Friends, readers, countrymen*.....
*(or international readers, as I know there are some of you)
*(or international readers, as I know there are some of you)
Anyway, I didn't get many pictures today.
First of all, I want to introduce you to someone:
ISO 1000, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/80
That's George, one of the three cats here (the other two wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get a picture). She looks almost identical to Jackson back in Indiana, but I promise you they are not the same cat. (Below is Jackson, for reference).
Smaller picture because it isn't really a part of today's post.
The only noticeable difference is the white stripe on the face (side vs entire middle). Aside from that, they're almost identical. It's really weird coming back to the flat at the end of the day and having to remind ourselves that it isn't Jackson.
-----
Anyway, the beginning of our day was really calm and easy. We went for a walk at Hampstead Heath, a park in the middle of London, where I got a few good pictures. I was busy enjoying the walk and there weren't many really interesting things to take pictures of, so it was just a few.
ISO 160, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/80
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/100
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/3200
In the middle of the park, a view of the city. It's always so weird being in a park like that, knowing that it's right in the middle of a huge city even though you can't see or hear signs of it.
After leaving the Heath, we took Dad's favorite bus to Selfridge's, a department store known for its elaborate displays. Mom wanted to go there to see what it was like. The displays were incredible, the clothing all seemed like it cost about the same as the luxury cars driven by most of the patrons of the store (or their drivers, more likely). The store is also currently doing a Shakespeare theme, so a lot of the mannequins had ruffs (the ruffled collar) and there were busts of Shakespeare wearing ties in the mens clothing areas.
Then, outside, there were displays of various characters and plays represented in the windows. One that really confused me was the Hamlet display, in which mannequins were wearing tunics printed with the names Hamlet, Gertrude, Laertes, and Rosencrantz, also wearing crowns on their heads. Why Laertes and Rosencrantz had crowns and why Gertrude was wearing the same clothing as the men is beyond me.
Anyway, along with the mannequins, we found this giant quill in another window.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/320
-----
After doing the walk for Dad and going to Selfridge's for Mom, the last thing was for me (Nico didn't really have anything he wanted to do). We went to see Wicked. In really good seats. It was AMAZING. As someone with previous experience in lighting design, I was totally geeking out constantly. I loved how the lighting was set up and how the set was built, and I was blown away by how truly spectacular the entire production was.
So yeah, that was really good. The music was fantastic (the woman who played Elphaba had a fantastic voice. The rest did too, but she really stood out). I could keep going on and on about the show, but I will just suggest people go see it for themselves if they get a chance.
Tomorrow will involve a lot more photography, I promise.
Until then,
Alec
Alec