Hi, Hola, Bonjour , Ciao , مرحبا, 您好, bok, hei and welcome.
My name is James Murray and I live in London, England but love to go exploring in foreign climates. Coming from a design background I look at photography as an extension of this, recording the lifestyles and architecture that make up are world.
My passion for photography started when I first picked up a film camera (wow I miss the darkroom), capturing the moments of my accident filled childhood. I transferred this passion into my studies mixing in all of my design influences to create my own style.
Architecture and photography are the perfect blend each complementing the other. As a HDR (High Dynamic Range) enthuiast, I use this technique to enrich my images.
I have worked as a photographer since 2010, taking photos of the enviroment that I lived in around London, selling images as artworks and to companies. In 2011 I worked for Disney on their cruise ships with the big mouse himself. Onboard I worked as a portrait and wedding photographer, learning new techniques and feeding my travel bug.
Every photo is a memory; there is no better way to capture it then how you see it, not how the camera sees it.
Right in the Centre Point
The tall building that goes out of view on the left is a landmark to us Londoners known as Centre Point. Being the buildings name and written in lights on the top, its an obvious choice for a name. It lies on the just ion that links two of the most famous roads in London. Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street.
Only one more photo left for this week. I’m gonna try and find a goodun’.
Speak to you all tomorrow.
Congratulations Disney Magic!
Todays photo is in honour of the Disney Magic Cruise ship. It has been voted the best cruise ship in the world by a survey carried out by contravener. Take a look at all of the results here.
I am proud to be a part of this and it was a great 6 months of my life. Mickey and I still keep in touch every now and then and he is going to head the celebrations on board (expect a lot of crew parties). You can see the beauty here docked in Castaway Cay (the Disney island for those of you new to the blog) in the Bahamas. I am always disappointed with the pictures of this place as the sky is never interesting although it was great weather all the time there apart from one accession where nature decided to bombard us with its monthly storm.
Rugby I walk past this shop in Covent Garden every day to get to work (although as you can tell by the christmas trees) this was taken before I started working here. Its probably a shop that I will never step in, unless I win the lottery or marry someone really really rich (I am fine with either of those by the way). It is of course the Ralf Lauren shop in Covent Garden, placed right next door to the Apple store there. I used Nik Software’s HDR Efex Pro to process this image for a change. I never used to like using it due to the fact that it was very very slow on my old computer but it works great on my Mac. It gives a very different effect to Photomatix so I will have to keep on using it of I want to know the settings. Perhaps one day.
Hungry for an apple on Regent Street As promised here is the bonus photo for this week. Since loosing my iPhone I bought the new Nokia Lumia 800 Windows phone. I love it to bits but I do miss the iPhone. Windows phone is great and I would recommend it to anyone if they were looking for a simple great phone to use but for me there isn’t enough apps. Granted there is everything you need (or something similar to what you would get on the iPhone) but it just isn’t the same. When the new one come out in the summer (so they say) I will be straight there to get it. Its lucky that I work very close by. Anyway enjoy the weekend.
Looking out over Segesta
The only landscapes I have taken with what you would call greenery and mountains have been while I was in Sicily. I need to get out and about around England and surrounding areas to shoot the british countryside. That is my resolution for this year like I have mentioned before.
I have posted a picture of a temple in Segesta before and you can just see it in the centre of this image.
The horse with no body to love Todays photo is linked to the fountain in yesterdays. Both were put there to attract tourists but I think (and I guess that you probably agree) that this is the more unusual of the two. Generally known and the horse head it is actually meant to be of a horse drinking but the fact that it basically is of a decapitated horse trumps this idea. Looking through my Lightroom library I realise that I am very rubbish in naming my photos. I think of one for the daily photo but thats about it and never record them. I have set myself the task over the weekend to go through and name most of my photos, although to to them all would take weeks do I will just do my favourites. As promised (and because I was rubbish last week) I will be posting an extra photo on Saturday. This will probably later in the day as today is PAYDAY!!! and will probably need a lie in. See you all tomorrow.
The fountain of colour
I ended a photo walk early as I had to be up early for a long long days work. The last place I ended up before swiftly jumping on a bus to Victoria station was Marble Arch. This fountain is next to the arch put there by Westminster council to attract visitors to the area. It is a fantastic place to be at night with people travelling on Boris bikes (on drunken adventures) to come and see it.
