janeslondon's photostream  

www.janeslondon.com

(I keep meaning to rewrite this or edit it or delete it... but I look at at and then sigh and go and make a coffee...)

This explains a lot:
londonist.com/2009/03/the_london_blogger_interviews_10_ja...

As does this: www.amelia-parker.com

I live in Holloway, London N7, which is probably obvious by my photos, and I to love to walk around this fabulous city looking around and finding all the quirky things that go unnoticed by most people.

I was anti-digital for years partially because I am a graphic designer and was regularly being given images to use that were "hi res" but no-one could understand that I couldn't make a hi res stamp any bigger than the size of a stamp, never mind bleed A4! But it's all much improved now and I have joined the fold and realised it's a great way to archive and view large numbers of photos.

Loading up my catalogue to Flickr, and adding posts to www.janeslondon.com and www.londonist.com is a slow, time-consuming, but ultimately rewarding process. I am now kicking myself that I didn't take photos of the wonderful buildings, shops and signs that I remember from years ago which are sadly gone forever. Like the fabulous hardware shop in Soho that seemed to stock a ridiculously wide range of things, with its yellow plastic curtain to protect the stock in the window from the sun; the Gresham Ballroom in Holloway Road; The Nag's Head, Holloway, when it was the Nag's Head pub; the cinema opposite Cally Road tube station; the wonderful plush red velvet art deco Camden Odeon before they ruined it; the Camden Plaza, especially its wonderful wood-panelled entrance/ticket office; Camden's old ramshackle market; Angel's Camden Passage when it really was the antique hub of London; Neal Street WC2 before the shoe shops arrived; the Kings Cross gas containers and nearby cobbled streets... I could go on and on and on (and I usually do!).

I will sometimes re-crop, straighten or enhance an image (especially in the case of a ghost sign) to improve the shot.

For Flickr I am only loading up small files as it's faster. They are not downloadable.

If anyone is interested in using my photos then please do contact me through flickrmail or my blog as all original large files are backed up elsewhere.