UK Photography - M1key - Michal Huniewicz

UK by Michal Huniewicz

It's been a while since I moved to the UK from the Netherlands. In fact, it's been over 8 years...! Here's a bunch of assorted photos I took here over the years.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Uploaded on: 2019-05-17.

UK

Stonehenge

Stonehenge
It took me many, many years to get around visiting Stonehenge - regarded by many as a British cultural icon. [1] My guitar teacher told me how he visited this site at night with his friends, and they wanted to sneak past the fences to get really close to the stones. They got caught.
ISO 200, 23mm, f/8.0, 1/450s.

Bolton Abbey

Bolton Abbey
The Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire has not survived intact the reforms of Henry VIII (who disbanded religious orders and appropriated their wealth), but still exists, and boasts that people have been "praying here for 850 years, please join them". It turns out the place was painted by JMW Turner, and I think I managed to find the spot. There were even cows in the meadow but slightly to the left, and they refused to move into the frame.
ISO 200, 23mm, f/7.1, 1/210s.

Rock to Cotswolds

Rock to Cotswolds
Jinny took me on a trip to Yorkshire which was my first driving on the left experience. We asked for a small car to fit the narrow countryside roads - but got upgraded to a beast of a car I had to squeeze in between sheep, stone walls, and occasional buses. In the photo, rock formation above the Malham Cove.
ISO 200, 23mm, f/7.1, 1/640s.

Ingleborough Cave

Ingleborough Cave
This is a tour inside the Ingleborough Cave. The man showed us what it looked like centuries ago with candle light only. He then said if it was anyone's birthday, the person could blow out the candle and we'd plunge into darkness. It was my birthday.
ISO 3200, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/60s.

Ribblehead Viaduct

Ribblehead Viaduct
The UK loves its traditions, and there's a lot of melancholy about the Victorian era of (comprehensible and monumental) scientific advancement. Here, you can take a steam train and cross the viaduct with style.
ISO 200, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/500s.

Purple-loosestrife

Purple-loosestrife
That iconic purple flower is called purple-loosestrife.
ISO 200, 23mm, f/2.0, 1/1000s.

Walkie Scorchie

Walkie Scorchie
The cosmpolitan metropolis of London has an identity of its own, and the amount of funding it receives vs. what other cities get is a source of some controversy in the country. In the photo, a building nicknamed Walkie-Talkie that was later unofficially renamed Walkie-Scorchie, after sunlight it focused "melted a car" (it only melted the mirror).
ISO 100, 24mm, f/8.0, 6/1s.

Tombs

Tombs
Even in London, though, there is plenty of history.
ISO 900, 14mm, f/3.5, 1/50s.

Playing the Organ

Playing the Organ
The man here told me how he comes to the church to practice his organ playing skills. The insane thing about it is that you only hear the sound about half a second after you press the key! And you often have to play live with "real-time" musicians.
ISO 200, 14mm, f/1.8, 1/50s.

St Bride's Church, Fleet Street

St Bride's Church, Fleet Street
This church is known as the Journalists' Church. Inside, I found a little altar dedicated to journalists who were killed while on duty, including a friend of a friend decapitated by ISIS.
ISO 320, 14mm, f/1.8, 1/50s.

St. Paul's

St. Paul's
I used to rent lenses to try them out before buying, and my friends had no choice but to pose and be patient about it.
ISO 100, 35mm, f/1.4, 1/500s.

Sunset in London

Sunset in London
Cannon Street Bridge as sun is setting over London. On the left, you'll see the Tate Modern tower, and on the right you might be able to make out the silhouette of St. Paul's. Far in the distance is the BT Tower.
ISO 100, 14mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.

London Bridge

London Bridge
"London Bridge is where London started: the relative narrowness of the River Thames at that point is what led the Romans to found a city on the site in the first place. Over the centuries, various bridges occupied this site, linking the City to Southwark on the South Bank of the Thames. Each in turn was lost – to fire, or storm, or Vikings" [2]
One of previous London Bridges was sold to a rich American, and can be still seen in Arizona.
ISO 1800, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/25s.

