Thursday got off to a shaky start. I always go out to walk around and shoot before class, then head over to the class venue (1) for the 10:00 start. I carefully timed my start and walking route to arrive just before 10, but I started getting texts telling me would be delayed. First 15 minutes, then 30. When I got there at 10:30 I found that the problem is the A/V setup we depend on was not working. It was 11:00 before we had a partial workaround in place, which sufficed for the now-abbreviated meeting.

I haven’t really written much about it but we’ve been taking a lot of rides on the tube this week to get to our shooting destinations, with Edmond as our guide. The London tube system (or subway) is complex but efficient when it’s working well. We all have weekly fare passes, which makes the process a bit smoother, although (like the NYC subway now) you can simply swipe your credit card or phone at the turnstile.

Our first stop was an outer part of London known as Little Venice. I was unaware of its existence. There are some canals which feed eventually feed into the Thames; this portion is populated by river boats, floating restaurants, houseboats, etc. It’s very pretty and very quiet, making a sharp contrast to the inner city we’ve spent most of our time in.

After spending some quiet time in this area, we were back on the tube heading to our next stop. The tube station here was part of Paddington (2) Station, which is a major inter-city railroad station. The rail station is above ground, it huge, and has some very interesting architecture. It’s also filled with people coming and going from all over Great Britain. We decided to take 30 minutes to shoot in the station itself.

Our tube ride to Camden was crowded and the train was very warm. The weather has been warming up all week, and it reached the mid-80s today. Everyone on the train looked tired and overheated as we headed to Camden Market.

Camden Market has evolved over the years from a random collection of small shops, food stalls and the like to a 16 acre site mostly owned by a private investor. But it still has the appearance of a disorderly and ad-hoc area. It seems to be frequented largely by young people – teens and young adults – who flock to the restaurants, clothing stores, tattoo parlors, street vendors and the like. The vibe is definitely “punk” – lots of face jewelry, torn clothing, leather, tattoos, etc. It’s hard to believe that it’s actually a corporate venture at this point.

Our last stop for the day (or night; it was dinner time by now) was Brick Lane. This is a street which an endless array of Indian and other south Asian restaurants side by side. We had a decent meal jammed into a crowded table in a crowded restaurant (“Aladan”). But the real interesting part of this stop was the walk we took down the road after dinner to view the wall-to-wall graffiti covering a few blocks. We also found some interesting people there: some couples enjoying the warm evening, friends sitting by their motorbike, and faces in windows. I’ll leave you with a few images.

.

.

---

(1) Our classes are held at the FujiFilm House of Photography in Covent Garden. Fuji is a minor camera maker with a devoted following, and our second instructor Edmond is a brand “Ambassador” which allows him access to the meeting room there at no cost.

(2) Yes, that Paddington. There are little blue bears all over the area.