Londonist Behind The Lens: IanVisits

Lindsey
By Lindsey Last edited 162 months ago
Londonist Behind The Lens: IanVisits
Please take my rose
Please take my rose
Tube roundel
Tube roundel
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus
A line of arches at the Dollis Brook viaduct
A line of arches at the Dollis Brook viaduct
Middle Temple
Middle Temple
Lightning over London
Lightning over London
Moon in conjunction with the Gherkin
Moon in conjunction with the Gherkin

A series celebrating the talent of our friends over in the Londonist Flickr pool. Here, they introduce themselves and share their favourite London shots. Today, IanVisits - best known for his website - shares his photographs.

Although born in London, it has only been my home for the past two decades. It was about 10 years ago that I started exploring the city in detail, tapping into a long interest in history.I was given a camera by my father who was (is?) a quite good photographer and used to develop his own photographs. Alas, after a long break in my early adult life I only got back into photography in any seriousness after getting one of the very first cameraphones on the market. From there it wasn't long before I was moving up to a decent camera to experiment with.I don't consider myself to be an artistic photographer in the way that many use the medium to paint a picture, although I sometimes dabble with visions that appeal. I am much more of a recorder of events and places. I tend to try and get to interesting places and blog about them - and treat my photography as a tool to record what I am writing about and use it to illustrate what I saw at the venue.For that reason I often spend more time trying to find events or venues to photograph and then have to sometimes rush in with a tight time limit to capture what I can see. For that reason, most of my photos can be more akin to "tourist snaps" - but at least I captured the event.I also have the advantage of living in a flat with a great view over the London skyline, which often has me leaping up from my desk if the sunset is putting on a good show, or the weather is being particularly dramatic.My favourite set of photos though were taken on Christmas morning when I cycled around the almost totally deserted center of the city. Yes, clever computer software could have simulated the effect in the photos, but nothing could beat being able to stand utterly alone in the silence and emptiness of the city that morning.Explore more at IanVisits' Flickrstream. Browse past lensers.

Last Updated 04 September 2010