London. Our home. The place where we met. The city that is abuzz with activity and opportunity and yet, in the stillness, reflection of what life is and what could be. This exact thought prompted the black and white images. Often, black and white is used to mask mistakes or bad lighting, however, these images were taken with the purposes of being edited to be without colour. Removing the colour takes one back to an almost simpler time, where life wasn’t as noisy. The ducks, aka ‘the triplets’ (aptly named by yours truly), were a great capture. My other photos of ducks (saving those for a future blog post) were quite frantic as the ducks were after pieces of bread thrown by strangers. Whereas these three appeared to be off on their way, all smartly dressed, to the theatre.

This is a picture with no motion at all as it is a reflection. A muddy puddle which looks quite awful and not made to be the subject of a photograph. However, considering the calm evening, it provided a mirror to the sky. It will not be the last time I attempt to use a muddy puddle to get something pretty in the reflection. Maybe next time, I will be lucky to get a bird mid-flight above the tree.

This post is a little different to my other ones. I tried things. Played with my camera and played with motion and as above, no motion. Here is one of my favourite subjects – flower photography, with a macro point of view. We were shooting at dusk so getting the lighting right was imperative to getting the shot. I didn’t get it right every time (hence very few flower photos) but I was happy with these three below. Particularly the pink glow, thanks to the background, made these pictures just that little bit better. Next time, I hope to capture a bee perching on the flowers to give the image some more life.

If you follow us on Instagram (@alassandalad), you will recognise the two similar images of the church. I wanted to post both, mostly because I could not decide which I preferred: the focus being on the church or the focus being on the blossoms. I liked each of these and asked our audience which they preferred – please feel free to visit our page and let us know your thoughts.

The third image shows the spire of a London church. In my photo the church spire is at an angle and I chose not to correct this otherwise it may have come across as being too perfect. When I look at this image, I naturally tilt my head, as if truly engaging with the image and exploring each detail. I’d be interested to know if you agree with my choice.

Motion. I mentioned it earlier and wanted to try something using motion as the guide. Being in London, we are no stranger to fast-paced movement and travel. As I had already chosen to do a London-themed post, I felt I had to capture the very centre that is London: the Underground. I think this came out really well for a first attempt. I have recently learned that it is not only the centre of the picture that is important but also the background. I think I need to work on making the background for any underground pictures a bit more interesting. That is something I will try in the future – maybe I should ask everyone in a certain colour to pose as the tube comes racing around a corner…

Lastly, the blurred image above is of C. The traffic lights, both stop and go, captured as well as his shape holding a camera aimed right at me. He was photographing the photographer and I decided I wanted to try and do the same. I chose not to focus on him but take the image with the settings I was using for the pink flowers and I love the outcome. For you, he is a stranger and this image alludes to who he might be. Hopefully, in time, a more familial ‘stranger’ as you get to know us. For me, he is my much loved C. T x.