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.

 

Stacky Theme by Andrew

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.

Thin wheel

I have promised myself that at some point this week I will go out in and around London again for a photo walk. My reserves are running low in the pre-processed photo department so I need to either choose some of my rejects to process (this can actually uncover some hidden gems) or go out and take some new ones. I will be busy with a new job from next week so don’t know how much time I will actually have, but I will take every chance I can to keep on posting.

This is a photo from Hyde Park during the christmas period. A huge christmas fair and market names Winter Wonderland is set up. There is a huge big wheel (okay not as big as the London Eye but still pretty massive) temporarily erected. It is the largest freestanding wheel in the world, I think. This is a side on view of said wheel.

The giant wheel in Hyde Park

Another from Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland for you today. This wheel is the world largest portable big wheel. It doesn’t look that big in this picture but strangely someone I met thought it was the London Eye. Obviously it is no where near as big but I guess if you are a tourney in London, any massive Big Wheel could be the London Eye.

That bright light in the sky that looks like a giant star is actually the moon. It was very bright that night and I guess is very apt for Christmas.

A Blue Aquarium Glow

The blue glow of the London Aquarium always makes the Southbank standout. Combined with the giant London Eye (that night lit up in green) it makes for a beautiful sight.

This long exposure captures the movement of the Millennium Wheel over a 30 second period.

Flare in the eye.

People ask me how long it takes me to process a HDR photo. The typical photo takes around 15-20 mins as I have now got quite quick at it. Sometimes though it can take up to a few hours for an individual photo. This one took me 2 hours to process as Photomatix created alot of clean up issues around the structure of the eye that I had to repair in photoshop.

It didn’t help that I took the photo handheld. The tripod police are always snooping around here and I have been stopped countless amount of times. Instead of fighting the battle (which I usually win), I now just do not use a tripod in this little area.

I have recently been going over some old photos from when I first started HDR photography. I have realised that I have learnt so much since.I decided to redo some of my old favorites with new techniques that I have learned. This was one of the very first times that I went out in London taking photos.

I was walking across Charing Cross bridge and saw the shadow of the London eye cast on the building behind.

Hello Again London

This was the first image of london that I took wen I got back. I have missed taking pictures around the city so am planning to do it a lot more.

Since coming back I have been working on a few minnie projects. I started looking at panoramic photography, but for you that know me you know that I don’t do things normally. I look for a different approach.

I have started up a new blog called Planet Panorama showing some of what i have done so far. It is still early days but hopefully I will get bigger and better

The London Eye is an Amazing Structure

Beneath the London Eye.