Here and There

This week I was mostly photographing Barbican, but on a few occasions ventured around a bit. First of was Whitecross Place, just off Finsbury Avenue Square. I saw a really nice picture of this place (better than mine) on the Flick Bleeding London group page, and realised that I hadnt photographed it, even though I had marked it off on the map. Thus I thought I had better shoot it quick.

On the same morning, before I work, I finally photographed Great Winchester Street (GWS). GWS is almost opposite where I work and is the location of Deutsche Bank; there are lots of security guards here, mostly by the goods entrance, and although not intimidating, I did think they would try to stop the shot I had in mind. In the end I went for something different, the entrance to the bank, with no bother at all.

The next day I had a meeting in Canary Wharf and got the DLR to Bank station on the way back to work. On the way back to the office I managed a couple of quick shots. The first is of the bank of England on the corner of Prince's Street and Lothbury; I not actually sure which of the two this is actually on, but since I have already photographed Lothbury, I am counting it as Prince's Street. This shot is merged from two separate shots, one exposed for the building, the other exposed for the sky. I then used layers and a mask to merge the two in Photoshop Elements.

The other shot I managed on my way back to the office was of St. Margaret's Close, which is gated closed. The close runs up the side of St. Margaret's church and there has been a church on this site since the 12th Century. The current church was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and completed in 1692, the previous one having been destroyed by the Great Fire of London.

Friday was the sort of light I had been hoping for when photographing Barbican - strong sunlight and no cloud which would cast some great shadows from all the concrete pillars. However I wanted to get home a little earlier and I knew I would get too consumed by photography at Barbican, so I decided to walk to Tower Hill, picking out a few streets on the map prior to leaving the office. First on my route was Hartshorn Alley, an unusual alley that runs between Leadenhall Street and Fenchurch Street. It is obviously one of those old alleys that has been preserved even though a new building has been erected over it, which I think is great. What is strange though is that on the Fenchurch Street side there is a Coral Bookmakers that seemingly has no entrance. The entrance though is about half way down the alley, and in my picture below, the man is checking his betting slip or winnings having just come out of the shop.

Directly opposite the bookmakers on Fenchurch Street, was the scene below. It was the first sign of sleeping rough that I had seen since I started this project and I felt compelled to take a shot of it, though I think I had already included two shots of Fenchurch Street previously.

Down the side of this empty shop is Northumberland Alley. The shot below was taken here but is actually a side alley of sorts connecting to Lloyd's Avenue - I did check and it didnt have its own unique name, but I do have another shot of Northumberland Alley just in case!

The Fratres Cruciferi (Brethren of the Cross) are a Roman Catholic religious order. There were four main independent branches of Fratres Cruciferi, one of which is Cruchted Friars. Some settled in London in 1249 giving there name to a Street which still bears the name today. 

Next up is the wonderfully named Savage Gardens, which as you can see by the map below, looks like it should really be two separate streets.

I did take a shot on each section though. The first is at the corner with Crutched Friars.The big arrow is on the side of a Hilton Hotel.

The second shows a statue on the side of Ten Trinity Square; a Grade II listed building formerly the headquarters of the Port of London Authority.

Last up is Trinity Square, and number 10 itself.

Tomorrow is the last day of the month, but I will not be able to take any photos I have updated the map which I will also show here.

Making up for lost time

After two days of tube strikes I was keen to make up for lost time, and cross a few streets off the map. Starting off is St. Mary Axe and the Gherkin. The Gherkin is on the site formerly occupied by the Baltic Exchange, which suffered extensive damage from a IRA bomb in 1992. After years of sitting derelict due to planning issues, the site was redeveloped and the Gherkin opened in 2004. I used to work directly opposite, at number 33,  and watched the construction progress; I also remember the whole office vibrating all day long during the excavation of the foundations. Soon to move away from the site, are the three dinosaurs named the "The good, the bad and the ugly" by the Chapman Brothers, one of which is seen below.

On the other side of the Gherkin is Bury Street.

Just off Bury Street is Cunard Place, which is a smallish lane leading to Leadenhall, with not much to photograph. The picture below shows the trading floor of the ACE group, a multi-national insurance group.

There are a few small alleys that link Leadenhall to Fenchurch Street, one of which is Fenchurch Buildings.

At the end of the the alley above, is a tiny passage which leads through to the road below, which is still Fenchurch Buildings.

There is probably more obvious images to take on Fenchurch Street, such as the "Walkie-Talkie" building, but as I came onto Fenchurch Street I was immediately struck by the tree through the arch in the picture below. I tried to get some symmetry in the people walking past, but didn't quite manage it.

The building inside the arch, seen below, is occupied by Lloyd's Register Group.

Next door to No.71 is small alley called St. Katherine's row.

This leads to the strangely named French Ordinary Court, a narrow passageway below the platforms of Fenchurch Street Station which then opens out into a much bigger space (relatively anyway). The name comes from a probably French place of eating and "Ordinary" would have referred to the fact that all the items on the menu would have been the same price.

My final stop on this particular walk was to Fenchurch Place, home to Fenchurch Street Station.

On the way to the tube after work,I managed to get one shot in the pouring rain, on my way to Moorgate; the side of a restaurant on Wilson Street.