At 8am the exterior thermometer read -3.5˚centigrade and the conditions were sunny and very crisp - not necessarily the perfect conditions for what ended up being a three hour round trip to St Bride's, Fleet Street in the City of London. Past experience told me that the bike was the way to go as I would be stopping frequently and able to dodge any traffic that might delay me if I used the car. Thankfully the temperature had just crested freezing point when I left home after 9am.
I followed the Harrow Road A404 into the West End - a route I know well having commuted using this route for a number of years and arrived at St. Bride's after just over an hour. A reasonably uneventful ride as I tried to moderate the pace as I new the total mileage would be twice what I usually do and especially with my current low level of fitness. It has been a few years since I visited the church with Ed when we shot a cityscape featuring St. Paul's from the tower but easily located the location and saw the first irritation - scaffolding on an adjacent building - just have to avoid this as best one can. Great to have a look around and find the front door that is actually around the corner and also to work out the parking for the day as I will be on the clients' transportation throughout - a white Taxi and later two Red Routemaster Buses.
I left the Church and went in search of The Press Wine Bar - the last stop on the Wedding tour and quickly located it in Bride's Lane, also seeing the Old Bell Pub right beside the Church, where the Groom and men will meet before the ceremony. It was suggested that we visit St. Paul's for some pictures and as can be seen above the best position is in fact, halfway down Ludgate Hill rather than on the steps. I'll use a long lens to compress the image and enlarge the facade. we may continue to the steps of St. Paul's for some wider pictures.
Another possible stop is at the Royal Courts of Justice.
Next stop was on the Embankment and there are a couple of potential areas to shoot long and wide pictures.
The above image is still on the Embankment but close to the Houses of Parliament and Parliament bridge. The last location on our route to Altitude is actually on Parliament bridge looking north.
After this marathon shoot we will pile back into the Cab and finally arrive at Altitude, Millbank Tower. As usual with recces, they can be time consuming but ultimately so worth it as I have now found and seen all the locations for the wedding day and consequently things will run a lot more smoothly - well that's the theory!
And the final mileage for the recce was 36 - not a long run but good for me at this stage of the year and fitness level. The ride went well but the feet froze! Even though I found and wore a pair of Berghaus "socks" over the regular socks - the feet were a problem - better than yesterday but still cold. The thoughts from today are that if I can get out in this weather, I'll appreciate and reap the benefits when I'm riding around the South of France for two weeks this July - motivation enough, I think!
Just a quick word about the pictures - all shot with the Ricoh GR Digital, the opening panoramic is two frames stitched and the "long lens" pictures of St. Paul's and the Embankment are radical crops from the centre of the frame. At this size and online, the quality is great but as the Ricoh has a fixed lens, I'm currently stalking a Canon G9 - watch this space!
I left the Church and went in search of The Press Wine Bar - the last stop on the Wedding tour and quickly located it in Bride's Lane, also seeing the Old Bell Pub right beside the Church, where the Groom and men will meet before the ceremony. It was suggested that we visit St. Paul's for some pictures and as can be seen above the best position is in fact, halfway down Ludgate Hill rather than on the steps. I'll use a long lens to compress the image and enlarge the facade. we may continue to the steps of St. Paul's for some wider pictures.
Another possible stop is at the Royal Courts of Justice.Next stop was on the Embankment and there are a couple of potential areas to shoot long and wide pictures.
The above image is still on the Embankment but close to the Houses of Parliament and Parliament bridge. The last location on our route to Altitude is actually on Parliament bridge looking north.
After this marathon shoot we will pile back into the Cab and finally arrive at Altitude, Millbank Tower. As usual with recces, they can be time consuming but ultimately so worth it as I have now found and seen all the locations for the wedding day and consequently things will run a lot more smoothly - well that's the theory!
And the final mileage for the recce was 36 - not a long run but good for me at this stage of the year and fitness level. The ride went well but the feet froze! Even though I found and wore a pair of Berghaus "socks" over the regular socks - the feet were a problem - better than yesterday but still cold. The thoughts from today are that if I can get out in this weather, I'll appreciate and reap the benefits when I'm riding around the South of France for two weeks this July - motivation enough, I think!Just a quick word about the pictures - all shot with the Ricoh GR Digital, the opening panoramic is two frames stitched and the "long lens" pictures of St. Paul's and the Embankment are radical crops from the centre of the frame. At this size and online, the quality is great but as the Ricoh has a fixed lens, I'm currently stalking a Canon G9 - watch this space!
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