Shard

Shard
"Standing 309.7 metres (1,016 ft) high, the Shard is the tallest building in the United Kingdom, the tallest building in the European Union, and the fifth-tallest building in Europe." [3] The legend has it that because there is a protective layer of glass outside the windows, you used to be able to look into your neighbour's flat in the reflection.
ISO 12800, 24mm, f/4.5, 1/25s.

Sloane Square

Sloane Square
Sloane Square, London.
ISO 100, 24mm, f/1.4, 1/4000s.

The London Peace Pagoda

The London Peace Pagoda
The pagoda in the Battersea Park, London, was given to the city by the Japanese in 1984.
ISO 100, 24mm, f/1.4, 1/400s.

Doggy

Doggy
Dog I met.
ISO 100, 14mm, f/2.8, 1/400s.

Approaching Dover

Approaching Dover
My friends and I visited Dover, a ferry port in Kent.
ISO 100, 4mm, f/2.8, 1/720s.

Risking Friend's Life for the Likes

Risking Friend's Life for the Likes
My friend Kartik was volunteered by me to lie on the edge of the cliff for some dramatic shots. Everyone says it was very unsafe, but it was a risk I was willing to take.
ISO 100, 4mm, f/2.8, 1/1150s.

Dover Castle

Dover Castle
We then flew our drone around the Dover castle, which rewarded us with some fascinating geometry of the place.
ISO 100, 4mm, f/2.8, 1/200s.

Geometry

Geometry
It is the largest castle in England, and was described as the key to England due to its significance.
ISO 100, 4mm, f/2.8, 1/320s.

Sunset in Dover

Sunset in Dover
"The site also contains one of Dover's two Roman lighthouses (or pharoses), one of only three surviving Roman-era lighthouses in the world, and the most complete standing Roman structure in England."
ISO 100, 4mm, f/2.8, 1/1250s.

Tube

Tube
My friend Ammar tricked us into joining this expensive tour of what we thought was an abandoned London Underground Station. Grab your anorak, and join us!
ISO 280, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.

Highgate Station - A Hidden London Tour

Highgate Station - A Hidden London Tour
In fact, the tour was just walking outdoors, with the guides recalling various facts about London transportation.
ISO 140, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.

Kartik

Kartik
We were shocked by the boredom of it.
ISO 100, 14mm, f/1.8, 1/100s.

Bushes

Bushes
Ammar did not join us, as he was on a date.
ISO 100, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/80s.

Dorota #1

Dorota #1
After I moved to the UK, I stayed with Dorota for about 2 weeks.
ISO 200, 24mm, f/1.4, 1/2500s.

Dorota #2

Dorota #2
She too became my lens testing victim.
ISO 200, 24mm, f/1.4, 1/2500s.

Dorota #3

Dorota #3
I moved to a house near her, in the North West part of London, but later we both moved out.
ISO 200, 24mm, f/1.4, 1/3200s.

Scotland

Scotland
Again, around my birthday, we went on a short trip to Scotland, to the Isle of Skye.
ISO 1000, 23mm, f/2.0, 1/30s.

Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall
This is part of Hadrian's Wall near Housesteads. It was built here by the Romans to keep aggressive tribes from the North at bay, but - contrary to common belief - it has never the Anglo-Scottish border. [5]
ISO 200, 23mm, f/8.0, 1/200s.

The Storr

The Storr
The rocky hill of Storr on the Scottish Isle of Skye features prominently in many photos and paintings, but we only managed to briefly see it when the fog cleared up.
ISO 200, 23mm, f/8.0, 1/75s.

Dorota in Scotland

Dorota in Scotland
Dorota during our climb. When we approached the Storr, there was so much fog we could not even see the top of it.
ISO 200, 23mm, f/2.0, 1/1000s.

Luca

Luca
For Luca, this journey became the beginning of his trip to Japan, which he described in his book.
ISO 200, 23mm, f/2.0, 1/1000s.

Bye

Bye
Bye
And that's it for now. At some point in the future I might be uploading more assorted shots from the United Kingdom.
ISO 100, 4mm, f/2.8, 1/850s.