London Eye at Night. London England 2013
I hate tripods. Yes, me who takes many night and nature photography at very slow shutter speed, hate using it. Tripods are heavy to carry, I can't be spontaneous, it slows me down and sometimes I can't get the angle that I want. But I love the results, crisp sharp images, the silky water and the blending of the moving lights are just mesmerizing to me.
During my recent trip to London I didn't take my tripod because of the above reasons, but also because of the weight restrictions of the airlines. So what do I do when I see a subject that requires a slow shutter speed with long exposure? In this particular instances I put my camera on a stone wall, propped the lens up with my scarf and used the timer. This was a 20 second exposure at F-14, ISO 200. I think it turned out pretty nicely...
I was so intent on capturing the London Eye that by the time I was satisfied with the image I was left all alone on the banks of the Thames River. After putting my camera away I hurried to the Underground station and hopped on to the tube (London subway). I felt relieved and tired and was looking forward to getting into a warm bed.
After a few minutes the tube stopped. I mean dead stopped between two stations. I tried to stay calm, and in about 15 minutes it started moving again. After getting to the next station, the announcer came on the intercom and announced that this would be the end of the ride and that there will be no more tubes running until signal problems were fixed. We were to find another way to get to our destinations. What? I had several more stations to go. How was I going to get back to my hotel? I had a pass for all day tube ride to get around the city but No Cash.
I ran out of the station to orient myself as to where I was. However, since I had been taking the underground in London the surface streets meant nothing to me. To make it worse, the streets were deserted. By this time it was close to 10 pm and I was getting little scared. So I walked around the station until I started seeing some cars. I figured that whether I had money or not the only way to get back to my hotel was to hail a cab. So I waited for a cab to come by and when I saw one I waived frantically but it did not stop. Another cab came by. Again I waived but it did not stop. Why weren’t they stopping? Couldn’t they see me? Or did they think this lunatic, funny looking lady was too scary looking that they didn’t want to stop? Or did they secretly know that I didn’t have any cash?
But I had to get back to my hotel. I didn’t know which direction my hotel was and I didn’t have a phone that I could use in London. So I started jumping up and down (with my camera bag jumping up and down with me) waving my arms to get their attention. Finally one cab driver saw me or felt sorry for me and he stopped. Thank goodness. I told him which hotel I was staying at and I asked the driver if he could take me to the hotel in under 10 pounds. Can you believe this? I was negotiating with the cab driver; me who didn't have any cash on me. As the cab was getting closer to the hotel I had to come up with a plan. I could ran out of the cab just as he drove up at the hotel then... well that wasn't going to work. Maybe if I pleaded with the front desk, they could pay the driver and charge it to my room? Well that was as good as it was going to get. Just as the hotel came into my view it occurred to me that I had put 20 pounds into my wallet for an emergency. I had forgotten all about it. Thank goodness I remembered. I gave the driver a huge tip and I didn’t have to embarrass myself at the front desk. Soon I was back in my room. phew.....
