Brooklyn View

Posted on May 18, 2012 by murphyz

Brooklyn View

I got up at stupid o’clock one day in New York so that I could go to Brooklyn under the cover of darkness and try to take a few skyline shots as the sun came up. I wanted to be in the tree area shown at the bottom right of this shot, but as it was my first time to this area I failed in that.

Firstly, it took longer than expected to walk from the metro station of choice to this part.
Secondly, I gathered I would walk a relatively straight line to get to the area I wanted, and not be cut off by a freeway in between me and the intended location.
Thirdly, I had not anticipated a camera taking my photo and telling me I was trespassing for entering the park before 6am.

I guess people save that sunrise location for the time of year when the sun is coming up a lot later.

I settled for this view instead, which wasn’t quite as I wanted but will have to do me until my next trip there.

Hope everyone has a happy Friday, and a great weekend ahead.

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Metro Lights

Posted on May 17, 2012 by murphyz

Metro Lights

My first trip to New York resulted in my first trips on the metro system, and the only thing I have to compare it to is that of the London underground. Here are my thoughts on the differences spotted:

1) The NYC metro seems to run all night long – this is awesome, especially when heading out to Brooklyn for a sunrise! Ours stops around midnight/1am.
2) The NYC metro didn’t seem overly busy at the times I was moving around on it. The London underground is often jam packed and rather hot and uncomfortable for it.
3) The NYC platforms seem to get litter removed, but not actually cleaned. I think the London tube staff do an excellent job of keeping it all clean and, well, less sticky.
4) The cost to ride in NYC is much better than here, $2.25 for a single journey instead of something like £4.30.
5) We have ‘rats’ that are small moused sized. NYC really have rats!
6) The London underground has swift trains throughout the day, arriving every couple of minutes on a good schedule. In NYC I was never too sure when a train may turn up, and it wasn’t always signposted at each station.

This last point did allow me to take a few shots here and there though, which is how I managed to get the above image :)

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One World Trade Center

Posted on May 16, 2012 by murphyz

One World Trade Center

I visited the 9/11 memorial on my last day in New York.

I had been in Washington D.C earlier that week and attended a party at the Newseum where I had seen an exhibit on this historic day, and the antenna from one of the towers that is on display there. Much of the video footage in the exhibit was new to me, but still just as shocking; it was a very sobering thing to see at the party.

The memorial itself was being treated by most people as a simple tourist attraction where they felt they could sit and have a picnic and let their kids run around and climb over everything. Security weren’t too impressed with this and were happy to remind people that they are visiting a memorial, and that it’s unlikely the parents would allow their kids the same freedom to run over burial mounds in a graveyard so to show the same courtesy here.

I liked the memorial, I thought it was well designed. I visit memorials at most destinations when on holiday and read the names of people who have been lost; this is the first one I think I’ve visited where it means something more than a day in the past to me though. I remember this one happening and unfolding on the television in front of me, as I’m sure all of you do.

The above shot is taken from within the memorial, looking up at the under construction One World Trade Center. Once complete it will be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, the third tallest in the world. I love the USA for that.

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No Way Up

Posted on May 15, 2012 by murphyz

No Way Up

This is the inside of St George Wharf, a new build currently going up in London. I’m sure there is some logic as to why the stairs stopped on this level and yet the building carries on for eons after it, but that logic is lost to me and made further progress impossible, especially on a night like this one – it was very misty so exterior shots were a little pointless on this occasion.

Today I’m back from New York with a lot of catching up to do. Hope everyone is well.

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Leavin’ on a jet plane

Posted on May 14, 2012 by murphyz

Leavin', on a jet plane

As this post goes out I should be on a plane home from New York, so quite an apt image for today. I’m writing it in advance so it’s hard to say at this stage whether or not I had a blast, however I bet I did. Hopefully I’ll also have some awesome pictures to show from the trip as well.

I hope everyone had a great weekend…as soon as I’m home I need to start to unpack after the move, which already seems like so long ago!

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Sometimes you have to stop moving

Posted on May 11, 2012 by murphyz

Sometimes you have to stop moving

It’s not by design that Fridays appear to feature an image with my hooded character, but I quiet like that it has been this case recently (though this will not continue for long as I haven’t been wearing it too much lately).

