Not ideal photo weather.. UK

[Steve]

Hi all,

Just a line to say 'isn't the weather dull in the UK'...!

I've been wanting a day out taking photos for ages now.. but it always seems too dull and overcast...

If anyone gets any ideas for anywhere to go or anything to do please just shout.. a photo opportunity would be great at present!

Traveling to brighter places may be the best bet.. but even that seems tricky. I looked at attending the World Cup for instance.. but the FA seemed not to have anything suitable available.. I had hoped they'd be arranging heaps of trips for England fans etc but I haven't spotted anything to interest me at all really.

They did offer tickets to some matches.. but it seemed only to be via others and not via them.. and I'm not sending vast amounts of money abroad in the hope of attending this and that... to go I would have wanted to be with other England fans and doing it all in style..

I could only find one travel outfit offering tickets, they weren't tickets via the FA either, and the seats seemed not to be the best ones, and wow, the hotel seemed to be something like a Travelodge...hmm...thousands of pounds for that.. I think not. I'd somehow hoped for photo safaris in the spare time, an FA guide along with us all, great hotels and travel between matches... etc etc...

I hope we do things for the Olympics a little better...

I saw a media story that the UK has returned a large chunk of the World Cup tickets allocated to the FA... I think I know why in our case.....and other countries in Europe seem to have similar problems.

Steve

[Paula]

Hi all,

Just a line to say 'isn't the weather dull in the UK'...!

I've been wanting a day out taking photos for ages now.. but it always seems too dull and overcast...

If anyone gets any ideas for anywhere to go or anything to do please just shout.. a photo opportunity would be great at present!

Well then, don't come to New Jersey. It's very dull here too! Plus we have no snow.

I've been so wanting to get out and take some photos for the "Winter Wonderland" competition but it's always dull. Even the sunny days are dull since there's no snow. There's no leaves on the trees, the roads are dull gray/blue - it's very bare here.

[John]

Steve,

It's hard to know what to do right now. Of course, by the time of the World Cup the weather here should have improved anyway so no need to go that far for some photographic subjects.

BTW have you seen the England-branded anti-stab vests?

When I went on a tour of Johannesburg and Soweto it cost as there was an escort which protected our party. Downtown Johannesburg was being abandoned to the squatters whilst large companies, banks, hotels etc were moving out to protected compounds in the suburbs. I found it all very depressing and did not take pictures.

The car park attendant at our hotel carried a shotgun. Car-jacking was common, but I'm not sure what action he would have taken if someone tried to take any of the valuable cars in his care as there were plenty of tourists around.

I will be surprised if there are no problems involving violence against the fans at some point.

John

[John]

Steve,

One benefit of the lack of photo opportunities is that I have finally finished processing the couple of thousand raw images I had taken in December. Now to pick some to upload.

John

[Steve]

Paula,

I did wonder what the weather was doing out your way, sometimes you get great snow etc.

In my area we had snow but it was then cloudy and quite dark a lot of the time and I've not found the chance to get any useful photos. I just have a few that are too dim looking to be of use.

The snow has cleared here in London, however it is -3 centigrade here tonight I see by the weather gadget on my screen, so at the very least the cars will be frozen solid in the morning.


John - I feel a bit let down, they didn't even offer me an anti stab vest... If it was a proper bullet proof one I'd have wanted one. I would have thought each English coach full of supporters could have its own SAS guards sent over with it...

I suspect it will be much easier to see the games on TV than by being there. It was partly concerns like suspecting I'd only be able to see one or two matches if I went, and then probably not close up, that made me question what the point would be. I do feel a bit let down though as I had made sure I qualified for tickets under the caps scheme they operated.

I'm not sure how safe football supporting abroad can ever be really. When I went to simple matches with England playing in Berlin and Barcelona last year there was a strong threat of violence really.. with vast numbers of riot Police lining the roads we walked along to matches in both places. The England fans were clearly annoyed about that and many were singing songs about killing Police Officers whilst smashing their beer bottles under the tyres of the Police vehicles etc.

It will be a brave local who attacks a few thousand England supporters walking to a game etc..

I hope it is a great and peaceful World Cup anyway. It may well be.

Steve

[Coops]

We are having one of the most extreme Winters for years here, but we have had the odd beautiful clear day. The drawback is that as soon as the clouds clear the temperatures plummet, driving to work yesterday I went through freezing fog patches and minus 18c.

It has not been above freezing since before Christmas and when the wind blows it cuts you in half! All of the back roads around my home are just compacted snow and sheet ice, so I have not been able to use one of my cars (with normal tyres) for 6 weeks.

The views are spectacular though, with all the frozen lakes and I have seen, for the first time, the North Sea frozen over. How does it stand still long enough to freeze?

A warm dull London sounds quite attractive at the moment.

Coops

[Steve]

Coops,

I wish I was there to see those weather effects, your photos of it all have been great to see.

I wouldn't call London warm. The minus 3c of last night has been replaced by 1c now it is morning.. but that feels very cold really.

I've bought a lot of new cold weather gear this year, from gloves to a hunters hat to scarves and so on.. and I'm getting plenty of use out of it all.

The bright winters we had seen at times were much better for photography here. Maybe someone will come up with some happening a group from here can go view and photograph... it may have to be indoors though.

Steve

[Touchwood]

It certainly is dull here in the North East, and has been since xmas. My neighbour received an astronomical telescope for his xmas box and hasn't had chance to use it yet, other than for a close examination of the many ships we get awaiting entrance to Tees & Hartlepool harbours.

I have thought that it would be a challenge to produce an inspiring photo in such weather - but maybe effectively capturing such a dreary outlook would merely result in a dreary photo?