After getting my usual animal and child-related chores done today I took a train down to London. We are very lucky here because although we live almost a hundred miles from the city there are frequent trains from the local town and the journey time is just under an hour.
The reason for my visit was to go to the private view of a photography exhibition that Sam and I had each had a picture in. Sam was supposed to be coming with me but his school's U13 team was in the final of the National Schools cricket tournament and he decided he would rather do that instead. His team were completely thrashed! The same exhibition is due to be on at Kew Gardens later in the year so he will be able to see it there.
I worked in London for about ten years but these days get quite a buzz from my infrequent visits. I love the contrasts within the day where I go from feeding and mucking out animals whilst listening to the sounds of donkeys braying, birds singing and distant farm machinery, to just a short time later being surrounded by the sights, smells and sounds of the city. I must admit that the odd day here and there is about as close as I want to get to my 'city slicker' days of old.
After doing a bit of shopping and satisfying a craving for sushi on Oxford Street I headed over (well under) the river to the Tate Modern which is almost next door to the small gallery where the exhibition is on. I have never been to the Tate Modern before and really liked the space and was thinking that there is probably no better use that the disused power station could have been put to - perfect. This shot, and the one in my 'other stuff' album were taken from a balcony on the third floor. I didn't have time to look around all of the galleries but found a lot of the works that I saw really interesting. I do find myself less 'open' to a lot of modern art these days and wonder if that is just a result of my becoming increasingly cynical in my old age.
At 6pm I met my cousin who works in London and we shared a bottle of wine by the river before going to the private view. It was quite exciting to see my picture on a wall, although it was rather small due to the fact that that it wasn't in one of the main categories of the competition. Sam's was more prominent which was nice.
My photo was of a ramshackle shed on our village allotments and that morning when I was feeding the pigs I noticed Steve, the shed's owner at his shed so went and told him that I was just off to London to look at a photo of it in an exhibition, which surprised him somewhat.
After the exhibition we grabbed a bite to eat and headed home.
Beautifully composed shot of London silhouetted. I think very fondly on London, particularly the city area where I was living when at Barts, however, I think things are very different now and I know for a fact Barts Hospital, built in the C10th has now been sold for development. I would rather not know. Can we see a picture of your exhibition shot?? Clever you and of course Sam
Fantastic image Jan. A perfect silhouette to match the contrasting description of your day in the Country / City. Congratulations to both you and Sam on getting your images into the exhibition :)
I love this view from the coffee shop - especially as I'm usually more than ready for a coffee at this point. Never seen it silhouetted though - great idea. How exciting with the photos!
Glad you had a good day - sounds nigh on perfect with sushi and Tate AND a bottle of wine by the river.
Congratulations to you and Sam...how exciting!