St Patrick's Day - in London

     Now in its 13th year,  the St Patrick's Day parade in London was on a bright and sunny Sunday in mid March. As St Patrick's Day itself (March 17th) is not a public holday in England, the parade is held on the Sunday closest to this date, which in 2014 was the 16th. 
   
     The Parade runs along Piccadilly from Hyde Park corner, to Trafalgar Square, where more Irish related events are held, and has grown is size over the years.

  St Patrick turns up to the parade

A celebrity attends, to head up the event

Appropriate coloured costumes are worn 

The bright sunshine whilst welcome, is obvious, and it makes and welcome change from the cold conditions and rain in previous year's events.

 Traditional bands take part

South American style also is in

The red phone box in the background gives a clue to the location ...

It's also a colourful parade, although the colours here are more Italian than Irish

Rainy Parades

St Patrick's Day is on March 17th, and while it is not a public holiday on that day here in London (as it is in Ireland), in recent years a parade has been taking place on the nearest Sunday to the 17th.

March in London isn't exactly the height of summer in London, and it is frequently (almost always) cold and it rains a lot.

The cold and rain doesn't stop the bands which are taking part having some fun, and a large crowd is in attendance.  The parade starts near Hyde Park, winds its way up Piccadilly and eventually finishes in Trafalgar Sqaure

A St Patrick's "Day" parade is a relatively new innovation in London - the first one was about 10 years ago and very small,  with only a few bands and floats taking part. It has grown considerably since then, but still is small compared to the parade in Dublin, and of course to that in New York.

These sax players - apart from sounding great (at least to me)  - even had rain gear colour coordinated  with their band uniforms. They must be used to the London weather.

 

Traditional Show in London

Last Saturday saw another Lord Mayor's Show - one of the oldest processions in a city in the world - around the City of London, and it is very traditional. It begins near the Guildhall, which is where I looked for images this year. Shame the light was so poor - at least at street level. Still, I managed to get a few images ....

London Parade - 2011

This year - 2011 - the London New Year's Day Parade had it's 25th Anniversary. Whilst I've not been attending it that long - never mind photographing it - the time has a special significance for me because the parade has been around in London for almost as long as I have. Anyway, the overcast day which was January 1st and the threat of rain here in London didn't put me off bringing in my cameras and trying to get a few photos.
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Like last year the parade began in Piccadilly and wound it's way through central London,  finishing in Parliament Square some hours later - you can read my post (with some photos) of the 2010 event here. I like to go where the performers are setting up, and get in amongst them whilst they get ready for the parade itself and this year was no different for me - I headed for Berkeley Square and Berkeley Street. The first photograph below could almost pass as a self-portrait  (there are no prizes for spotting me !)

One advantage of using a digital camera (it took me quite some time to convert from film) was - on this occasion - was te ability to change ISO and keep shooting. I started the shoot at 200, and as the light became worse, changed to 400, ending on 800, as rain threatened.  

Didn't take as many photos as last time - about 150 rather than almost 400, but on an initial inspection some of them at least (well 1 or 2 maybe) look promising, whilst others are distinctly soft. Perhaps I should have tried 400 or 800 from the start, or brought a flashgun as many of the other photographers who were around at the time. Perhaps I will next time, and maybe I'll try photographing the end of the parade then, not the start ....

Competition Win

Some good news for me during the week - one of my photos won a competition at my local Photographic Society. The competition is the George Bunzl Cup which is for colour pictorial prints, one of a series of Open Challenge Cups within the Society. Here it is, at least in digital form -

The photo was taken during the Night Carnival, at last year's Thames Festival in central London. The Festival was held in mid September, and you can see some more of my (less successful) photos of the event in previous posts from around then. The bluring effect of the people was obtained by using a combination of a slow shutter speed and an off-camera flash (ie not the built in rubbish flash), the print was an A3+ size on Somerset Enhanced satin paper (wonderful paper !), in a 40cm x 50cm Antique White window mount.

London New Year Parade

Into Central London on New Year's Day for the annual New Year's Day Parade, now in its 24th Year. It's become something of a tradition for me to go in and photograph the parade, with its colour,  marching bands, cheerleaders and multi-national performers. It can be, on occasion a difficult event to attend,  given it begins at noon on Jan 1st, if the previous evening/night has ended late .....

 

This year's parade reversed the usual route of previous years, beginning in BerkleyStreet/Piccadilly and ending in Parliament Square. I like to get to the beginning before its starts and photograph the participants as they're setting up or starting off. I've tried in other years to get pictures of the parade as it winds its way along the streets - eg in Whitehall - but it can be difficult, with the crowds of spectators getting in the way.

It can be bitterly cold - like this year - can't be much fun for the people who go off last - it was about 13:30ish by the time they set off on this occasion which meant about an hour and a half (or more, depending on arrival) hanging around Berkeley Square. Wonder if they prefer rain ?

It may have been cold, but the winter sun was shining. Not that it was quality light, very harsh and contrasty, at a low angle, dark enough at street level, had to be careful with burnt out skies in backgounds....Still, managed to take 1 or 2 photos.