The Lush Life of Oxford Street!

Tuesday and Wednesday were wonderful days to visit Oxford Street, as the scenery was absolutely beautiful, and considering that it was nice and sunny, I seized the opportunity to photograph the landscape all of yesterday, but one of the stores that grabbed my interest the most was the Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics Store. The smell of the store as I walked in hit me straight away and it was so welcoming, it smelt like Starburst as I walked into the store, and the fact it spanned three floors full of bath bombs, make-up and even skin care products that smelt so nice meant I was able to produce a really good set of photographs. They even provided me with a free sample of one of their products after they allowed me to dissolve one of their bath bombs in their sink and as a random act of kindness from one of their members of staff who was intrigued by the photos I showed them yesterday, they gave me a free bath bomb, which made my day so much happier.

The staff at Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics Store are so friendly and so welcoming, and even the manager of the store is so friendly and welcoming and is a place I most certainly shall recommend to all of you as they have everything you need to offer. I’ll provide under this photo-set Lush’s social media accounts.

Below are the photographs I took yesterday of Oxford Street and the Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics Store’s products.

What really ended my day on a perfect note was when I bumped into the Olympic Diver, Tom Daley, and the Oscar-Winning Actor, Dustin Lance Black, at Tottenham Court Station just as I was heading back to Oxford Circus Station to get the train home from Oxford Street. This is a rare photo moment for me to share with you all and it’s certainly a memorable photo moment for me. They’re both so down to earth and genuine and they’re so kind, and I was so starstruck last night that Tom took the selfie for me because I was completely surprised.

Yesterday ended on a perfect note and what a perfect and happy day it was.

Please feel free to share this article with everyone you know and if you enjoyed my photo-sets of Oxford Street and Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, please feel free to submit your responses below.

Alex Smithson

Lush’s Social Media Accounts

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lush

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Lush

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lushltd

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Lushcosmetics

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lush/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lushlimited/

Tumblr: https://lushltd.tumblr.com/#_=_

Vine: https://vine.co/Lush

A Wonderful, Breezy & Sunny Day Out in London.

It was the perfect time for me to travel up to London on the 26th September as the weather was lovely, the scenery was beautiful and on a clear day like this, it was wonderful.

Whilst I was up in London, I used the opportunity wisely to photograph certain areas of London; Borough Market was beautiful, but so was the landscape. To tell you the truth, it’s not the first time I’ve been up to London on my own as I went up to London just a few short weeks before when I was planning my route to get to Camden, which I must say is also beautiful, but the fact that it was nice and sunny gave me the perfect opportunity to seize the moment by photographing certain areas of the landscape, whilst also photographing the Shard.

Honestly, London is absolutely beautiful on a sunny day, and the 26th September was the perfect example of how sunny days should be; warm, breezy, bright and beautiful and that’s why I had a wonderful, breezy and sunny day out in London.

I experimented with the low-light features on my Nikon D3300 DSLR to see how the landscapes and portraits would appear in certain situations if it was light or dark, as this helped me to visualise the landscape differently as if it was daylight one minute and sunset the next.

Below is the full collection of photographs I produced whilst I was up in London.

It was absolutely wonderful, but busy when I went up to London towards the end of September and I was glad to have seized the opportunity to visit London at the peak of Summer.

If you ever get a chance to visit London and Borough Market in the Spring and Summer months, I suggest you do because London and Borough Market are beautiful places, and you’d be crazy to not seize the opportunity to visit London and Borough Market.

If you enjoyed my photography collection of my visit to London and Borough Market, please tell me in the comments. I would love to hear your responses.

Alex Smithson

A Bright & Peaceful Spring!

As I photographed one of my friends at college yesterday, I ceased the opportunity to take a few photos with the Canon EOS 1200D (provided by Croydon College), including my iPhone 5 and because of the lovely Spring weather, I was able to set the aperture correctly to produce them.

Below are the details of the photograph, which show what the focal length was, as well as the exposure time including the F number, which was 5.6:

Dimensions: 5184 x 3456
Device Make: Canon
Device Model: Canon EOS 1200D
Colour Space: RGB
Colour Profile: sRGB IEC61966-2.1
Focal Length: 45
Alpha Channel: No
Red Eye: No
F Number: 5.6
Exposure Program: 3
Exposure Time: 1/500

Date of Photograph Taken: Wednesday 20th April 2016

Below is the photograph that I took yesterday whilst at college.