I feel this is an appropriate image for for New York, what with people rushing around you and seemingly nobody stopping to take it all in. I think I need to do a shot like this with people rushing on either side of the solitary figure.

Have a great weekend all.

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Portaloo

Posted on May 10, 2012 by murphyz

Portaloo

I returned to my West Park set of images when looking for brackets to process recently, and found this item from the Green Curtain room. It’s fascinating looking around these abandoned places and finding old items like this, and the mind goes into overtime thinking of who had to use them and why. I have no idea if similar items are used in modern day hospitals, they probably are but part of me looks at this and thinks it is so archaic that they can’t possibly still bein use.

Today I’m taking the train up to NYC to start my vacation – hurrah!

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Bloom

Posted on May 9, 2012 by murphyz

Bloom

And now for something a little different from the decay and dereliction that has been posted lately. Cornwall was a very sunny place, for the most part, when I visited late last year. We were very lucky with the weather, and the colours this brought out in the greenery was lovely.

I can’t remember the name of the place we were at when I found this flower (not sure what it is), but it was a great place, near a beach, and full of people enjoying a hot summer’s day.

One day I’ll take a photo of a butterfly, I’m sure.

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Coiled Wires

Posted on May 8, 2012 by murphyz

Coiled Wires

For today’s image we’re heading back to the abandoned mills in the East end of London. One of the rooms had a great patched floor with wires piled to one side throughout, an extract of which you see here.

Currently I’m still in D.C where I will spend the next few days before heading up to New York – I haven’t had the chance to head out with the camera here yet, but will hopefully do so in the time I still have here, if the cocktail receptions ever end :)

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Eyewash

Posted on May 7, 2012 by murphyz

Eyewash

I can’t imagine that my eyesight could be improved by using this stuff to wash them out, but I guess if you’re in an abandoned building then you shouldn’t be using any of the leftover products that you find there!

The trip to the US has started off well, though I’m finding DC to be rather a ‘flat’ city. Already starting to lose track of days though. Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

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Mister Sinister

Posted on May 4, 2012 by murphyz

Mister Sinister

This location, within a disused tool manufacturers in the north of England, was very dark indeed, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much light was in this image in the end. I felt the image was a little sinister, which led me to the title of today’s post.

—————————————————————

Tomorrow morning I fly out to Washington D.C. for work; I’m hoping to be able to sample a few of the sights when there with the camera, though if San Francisco was anything to go by I will likely not get too much of a chance out there. I follow this by going up to New York on the Thursday where I’ll spend the weekend. It’s the first proper weekend off I will have had in a long time, and I’m looking forward to simply walking the streets with camera in hand and seeing the city for the first time. If any of my photog followers are in NYC, hook me up on Twitter and we can grab a few shots…and a few beers.

Have a good weekend all

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The Last Wallbender

Posted on May 3, 2012 by murphyz

The Last Wallbender

The fisheye brings some nice effects to an image, but then so does the ‘warp’ tool within photoshop.

I was straightening a few lines in this image when I decided to go a little haywire with the warp tool and really bend out the walls in the opposite direction to what the original distortion was, and I quite liked it really.

I’m now moved all of my crap to the new flat; a BIG thank you to John who drove, and packed, and lifted, and wheeled, and kept moaning to a minimum – even when it suddenly went from helping me to move to helping someone else move also. Appreciated buddy!

At the moment everything is in boxes, and this will remain as such until I return from my US trip.

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Centrepoint

Posted on May 2, 2012 by murphyz

Centrepoint

This wonderful block in the heart of London is currently offices, but plans are afoot to make it residential.

On a residential note, today is moving day and I have a lot to do before I’m ready, so I can’t stay and chat – have a good day all.

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To Fire Escape

Posted on May 1, 2012 by murphyz

To Fire Escape

One of the things I’m always amazed at when urbexing is just how much space there is going unused, especially in central London. Looking at the prices of flats recently there is a huge demand for property, many tiny and at extortionate prices, yet a few blocks away there could be a tower block sitting completely disused and falling into decay.

I guess it must just come down to development costs at the end of the day?

Today’s image is taken at Millennium Mills in the docklands area of London. A huge disused flour mill that’s not really in a habitable state, but on a piece of land that could easily be redeveloped. Of course, doing so would rob us of the opportunity to take photos of it, so it’s nice to be able to do that in the meantime.

