Preparing to Cross the Channel To travel across the English Channel, you can either fly, float or take the tunnel. As much as I wanted to take the high speed Eurostar train, our group took the ferry across, which turned out to be a real treat. The weather was exceptional and these ferries are huge. The 22 mile ride takes about 90 minutes from Dover, England to Calais, France. Once on board, you can shop, eat a snack or full meal, go up top for a great view, or just relax inside on various decks. We took a P&O Ferry, like the one beside us, just in front of the white cliffs of Dover. Our bus didn't go across, but it can carry a large number of trucks and cars each trip.
Some have compared Piccadilly Circus to Times Square in New York City. They are both unique intersections with large electronic billboards and attractions of all kinds. We arrived after a very long day of touring around London and I didn't have my tripod, so I leaned up against a building across the street for this image. Ripley's Believe It or Not! stood out from the other buildings that evening, lit up with its own colorful lights. The building is the former London Pavilion, which has been everything from a music hall, to a cinema, to a shopping arcade. Directly underneath the Circus is Piccadilly Circus tube station, part of the London Underground system.
Bright and Yellow I recently read an article describing the different levels of a photographer's progress from novice to pro. One of the lower steps, just after a beginning level, mentioned flowers as being an easy subject to shoot. Granted, flowers are not extremely difficult to shoot, as long as you have good light and the flower isn't blowing with the wind. Hibiscus flowers are large, so that makes it even easier. So why shoot them? Simple. They're pretty. When you pass by a hibiscus plant in bloom, you can't help but stop and stare. Their colors are great and the details are easy to see. I've posted a few of these before, but not in yellow, so now I can mark that color off my list. But when you notice that the stybus is sharp and that it was shot with an iPhone, it makes it that much nicer.
