London 2 Paris

A few months ago Gabi put my name down to ride from London to Paris in support of COSMIC (the Paediatric intensive care unit at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington).  This was the brain child of Chris Bunker who is part of the Wellcome Collection Development Project team, of which Gabi is also member of, due to her current work project.  I didn’t really give it much thought until someone actually donated some money on my fundraising page and then it suddenly became real.  With the ride being at the end of March and me being a fair weather cyclist I wasn’t too keen to get out and train over the winter months, but with a few indoor training sessions I started to get those cycling sensations back into the legs.  Panic then crept in as after a 3 week trip to New Zealand and Australia we were only left with eighteen days to clock up some miles so we could ride the required 130km-160kms a day, for 3 days, to get to Paris.

The first day to Dover was a solid day on the bike.  The route was quite hilly and it’s always a challenge riding on unknown roads.  Day two was a long day.  A 3.30am get up to catch our ferry to Calais was hard work and to make matters worse it was pouring down.  The weather forecast was for it to clear around 10am but that meant a good couple of hours riding through France in reasonably heavy rain.  We hadn’t even left Calais when bad luck struck in the form of railway lines crossing the road at an angle and 4 or 5 riders hit the deck with Chris, our leader, coming off the worst and breaking a bone in his shoulder.  We were forced to carry on while Chris and the support van went looking for a hospital.  The ensuing 2-3 hours of rain-soaked riding were probably some of the most miserable miles I have ever done on a bike, so when the sun came out and it warmed up it was a huge relief.  The rest of the day was great fun with some nice roads and great scenery.  Day three from Amiens to Paris was also a brilliant day riding on quiet, smooth roads until we reached the outskirts of Paris.  It suddenly got very busy and traversing across Paris was a little nerve racking at times.  However we soon had the Eiffel Tower in our sights and nothing was going to stop us.  After a quick celebration beneath the Eiffel Tower we headed to the hotel and a celebratory well earned steak!

I would like to thank all those that donated money to my Just Giving page in support of COSMIC and I was very impressed by the efforts of everyone to get to Paris, especially as a few riders had only been riding for a few months. Our target was £10,000 and we have currently raised £15,100.  Well Done guys and girls!

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Early start at the Wellcome Trust on day one.

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Big thanks to Steve for organizing some breakfast before we set off.  Can’t go wrong with porridge and coffee.

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Regrouping in Gravesend after a morning tea break. Clearly Neil feeling the heat with his short sleeve jersey and shorts whilst the rest of us are rugged up!

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Gabi leading the charge! Just like the old days….

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The roads to Dover.

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One of the many hills encountered. Some happier than others.

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The ferry to Calais.  Breakfast onboard and preparations for rain…

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Battling some nasty cross winds through northern France.

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Reasonably tight bunch heading into a small rise, allez, allez!

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The team were loving the smooth roads and blue skies.

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Mark gets his own set of images.  New bike, new kit, new shoes and only 300kms of bullying to finally get him to take off those football shorts!

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Pushing hard to get to the hotel before the sun goes down.

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Finally Paris and the Eiffel Tower.  Quite the sight-seeing trip through Paris.

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The last leg to the train station.  No Lycra today.  Some were more tired than others, however this may not have been from the cycling but a late night in Paris!

 

Kawakawa Glamping

Glamping: “a form of camping involving accommodation and facilities more luxurious than those associated with traditional camping“.  After travelling 35hrs from London to New Zealand the day before we were wisked away for a quick break at Kawakawa Station on the Palliser Cape in the South Wairarapa.  We had wanted a couple of days away from the hustle and bustle of city life and luckily enough for us, my sister had organised a bit of a surprise.  Arriving into Wellington to a howling southerly was nothing new, but it was supposed to be summer! The weather in the Wairarapa wasn’t any better and we thought we were in for a couple of wet days, the first thing we did was light the wood burner in the tent to warms things up.  It pretty much rained all night but by the morning it had cleared and the sun came out.  Below are a few photos of the ‘glamping’ and our visit to Cape Palliser and here is a link to the glamping website.

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The view from quarter of the way up the hill behind the campsite.

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The main tent.

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Inside the main tent, note the wood burner.

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Even the local sheep weren’t enjoying the cooler weather.

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Bacon butties for lunch! Showering with a view!

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Cape Palliser.

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Couldn’t resist photographing some of the local Architecture.

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Fun with puddles!

 

Lonetrees

I recently had the pleasure of shooting a new dwelling in Reigate for Christian Froggatt Architects.  I had to concentrate on external images as Christian had limited involvment with the interior decor.  Luckily the weather played its part and we had a beauitful sunny day, however with some rather large trees and the low winter sun, capturing the front face of the house bathed in sun (which it would be in summer) proved to be challenging.  I did my best and hung around all day in hope that I might just get a few seconds of sun peeping through the trees and lighting up the face of the building.  I was out of luck but managed to capture some cool shadows falling accross the elevations.  One of the advantages of shooting in winter is that the sun goes down early and in this case it was around 5pm which was good as it was freezing and I didn’t have to wait long to get the evening shots I needed.  Here are a few images from the shoot.  You can visit Christian’s website here.