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That Sinking Feeling

Posted on April 30, 2012 by murphyz

That Sinking Feeling

I always enjoy hanging around in the bathrooms of abandoned places. Purely for photographic reasons, of course. Old grimy sinks and toilets make for excellent photos with a lot of texture, as I’m sure you can agree. If a derelict building has been stripped of pretty much everything else, you can usually find these fittings and a set of stairs that will make the trip a worthwhile one.

I’m bored of saying this now, but this week will be another busy one for me. I’m in the middle of packing and am at that stage where boxes cover every surface and, as I currently live in a studio, it means I have little room to move. This makes packing the final stuff, and maneuvering around everything to remove the dust bunnies that much more difficult. Nearly there though.

Have a good week everyone :)

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Watching Time Disappear

Posted on April 27, 2012 by murphyz

Watching Time Vanish

Friday. Again. Already.

Not to mention we’re about to hit May!

Today’s image was taken in an abandoned bank in central London where I also took The Vault image. Pretty much everything had been removed from this location, but the room I like to think of as the ‘control room’ where it appears the telephone switchboard was had these three missing clocks indicating time in New York, London and Paris.

This weekend will see me hopefully signing for the new flat and packing, but not before John and I hit an open bar at the Natural History Museum tonight.

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Atomic Hideout

Posted on April 26, 2012 by murphyz

Atomic Hideout

This image was taken at an old Atomic Weapons Research Facility in Orford Ness. We had just arrived for a nice early start and though the harsh cold wind was biting it was nice to see the sun trying to emerge behind a few clouds.

I spent ages this morning trying to establish if I had posted this shot already or not, which means now that I’ve been posting an image every weekday I need to find some better way to keep track of what is and is not published.

OR…because you’re just as likely, if not more, to forget the images I have posted – I could just go ahead and start duplicating content :)

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Squares

Posted on April 25, 2012 by murphyz

Squares

Square light passing through the square windows and viewed through a square in the ceiling, with a square crop of course.

It took me ages to think of an appropriate title for the post!

Thanks everyone for their well wishes yesterday, I’m very pleased to have won and look forward to visiting the exhibit this weekend to see my winning shot and also to pick up my prize.

I’m moving soon, plus have a trip to the US so the next few weeks are going to be pretty busy for me. I also haven’t been out with my camera lately so I need to try and get some processing done, and blog posts written, to cover any periods where I have no internet or am away from home.

Hump day though – hurrah!

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The Eight

Posted on April 24, 2012 by murphyz

The Eight

Many of you will remember that I was spending a lot of time at the start of March walking around London at stupid hours of the day trying to take photos of all of the eggs in the Fabergé Big Egg Hunt.

I spent many, many hours doing so and uploading the eggs online along with helping other people to find the eggs, much like I did with the elephants a few years ago.

Unlike with the elephants there was a photo contest for this event being held by the World Photography Organisation, and so I decided to enter a few of my egg images in there.

I’m pleased to say that one of my images, shown above, won the contest. Hurrah! I must say that this was not the egg shot I thought would win, and certainly not my favourite shot, and for such a fun and upbeat event this image, for me, looks a little gloomy. Not that I care that much of course :)

Regular readers may remember that I won the St Paul’s Catherdral contest last year, which was also a great honour. I feel the prize for this one, a Sony NEX-7K camera, is slightly more relevant to me than the vase for that contest is. My winning image will also be exhibited at Somerset House during this year’s World Photo London; which kicks off with the World Photography Festival – I went to that last year and it was good fun, so do head down there if you get the chance.

You can view the announcement of my win on the World Photo site here: http://www.worldphoto.org/news-and-events/the-big-egg-hunt-winners-announced

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No Briton Is An Island

Posted on April 23, 2012 by murphyz

No Briton Is An Island

This bridge was taken at Orford Ness during a trip there towards the end of last year. It’s been a while since I looked through that set of images but when I was looking for something to process last night this one jumped out at me.

Though we took a boat out to there it isn’t an island, as you can walk the stretch of land all of the way around it, it’s just a lot quicker by boat. Saying that, the title of this post is more to do with what follows than the image itself.

As mentioned briefly last week, No Briton Is An Island is an exhibit put on by The Photographic Angle.

I have 10 images of London that are going to be displayed, however due to the size restrictions of each of the galleries I actually have no idea at this time how many of the pieces will be viewable at each location. I hope to be able to get to the London one at least.

