London/Oxford Trip

Hey all!

So a while back, I posted asking for gear advice for an impending UK and possibly France vacation. Ended up being London and Oxford only, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a blast. I took my 10-22 and the 18-55. 10-22 stayed on the vast majority of the time, but the 18-55 was nice for the occasional longer shot.

It isn't every day that I get to carry a camera around and take pictures of everything I see for a whole week, so it was a great experience from the photographic sense and I learned a lot. Probably the biggest thing was how to convey that a room is dark/bright by intentionally under/overexposing the image, but tons of other little things, like how much I want a better viewfinder

Anyway, here are some of my more favorite shots. The weather was really hit or miss, and as were part of the non-native crowds, we never really had a lot of time for me to sit, look back at my shots, and re-take if I didn't like them. Also, even though I am still impressed with the screen on the T1i, it really isn't that good in daylight. For that reason, I just kind of had to do my best on the fly, which admittedly, isn't that great, but it was what I was looking for.

Got yelled at for this one, had to patiently explain that I WASN'T trying to de-rail a train, and NO, my flash was NOT going to fire. Really cliche, but I had to do it.

The first day it was raining on and off, which made me reluctant to keep my camera out for any extended period of time. They had been having a drought, so a lot of the fountains were turned off.

Everything was so detailed and ornate. I couldn't get the typical guard photos (too far away), but it was pretty funny to see them with assault rifles.

The second day we had the best weather the whole time we were in London. Hampton court palace was really cool, and even though I was reluctant to go, I am glad we went.

The gardens outside were pretty nice, especially for having been in a drought. I know the sundial isn't totally in focus, but I couldn't tell at the time.

For those of you who don't know, this giant ferris wheel looking thing is called the London Eye. For like 18 Pounds you can go into one of the pods, which hold about a dozen people, and see the majority of London. We were in line forever, and waited through Sun-Rain-Sun-Rain-Sun for the last leg and ride.

Fleet street. Thought I would throw this photo out, but it turned out really cool.

Sommerset house. Not sure what they do here lol. I couldn't believe the colors, and took a shot, and was even more surprised that it turned out. I know it's not straight, I don't want to talk about it. I can't believe LR3 doesn't let you zoom in to level.

This shot was really intimidating, and one of the few I actually tried several times. Everyone else on the bridge had huge tripods and L lenses. I handheld my kit lens lol

Tower of London. I really couldn't believe 1. How old it is and 2. how many people were there. REALLY cool though.

The museum of natural history there (or whatever its real name is) is a must-visit. It was really cool. The British Museum is even better times a million, but none of my shots from there were worth posting.

And one from Oxford. Most of my shots from there ended up kinda boring, but I really liked this shot especially for how "fall" it looked.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed them, and I appreciate any tips or C&C you have to offer Thanks for everything, as always!