Skating at Somerset House

On this surprisingly mild day I walked many miles on the hard London pavements to view two more photographic exhibitions. A very pleasant walk from Tower Bridge along the North Bank brought me to Somerset House which is holding an exhibition of street photography mainly in colour apart from some monchrome prints from the 1940s by the French master Henri Cartier Bresson. For anyone interested in this genre of photography it is well worth a visit.

A short bus ride brought me to Trafalgar Square and a roast turkey lunch at the excellent Cafe in the Crypt at St Martin in the Fields. At the Chris Beetles gallery just off Piccadilly is an exhibition by another of my hero photographers Michael Kenna. These mono landscape images are a world away from those at Somerset House. These are quiet simple compositions pared down to a bare minimum often taken in snow which make me think that many of us cram far to much information into our own work.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in around Bond Street and Regent Street to see the Christmas lights. Although the streets were pretty busy there did not seem to be an awful lot of people actually in the shops. There are a lot of bored looking shop assistants doing not very much. I am getting the distinct impression that the population of London spends most of the time either eating, smoking or on the telephone.

Again today I took quite a few blippable photos some of which I'll put into my blipfolio when time allows. This snap is of the ice skating rink at Somerset House which I think shows that the Brits. are not natural born skaters.
Press L on the keyboard for large to see the expressions of grim determination!