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Nana

Having not been back in NZ for almost 2 years seeing my 93 year old Nana was high on the agenda and I decided to pester her for an hour or so and photograph her.  It was no surprise that Nana had not lost any of her independence, she was busy as ever going about her morning routine while I clicked away around her.  She was a real natural in front of the lens.  I wanted to capture her how she is, the real deal so to speak.  Capturing her like this is how I see her, no bells and whistles and straight to the point!  It was also nice to capture Nana and Lucy together and it wasn’t until afterwards I realized we had 4 generations of family sitting around enjoying the sun. It was a great day! I recommend that everyone have a go at capturing their older family members, it’s very rewarding.

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For over 40 years this is how we are greeted by Nana. Very matriarchal!

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A favorite spot for my sister and I.  We spent many hours surveying Nana’s farm from this viewpoint.

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All the ingredients for a hearty breakfast….porridge, milk, sugar and cream.

img_People_0385We used to have breakfast in this same spot everytime we visited. Nothing changes!

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After breakfast it’s all business to make sure Nana doesn’t miss anything….glasses clean, check! hearing aid clean, check!

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Now on to the requests for family tree info. A wealth of information!

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Nana is not alone on the farm.  The ‘Boys’ more or less pay the bills and the cat is a bit of company.  There is also an amazing amount of native bird life around.

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Roughly 87 years between these two.  One wise old lady and one little rascal!

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Ethnee Mollie Simpson or Mollie to her friends.  But to us she is Nana.

 

De Beauvoir House

Scott Architects have just completed the renovation and extension of this Victorian Terraced house in the De Beauvoir Conservation area in Hackney, London.  I was lucky enough to have a nice fine day to shoot this house which has been shortlisted for the The Sunday Times British Homes Awards 2013 ‘Small House’ category.

A quote from their website pretty much sums up the renovation….“The sculptural form of the rear extension has resulted from specific responses to the site’s immediate surroundings, while preserving the character of the existing building. The extension is designed to be part of the garden landscaping rather than the main house and this is reflected in the choice of timber cladding and green roof system”.

I pretty much spent the whole afternoon and evening there and the only thing missing was cranking up the barbie and having a beer in the courtyard.

 

 

London Photo Walk

Last weekend I attended an Architectural Photography workshop run by Andy Spain.  Saturday had been the first sunny day in a while but unfortunately Sunday, the day of the workshop, was a bit hazy with high cloud.  I was hoping for blue skies.  Five of us started off near Southwark Cathedral and we did a loop up to the Swiss Re building and back to the New Exchange before a quick break and a look at some of the images we had created.  After our break we headed out again to capture some evening shots of St Paul’s Cathedral and views from the Millennium bridge.  It was a great afternoon and Andy was very generous with his knowledge about photography and his experiences of the business we work in. Here are a few images I made.

First shots across the river with London bridge to the right.

Inside Southwark Cathedral.View of The Shard from London Bridge. Lendenhall Market.The Swiss Re building aka The Gherkin.After a quick break it was off to St Paul’s Cathedral.Looking back towards St Paul’s Cathedral from the Millennium bridge.The Shard again but from the Millennium bridge this time.

Splashpoint Leisure Centre Construction.

Currently under construction and due to finish soon is the new Splashpoint Leisure Centre in the seaside town of Worthing.  After a bit of to-and-fro, I finally made it down to the site on a very cloudy and cold day.  The forecast was for fine spells in the afternoon but they didn’t eventuate.

Wilkinson Eyre Architects designed the new pool complex and it is being constructed by Morgan Sindall.  The complex comprises of a 25 metre six lane pool, a learner/diving pool with a variable depth, indoor leisure pools with hydro slides and an outdoor paddling pool. For the non swimmers a health and fitness centre, café, crèche and what I was told were dance rooms complete the building.

The unique copper cladding was definitely a talking point for many of the contractors on site and lead to a couple interesting conversations regarding the use of the material as a cladding.  I was also bombarded by a few local residents voicing their opinions about the project whilst having a coffee break in a nearby cafe. I guess you can’t please everyone!  I thought it was pretty cool and look forward to seeing what effect the salt air has on the copper cladding a few months from now.

 

 

Docklands – London

Originally I had intended on creating a few images of The Shard from some scoped out vantage points, but with a layer of smog clouding the shot, this proved impossible. It was a beautiful blue-sky day so I headed to London’s docklands to check out the Emirates Airline Cable Car instead.  The cable car, designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects, was finished in June of this year ready for the Olympics and it connects South London to the North from Greenwich Peninsula to the Royal Docks.  Located beneath the cable car on the Northern bank is Siemens Urban Sustainability Centre, also known as The Crystal, and also designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects. Awarded a BREEAM Outstanding rating the building incorporates a number of sustainable design and construction elements including high performance glazing, rainwater harvesting, ground source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels to name a few.