If you’re able to get along to any of the venues please do keep an eye out for my work :)

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Apocalypse Whenever

Posted on April 20, 2012 by murphyz

Apocalypse Whenever

We end the week exactly where we started. My Eternal Sunshine image on Monday featured a nice bit of sun, and you can see a bit of land in the distance. The image above is from the exact same spot but using a different lens; there was a helicopter doing a few acrobatics around there that day – but it was too small to capture very well with the kit I had. As I said on Monday, you don’t need to move far from one spot to get a different shot.

The structure you see silhouetted on the right of this image is Pendennis Castle which was one of the mighty fortresses built by Henry VIII. We didn’t pop over there on this occasion, but it was nice to get it in this shot.

Out of interest, here are the other three shots I have taken from this location:

Molunan

Sunset on Moss

Eternal Sunshine

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

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Stonehenge

Posted on April 19, 2012 by murphyz

Stonehenge

Today we have a shot of the famous Stonehenge which I visited last year on my way back from Cornwall. Though I have known of the stones for what seems like all of my life, I had never visited them before so it was nice to finally do so. As always, Wikipedia (which I link to in the first sentence of this post) has lots of information should you be as clueless as I was and wish to learn more.

In other news, what’s going on. Well, I’m still flat hunting in London for a nice new place to live. The properties I viewed last night were grim, so I may wish to proceed with the one I saw the night before – if only I can get the estate agents to give me straight and honest answers.

I found out overnight that the apartment I have booked in NYC has now had a legal notice to cease all sublets immediately, so as well as looking for a place to live in London, I’m now once again looking for a place to rent in NYC next month. This sucks.

Work has calmed down a lot, but we’re now waiting on a delayed system to reopen before the final push can be made; and this means I get less time to do the flat hunting.

On the photography side I’ve now sold my first image in a shop based in Covent Garden, which is nice. I need to get them another copy of the image and may have to speak with them about a few shots to sell in time for the pending Olympics.

I’ve also sold my first images via Getty with 3 sales in March. I get more cash from the solo shop sale than via Getty, but I guess them’s the breaks when dealing with a stock place like that.

Oh, and I also have images in an exhibit which is ongoing at the moment and continuing through May in various locations. The exhibit, ‘No Briton Is An Island’ is organised by The Photographic Angle who approached me to take part. Various venues in London, Slough, Crawley, Uxbridge, Greenford and Bristol, possibly also Leeds and Croydon, are showing items from the Exhibit, I’m just waiting for a breakdown as to which of my images are being shown in which of these locations so I can try and pop along to one of them and see them.

That’s about it I think. Move along now, nothing further to see here.

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Higher Education

Posted on April 18, 2012 by murphyz

Higher Education

The main features in this composition are of course the British Museum, with the gorgeous green Foster designed roof, and beside that is Senate House Library which, like the museum, is just full of knowledge.

I have been on the roof of one of these, the other is but a dream.

It’s hump day at last. I viewed a property last night, the first in my search for a new flat, and think I may take it. I’m too lazy to look for things really, so if it does go though it’s just nice to have it done.

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Primrose Skyline

Posted on April 17, 2012 by murphyz

Primrose Skyline

This is the lovely view you get from Primrose Hill when you don’t have a lens that zooms further than 70mm.

It was taken on Sunday during my first trip out with the camera since I can’t remember when, and it was an uneventful evening as far as photography is concerned, I hope James and John managed to get a few more shots than I did. I think after a stressful month at work though it was just nice to walk around, even though I was a little bit brain dead.

This shot was taken as the sun was setting behind us, and the funky orange sections on the buildings was the sun reflecting on the glass. In the shot you can see Canary Wharf, the Barbican, St Paul’s Cathedral, the BT Tower, Centre Point, and also some tall structure right in the middle – not sure what that one is ;)

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Eternal Sunshine

Posted on April 16, 2012 by murphyz

Eternal Sunshine

Another trip back to Cornwall today for another sunset shot, this was taken a little earlier in the evening before the sun had passed the horizon, and just a few steps away from my Sunset on Moss image.

For a couple of images that were taken so close together, in terms of time and location, it’s great to see that they vary in so many ways. That’s the great thing about taking photos, you can often get different shots from the same locations just by walking around a little, composing differently and shooting under different light.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend :)

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