Below are some of the photos I also took yesterday, but with my iPhone.

Overall, I loved yesterday’s warm and relaxing weather, and I hope to produce more photos like this again soon.

If you liked this article, including the photographs, then please feel free to submit feedback. All feedback is much appreciated.

Also, before I conclude, it is with such sadness to announce that the Iconic Music Legend, Prince Rogers Nelson, has passed away at the age of 57. Very soon, I will be publishing a tribute article in which I will pay my respects to him and everyone he knows at such a sad time.

Alex Smithson

Croydon Before Dusk

While I waited yesterday at one of my bus stops further down from the one I usually wait at to board my 367 bus, I took some photos with the Camera+ app, considering that my bus was taking some time to arrive (like it usually does), which tells you just what the level of transport is like in this day and age, also because of road-works, and I must admit, I do sometimes, on the odd occasion, use the Camera+ app to take some of the good, if not best photographs that I wouldn’t be able to take so well sometimes with the pre-installed Camera app.

As the sky stayed bright for a little longer yesterday, I was able to get these photos in a really good resolution with the Camera+ app, which I strongly recommend you all use, as it is much better to use if you’re someone who uses the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad on a frequent basis. Also yesterday, I took two photos outside Croydon College‘s Rotunda of the landscape, with Fairfield Halls being easy to spot in the distance, but one of the photos is panoramic, as I was able to get a full, wide-scale view of the outside of the college, but of the whole landscape. Luckily, and for the first time in quite a long while, this is probably the best panoramic photo I’ve taken in a long time.

Which app do I prefer to use more to take these kind of photos, the pre-installed Camera app or the Camera+ app? I personally prefer the Camera+ app, as there are more features at hand that can prevent the photos I take from looking fuzzy and diminished, and not only that, but it’s one of the best camera apps out there, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to you all.

Tomorrow, I will be publishing another article of photos, which will centre again on Croydon, but this time showing Croydon in Broad Daylight, but you might just be surprised at how well I’ve taken these photos, considering that there was some nice weather today, despite it being chilly of course. It is safe to say that I am absolutely enjoying the UAL Level 3 Diploma Film & Photography Course that I’m on. I can promise you that the photographs that I took will not disappoint you.

Please feel free to feedback your thoughts on the photos I took yesterday. This is my first attempt at taking photos just before dusk.

Alex Smithson

The Science Museum | Tuesday 26th January 2016

With it being in the last couple of years since I last visited, and despite the fact my feet were killing me as a result of going up to London for this trip, I went on a trip up to the Science Museum with my class, and while we were there, I wanted to get some photos of the museum, considering that the last time I went, it had a dramatic overhaul in design, and not only that, but some or most parts of the museum had changed from when I made my first ever visit to the Science Museum.

There is so much information that the museum can offer, and I must say, I absolutely enjoyed going there. I took quite a large number of photographs in and around the museum, especially outside the museum too. One of the photos I took inside may look like it was taken outside, considering I took it in a way where there was no reflection, but I can admit, there’s so much information at hand now than there was before, so it was safe to say that I wouldn’t go without any information in my hands.

Also, there are some photographs I took of some of the 3D Miniature Models while in the Science Museum, and just by looking at them, they can be easy to mistake for landscape photographs, or even paintings in that matter. Please do keep in mind though that the photo that shows the tractor and the big tree was slightly cropped to give the photo more depth, and to make it look a lot more presentable for viewing.

Overall, despite the fact my feet were absolutely killing me by the time I got home, it’s safe to say that I absolutely enjoyed my trip up to the Science Museum with my class, and I hope to go up there again at some point in the future.

To conclude, I will leave you with 5 questions:

1. Have you been to the Science Museum before?
2. What parts of the Science Museum did you visit?
3. Is there a certain piece of work there that you like?
4. If it’s not the first time you’ve been to the Science Museum, when was the last time you went?
5. What did you enjoy the most about the Science Museum?

Alex Smithson

© Croydon College 2016.

© The Croydon College Logo is Copyright of Croydon College. Permission has been granted for the logo to be used on here. No Copyright Infringement Intended.

Croydon Photography

On Thursday, I headed down to some parts of Croydon with some of my classmates from my UAL (University of the Arts London) Level 3 Diploma Film & Photography Course, as we were doing some filming for our project which is currently based around Ghost Stories.

Whilst me and the small number of the students in my group were filming, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to snap some photographs down Surrey Street Market, Crown Hill and also around Croydon.

