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Two London towers Things seem to be a bit quiet here this weekend, so here’s a picture I took earlier this evening:
Click to get it bigger.
This is not Photoshopped. That’s exactly what came out of my camera when I got home.
What it is is a picture of the Shard, taken by me from the front seat of a D(ocklands) L(ight) R(ailway) automated train, as the train approached its central London terminus, which is near to the Tower of London.
Taking photos through train windows is, as all photographers know, fraught with peril, because of all those stupid reflections in the glass of the window that you inevitably get, of such things as lights inside the train. But this time, what was reflected in the window was a tower on the other side of the train, namely the Gherkin. And since the train was going very slowly at the time, I was able to line the two towers up with each other.
Well, I like it.
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Well, I like it too, Nick. {applause}
Heh…”the Gherkin”? It made me think of the Sears Tower! :>)!
Oh, I see…I got it wrong way round. The Gherkin is the large, um, cucumber-shaped one. The Sears-Tower-looking one is the Shard. Well, I still like it. ;>)
The Sears Tower like Shard is still under construction, too. Its top will look a little different when it is finished.
Are you sure you don’t mean the John Hancock Center, Julie? When I first saw Brian’s picture, the resemblance to the Hancock was the first thing I noticed. It has tapered sides. The Sears Tower has plumb sides with sharp cut-offs at the tops of each stack.
And I just found out while looking that up that (of interest perhaps to the people on this blog) that the “Sears Tower” is no more. It is now the “Willis Tower” named by Willis Group Holdings of London. The end of an era, Sears held the pinnacle of consumer products distribution for maybe a century. First K-Mart, then Walmart and then Amazon, conquered its complacently and over confidently held domain.
Hi, Mid,
No, my eye read staggered asymmetrical setbacks and especially the warning lights on the top–not the slanted sides and definitely not the broad X’s ascending them. Thus, to me the ST, not the Hancock.
Indeed, technically the Sears Tower is no more. Nevertheless it remains in memory and legend as the ST and should be remembered as such. Just as “Northerly Island” (I could easily devote an entire essay excoriating the tyrannical Little Richie’s vandalism!!!!) is an abomination against Man and the various and assorted gods. Meigs Field was highly symbolic in various ways, and was a draw to the city for business, tourists, and people interested in relocating to the area.
Enough already. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 🙂
I’m staying in Wapping at the moment and last night noticed the Shard has a bright red light on its top which wasn’t there a week ago. Your linked article explains it.
I don’t know what you’re so proud of, nearly all my photos come out looking like that.
Nicely done; that’s a very cool photo.
Still, consider the lengths it’s necessary to go to, in these post-35mm days*, in order to recreate the effect of a double exposure ;-).
* Kodachrome 64 Is No More; IMHO 35mm is therefore dead.