not only that, but its where the hemispheres meet and home to a World Heritage Site and London's oldest Royal Park (Visit Greenwich).

My wonder started at Cutty Sark - built in the late 19th century, it is the only surviving tea clipper; the fastest and greatest of her time. "The National Maritime Museum is the world's largest maritime museum, revealing inspirational stories and breathtaking accounts of discovery and adventure connecting Britain's maritime past with our lives today" (ibid). But perhaps the greatest gems of all was the Old Royal Navy College - a riverside designed by Sit Christopher Wren (perhaps one of England's most highly acclaimed architects in history, also creating St Paul's Cathedral). I had to give in and switch the film simulation (colour) mode on the camera to capture the outstanding majesty of the Painted Hall as well as the exquisitely decorated Chapel. Hours later than planned, I headed towards the Royal Observatory through Greenwich Park, offering fine dusk views over the City of London. The clock pictured in the last photo is one of the earliest electrics clocks to ever be produced and was installed in 1852. Wikipedia states: "The network of master and slave clocks was constructed and installed by Charles Shepherd in 1852. The clock by the gate was probably the first to display Greenwich Mean Time to the public, and is unusual in using the 24-hour analogue dial."

Technical details: Fuji X-M1 with Fujinon 16-50mm lens.

Winter is officially over and the crocuses are in spring bloom! In an attempt to escape the flooded plains of the countryside, Dan and I joined a guided walk (highly informative with quirky anecdotal tales, run by London Walks) in St Albans, AKA Verulamium - that's the Roman name of the old town. Yes, its about two millennia old! Here's an extract of their blurb: "The most fascinating small city in England... St. Albans is an essence of England. You can stand on the bank of its little river, the Ver, and suddenly feel yourself touched, saddened by the great passage of time  – Romans, and Saxons, and Normans, and Lancastrians rode across this stream, galloped up that hill, and disappeared into the centuries. And the same goes for the little town itself (little town, hell, long, long ago this was the most important city in Roman Britain!) – here you see it all – from the Legions of Julius Caesar to the dynasty of the Churchills. These streets are corridors in the vale of time. Here's the only Roman theatre in Britain; here's the oldest street market in this sceptered isle – it dates back to the Saxons; round this corner there's a 600-year-old Moot hall; round that one a clutch of mediaeval and Tudor coaching inns; hard by, a rare curfew clock tower; up these lanes a sprinkling of half-timbered Elizabethan houses; over there, streets and buildings that are essays in Georgian England; here, a Victorian prison. Let alone all sorts of hidden, curious places and things – and a skein of enthralling history. Not to put too fine a point on it, St. Albans is England in miniature and London's best kept secret!"

The photos below were mostly taken around the centre of the historic market town, the clock tower and the St Albans Abbey.

Technical details: Fuji X-M1 with Olympus OM 28mm lens.

A bumper set (primarily referring to the the quantity - perhaps I've been lazy to filter down) of photos taken around the square mile and the City of London. After the first photo set in Baker Street station (on one of the original first 150 year old platforms) the journey starts in Farringdon and heads towards the Barbican Centre (photos 4-7) via Smithfields Market. Photos 8-10 are taken at and around the London Wall - which used to surround the city of London for many centuries until the great fire in 1666.

The next set of photos are taken outside the main entrance to St Pauls Cathedral before reaching the southern courtyard of Guildhall, London's ancient town hall, with its funky flooring.  The nearby road names share a glimpse into the town-planning of old London: Masons Avenue, Ironmonger Lane, Milk Street, Wood Street and Gutter Lane to mention a few. In fact, there is not a single Road in the City of London. Plenty of Streets, Alleys and Lanes and Squares but no Roads. Why? Because "this sense of the word ‘road’ was not coined until the late 16th Century, after nearly all the thoroughfares in the ancient City had already been named" (Londonist.com).

Our next stop takes us the the aptly-named Bank area within the City - outside the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange. The ultra-modern skyscraper near the gherkin is Tower 3 belonging to Lloyd's. The penulatimate destination is attractively decorated and one of London's oldest markets - Leadenhall Market. Lastly we end our route crossing London Bridge - older wooden versions dating back to the medieval times (although this box girder bridge replaced the stone one that followed the timber predecessors).

I feel like I've built a bit of a relationship with this strange lens over the duration of this afternoon! It certainly made me think more creatively about my composition and how I could shoot a series of photos without getting tired of the special effect it gives. Although I'd intended to crop the photos and remove the vignetting, the curved edges have grown on me - especially as I took them into consideration when composing the shots.

Technical details: Sony a850 with Samyang 8mm lens.

A new toy! The Samyang 8mm fisheye lens with a detachable hood - usually a diagonal fisheye so you wouldn't see the black vignetting but I enjoyed trying it out on the full frame a850 for a >180 degree angle of view. It certainly took a little while getting my head around using it as it was almost impossible to avoid flare on a sunny day or my own shadow in the photo!

Further (and more varied) experimentation in a more urban setting later this week!

Technical details: Sony a850 with Samyang 8mm lens.

Apologies for the delay folks... I have been taking lots of photos but just slow to update the blog so expect to see lots of updates soon!

Photos taken during the flooding in the Aquadrome (shouldn't have been a big surprise... although wasn't expecting some of the paths to be knee-deep in water!) Obviously some just show life on the canal which wasn't as affected except for the first photo where it overflowed into a stream leading down to the car park! The sixth photo shows a lovely rustic swing hung from a large tree which we often used to ride... perhaps not any more.

Technical details: Sony a850 with Sigma 50-500mm (Bigma) lens.

Photos taken during another visit to the old-favourite Natural History Museum with Jai Shah, a pro wedding photographer (check out his inspirational 365-project in which he takes a new photo daily through 2013 - harder and more creative than it sounds!). Charged with inspiration after viewing the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit, we made the most of the time experimenting with our new cameras (and an old lens).

Technical details: Fuji X-M1 with Olympus OM 50mm f1.8 MF lens.

A few photos taken on a dreary winter day walking around the ever lively Waterloo station and Southbank (although the last photo is taken near Soho). I particularly like the second photo which was taken outside the National Theatre.

Technical details: Fuji X-M1 with Fujinon 16-50mm lens.

My free Friday afternoon led me to the London Ice Sculpting Festival, located in the midst of Canary Wharf skyscrapers on Wood Wharf. It was breathtaking to see the international sculptors from all over the globe race against each other to carve wonderfully intricate designs into their monolithic blocks of ice. The work in progress is taken during the "Freestyle" competition in which the sculptors had only 4 hours to carve their masterpieces. Additionally an unusually warm and rainy January evening with temperatures of approx 9 degrees resulted in the exhibits dripping and melting while being worked upon!

The super low-noise capabilities of the X-M1 deserve another mention (see post from Westminster a week ago)... most of the below photos were shot at ISO 3200-6400! (Photos have not been post processed / edited).

Technical details: Fuji X-M1 with Fujinon 16-50mm lens.

Two posts for today... the start of my afternoon began with a wander down Marylebone High Street and around Oxford Street, shooting in monochrome inspired by the somewhat beautiful vintage / retro design of the camera. The colourful (although obviously can't be seen in the photo) station in the last image is Tottenham Court Road.

Technical details: Fuji X-M1 with Fujinon 16-50mm lens.