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Having lived in London for a couple of years now, it occurred to me that I don’t actually get around the city much. There’s the commute to work, the odd day trip to something specific and the obligatory shopping trips in town, but in terms of just going for a wander around this amazing city I don’t often make the effort.

Last week, with this on my mind riding home from work I decided that an excursion was in order. It was a pleasant evening with good light so I headed for the Swiss Re Tower. People either love it or hate it as with most modern architecture in London. I stand clearly on the side of loving it. A giant rocket ship / gherkin / wang, whatever you think of it, it’s definitely an interesting addition to the London skyline. Particularly, as above when juxtaposed against the historical buildings of the district.

This shot has been tweaked a bit in Photoshop (not that well I might add) to correct wide angle distortion and the colours were boosted in Lightroom.

Jade and I were lucky enough to be given a trip to Berlin as one of our wedding presents and I must say, it is a truly rocking city. What I loved most about Berlin and the Berliners is their attitude towards architecture. As far as cities go Berlin could be considered an architects wet dream. The picture above looks like the artists impression, and it’s the finished product! Gotta be happy with that.

Everywhere you look there is an incredible mix of old meets new, this probably definitely has a lot to do with the fact that it was decimated during the war. But rather than bang up dull, ugly boxes, the Berliners have taken inspiration from the fact that they got a fresh start and crafted some truly amazing buildings.

I guess it helps that they have a history that includes schools like the Bauhaus when thinking about design briefs.

Feels like ages since I’ve posted any pics. There was a particularly rocking sunset last night so I grabbed my gear and quickly cycled down to the river to see what I could see. This is all I really got and even this has had a fair bit of exposure tweaking in lightroom.

I’ve been looking for ways of getting down onto the actual embankment when the tide is out but have realised that this is something that may need a little more preparation than just booting down to the river at 9:30 at night. Oh well, as the boy scouts say, " Be Prepared, next time at least anyway ".

A couple of weeks back I was talking about Battersea Power Station and how I’m infatuated with it. I’m not even sure why I rock on it so much. Maybe it’s a historical thing, or something to do with the fact that a city like London has/had such a visible source of power supply, back home the power stations are all a bit out of the way.

Dunno, when we first arrived in London I thought it was awful but now it’s probably one of my favorite structures in town. Well, anyway, I took a different way home from work to see how I’d go getting some pics from across the Thames. It would seem I’m not alone in my infatuation, turns out that’s where everyone goes to take their photos of the power station.

Anyway, I snapped a couple off but then felt a little cliché so will have to think about another way of looking at it. Mighty power station you vex me!