The fountain changed colour during my long exposure from blue to pink. In post production, I merged the two colours together bringing out the best of both. It creates something that the eye could only dream os seeing when you are actually there. I hope you like it as much as I do.
A knight in shining armour
Im am struggling to remember what exactly this building was used for. I want to call it a palace but I know in my head that it wasn’t. A person of high regard lived here in Valetta, Malta. That’s all that I can scratch from the insides of my brain. Perhaps someone out there can help jog my memory.
Wow some of you may be thinking. Perhaps not at the photo itself but the fact that it is not my normal HDR edited image. Most of my photos from Occupy London around St Paul’s Cathedral I didn’t process in my usual manner. Instead I just edited them in Lightroom. Fir some photos I prefer this method as not all photos merit a HDRing (a term that I want to get out there more).
Anonymous are back and tinkering with various media sites. For those of you who do not know who they are a quick google search will bring you many answers. For those of you who want a quick explanation, Anonymous are a global hacking group made of people from around the world. They take justice into their own hands, hacking for political reasons and important matters. To read of there most current hacking head on over to Gizmodo.
Anonymous are represented by the logo that you see here on this flag at Occupy London. They also wear the Guy Fawkes mask but I will show you that another day.
Looking down onto Malta
Malta was great for photos. The place is so unique and the ship made a great view point to take photos from. This was one time where I didn’t get off the ship. Instead choosing to relax and enjoy the pool while no guests were there. It seems like I didn’t post a photos on friday. I would put it down to computer error but to be honest it was all me. I would make the excuse of a new job and other blah blah blah excuses that I could make up but I won’t. Instead I will be posting an extra one this week on saturday. Tis also means that I need to go out in London at some point this week as my current supply is running a bit thin. If you want photos of my hand or random person then i’m sorted for qa while but for some this might not be the case. See you all tomorrow.
Through the Structure
A week ago I posted a picture of the tall wheel that was at the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, London over christmas. This is the same wheel but taken from the bottom of the structure. Its great that you can see the structure through the movement of the wheel. I added some photo tools filters to my photoshop edit to give it a more grungy look.
This week has been great for me. A new job up London will allow me to get out and around taken lots of photos. After I settle in there I will go out about twice a week. My photo valet is getting bare so I need to take some decent photos that I am happy with.
Castaway Paradise
The recent tragedy of the Costa Concordia cruise ship has made me think back to my experience on the Disney Magic. For those of you outside of Europe (or those of you that live in a hole), the cruise ship Costa Concordia owned by Carnival hit a rock off of Italy’s west coast. The ship was sailing from the port of Civitavecchia which is the main port of Rome. The boat I was on done the same journey as this one for 3 months so I know the area well. The death toll currently stands at 11 but there are still many people missing.
I was lucky enough to only have one emergency (but many medical emergancies, a story for another time). We discovered a fire as smoke pored through the ceiling in the atrium where were were taking photos. I won’t bore you with the procedures but basically we told the bridge and had to act like normal. If didn’t help that they announced “red parties”, a code term for fire, over the pa system that meant everyone was asking us what was going on. A fellow photographer said to a 6 year old boy that it meant that we hit a whale to much amusement to everyone around.
In the end the fire team put it out very quickly. It was caused by welding in the room above which set alight an empty stateroom.
This photo is another from Castaway Cay in the bahamas. You can see the Disney Magic cruise liner in the background docked at the disney island.
The Colour of Malta
Every building in Malta is built out of the same Maltese rock. This means that an orange glow is emitted from the country when you approach. Ok perhaps its not that bright but you certainly notice the sand colour of every building.
These houses overlook the harbour. You would think that they have a great view but you can’t see the large industrial estate that is the other side of the dock.
Magic in Key West
I have so many more photos of Key West left to share with you. It was my favourite port in the Caribbean and a close second overall. Everytime I got off there I would go mad with pictures. The place is so different to what I am used to and I would move there in a second.
You must get fed up of seeing this ship but it was my life for 6 months so tough luck. I can never get bored with it as it is such a beautiful place to be and you should go on it if you can.
Reflection in the Orb
The strange egg shaped orb should be familiar to anyone who follows this blog or lives in and around London. It is of course the mayors office located next to Tower Bridge that also can be seen in the photo.
Its great that we get sunny days in London but I wish (like all photographers) that I had the power to call in clouds when I like. The great thing about being in London all the time is that you get many opportunities for different moods of the same scene.
Have a good weekend and I’ll be back on MOnday.
