London Night Bus, Whitehall

London Night Bus, Whitehall, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

First shot from a night series in and around Trafalgar Square. I nearly lost a hand to frostbite taking this; autumn has turned to winter. This is actually a composite - like www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5121844152/ - of my favourite takes from the left and right hand sides of the road.

There's a traffic island at the head of Whitehall where you can set up looking down towards Big Ben. As the traffic is often stopped at the lights, there are awkward moments when 10-20 cars are all parked glaring at you, thinking the camera is pointed at them alone. I was worried some MP would leap out of his mistress's Saab to threaten arrest on Terror charges. I spent most of my time therefore avoiding eye-contact, looking over my left shoulder for the buses to come.

Hope everyone is very well and enjoying the end of the week.

See London Night Bus, Whitehall on Flickr.

The Climb (Inside Asinelli Tower), Bologna

The Climb (Inside Asinelli Tower), Bologna, originally uploaded by flatworldsedge.

Another improvised tripod shot - this time by jamming the lens through a hole in the wooden floor above the void below. As noted above, the tower has internal floors to separate the 97.2m elevation across 5 or 6 individually housed staircases. It proved a good tripod, even if I realised after the event that my lens release button must have been depressed the whole time!

Bologna's two leaning towers were both being repaired whilst we were there, so my external shots didn't really look as medieval and authentic as I'd hoped. This one ended up being my favourite of a few different angles on them. The towers look great, so hopefully we'll get back there at some point to try something more traditional. Details can be found here; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towers_of_Bologna.

Nearly posted this as a Cyanotype for Halloween, but, what with being away, the opportunity escaped me and the B&W workings of the shot all proved a little unsatisfactory as they wash out the contrasts between wall and walker. It was interesting to see how B&W made all the walkers appear to be one, but I like the spread of colour across the top too much to make the trade-off. Shot in jpg, so the white balance is a little brutish, but there we go! All part of the fun.

Thanks for everyone's comments and thought on my last picture (another Italian long exposure - www.flickr.com/photos/flatworldsedge/5126748478/). I'm amazed and delighted it made Front Page Explore and am more than a little sheepish that a few days away from Flickr prevented me from properly showing my appreciation. I'm catching up now! Have a good one all.

See The Climb (Inside Asinelli Tower), Bologna on Flickr.