The concept of our film was that one of our students would play the part of someone who is depressed, and also on the edge of it all, like as if they wanted to just end it all and never experience it again, but on a more serious note, the concept was about needing an angel to be there for that person who may have been almost bullied into silence, but was stopped from going to the point of no return. The angel would be the natural healer, by being there to pull the victim out of danger, and also out of harm’s way and also out of the midst of it all so to speak.

But back to the subject of things, just after we finished filming, despite having to re-shoot a scene because of one member of the public waving at the camera (which wasn’t supposed to happen despite us all telling him not to do so until we concluded filming), which resulted in a scene becoming useless for video editing, we did a re-shoot of the same scene again, and after we finished re-filming that scene, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to snap these photographs.

Colour Photographs (Original)

Chosen Edited Photographs (Black & White)

Surrey Street Market

Croydon

Have we actually finished filming? Yes we have, and I’m absolutely pleased to say that the way the production of this film has gone, it has gone well despite a small faux pas moment from a member of the public, but aside that, me and my group absolutely enjoyed filming for this project, despite the weather conditions.

Please feel free to leave feedback on this article based on what you thought of my photography work that I did in Croydon on Thursday :-).

Alex Smithson

Device used to snap these photographs: iPod touch (5th Generation)

Shirley Hills

Hello everyone :-)!!!

In light of the blog post I published this morning, as promised, I have added the photos of Shirley Hills that I took back in April to this blog post for your viewing pleasure. Taking these photos reminded me of just how comfortable the viewpoint was, as well as the view around me.

As I took photos when I was at the viewpoint, the sky was cloudy, but didn’t stop me from getting good photos that would highlight my trip up to Shirley Hills. The view around me was panoramic, it was surreal, it was an experience that reminded me of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. It was like a journey of London in one full view.

I really enjoyed Shirley Hills, as it was a photographical opportunity I didn’t want to miss.

Below are the photos of Shirley Hills I took, and there is also an edited version of one of the photos I took that I filtered via Instagram. Feel free to download these and keep as a wallpaper at your own will :-).

Edited via Instagram

A Glimpse of Shirley Hills at its finest

A Glimpse of Shirley Hills at its finest

A panoramic view of Shirley Hills

The flowers/bushes/trees of Shirley Hills

Canary Wharf, London

The ITV tower, London

The Crystal Palace Tower

Zoomed in on the landscape

A dense cloud hangs over the landscape

A dense cloud hangs over the landscape

A little grainy, but easier to see

The sun shines on the houses

A full-screen view of London

Another zoom-in on the landscape below

The Crystal Palace Football Stadium in South Norwood

The cloud above the buildings looks denser than before

A glimpse of the blue sky.

The landscape looks tilted from the viewpoint

The Shard

The viewpoint of Shirley Hills

The cloudy sky of Shirley Hills

The deserted trees nearest to the viewpoint of Shirley Hills

The passage of Shirley Hills, almost a trail of a journey into the wilderness.

The flowery, deserted plants below

Deserted trees and bark from the trees (possible thunderstorm damage)

A professional photographer takes photos at the viewpoint of Shirley Hills

The main focal point is the photographer, the bike and the etched graffiti.

The etched graffiti shows the name “Tom Aytch”, that was already there for a long time, and was my first time ever to notice it when taking some photos.

On the 1st July, an all new blog experience will take place, and a special announcement will be made on that day as well…stay tuned!

Later on, I will be publishing a blog post about the Brazil 2014 World Cup…watch this space!

Thank you for viewing this blog post :-).

-Alex Smithson

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A Fantastic Day Out at Battersea Park!

Hello! Just as promised, I have got photos today of Battersea Park, as the weather was chilling, and I wanted to share a lot of photos like flowers, and also panoramic photos as well.

As the weather was perfect today, I got a few good photos of sunflowers that blossomed, and I also took 3 panoramic photos of the city landscape.

To much of a cute surprise, I managed to get a photo of someone’s dachshund (a.k.a. sausage dog) clutching a stick in its mouth, and it was the same dog that jumped in the fountain twice to fetch his tennis ball.

To round off the last few days of August, I am putting together a video of all these photos, and the video will also contain 2 video clips of the fountain launching the water up high. I will upload the video tomorrow, and will let all of you know via a blog post when it finishes uploading and processing.

If I forgot to mention about some of these photos, I apologise, feel free to save these as wallpapers for your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad anytime you like.