You know what this country needs? One-million more selfie sticks. ;-)
Above: Leave it to a US company to come over and singlehandedly ruin this great country. LOL!!!! ;-)
Greetings from one of my favorite places on the planet â” London, England! I’m here today for my “Shoot Like a Pro Tour: RELOADED” seminar and I’m so excited to meet everybody (my whole family is here as well, and we’ve been having a blast!).
OK, my one day of shooting (yesterday) was a total bust!
I would have one day of shooting here before the seminar, so I came up with a list of places I’d love to shoot. At 8:30 am, we were first in line at St. Paul’s Cathedral here in London (which I might add, is one of the most spectacular cathedrals I’ve ever seen, perhaps 2nd only to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome â” it was just amazing).
Where, when you walked in the front door to pay for your ticket (it’s about $28 per person for entry), you see these NO PHOTOS! signs everywhere. Of course, I saw people taking photos with their iPads, with their DSLRs, with their cell phones, etc., and there were times where we no one was looking where I could have “sneaked off a shot,” but I didn’t do it (it’s not a good example for the kids for one – we used it as a learning moment for our daughter), but I wanted to respect their rules as well. I tried to reach out to their social media folks before the trip but had no luck (they have a very active Twitter page).
Anyway, it was wonderful to see the cathedral, and if you haven’t had the chance, it’s absolutely worth seeing, even if they don’t allow photos or video.
Then, it was off to other places I couldn’t shootâ¦
Like the famous, ultramodern Lloyds of London building who wouldn’t even let me take one single shot in their lobby, or the amazing City Hall building which is open to the public, except of course for the one place I really wanted to shoot (their center atrium), which is off limits for photos, but if you Google “City Hall London” you’ll see scads of photos (here’s a link to a page with some nice photos of it).
I tried to get permission to take photos inside the Parliament building inside. No!
Westminster Abbey? No! (they don’t allow photos either)
It was pretty much a resounding NO!!! everywhere I went.
I didn’t even mention using a tripod, which is apparently results in a louder version of NO!
So, what do I have to show for my day of shooting?
That iPhone shot of a double-decker bus you see at the top.
I’ve got one more chance, Wednesday morning, so I’m trying to gain access to a couple of places for just 30-minutes (I’m trying to shoot these interiors for my first coffee table book, which is about 80% done. More on this soon).
But all is not lostâ¦
Because when I wasn’t being told I couldn’t shoot, we went all over London having fun, and I met up with my dear friends Dave Clayton and Glyn Dewis for dinner, along with my seminar crew and my friends Peter and Dave (from Hybrid Photography here in London), and we ended the day with a lovely dinner and lots of laughs.
Looking forward to meeting everybody today at my seminar (and a big thanks to everybody attending today, and to everybody who helped spread the word).
Cheers,
-Scott