London DWF GTG :)

I decided very last minute to join a few other photographers for a get-together (GTG) in London on Tuesday. The plan was to meet at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) then on for a few drinks and a chat about photography, no doubt !

I decided to treat myself to a First Class trip (honestly, book in advance on thetrainline and save LOADS !) on Virgin's pendolino train ... absolutely marvellous ! Those things actually lean into corners !!! (Best to ignore the Heat magazine ... moving on ...)

An hour and a half from Stafford (I know) I got to Euston an hour early and was delighted to meet up with my friend, Yvonne Blume. We mooched along The Strand to check out a church (St Mary Le Strand) she is shooting at on Saturday and all I can say is WOW ! Absolutely beautiful and slap bang in the heart of London, surrounded by stereotypical buses and phone boxes ! I had my little Canon S5 with me (the bloomin' Canon G10 hadn't turned up yet - booooo) and so took a couple of photos while there (the exception is the iPhone photo in the NPG).

No visit to London would be complete without the tiniest bit of sightseeing ... whilst I have seen a lot of London, there are bits I still have yet to experience ... so we dropped by Somerset House which is set up in winter with an outdoor skating rink, and got a shot of the front of the Waldorf Hotel :)

Then it was on to the NPG for the Annie Leibovitz exhibition. I'm not a mad fan of Annie's work, with the exception of the David Beckham portraits and probably the Demi Moore pregnancy shots, but was curious as to what else I was missing. Needless to say, I didn't stay long and didn't buy the book either. That said, I did pick up a gorgeous book by someone I am a HUGE fan of, Mario Testino "Portraits", full of inspiration and just beautiful images.

Here's Yvonne studiously admiring Annie's work ... sorry, I mean, being bemused, then mildly irritated by the amount of shots out of focus !!!

Some of the guys were a little more enthusiastic :) (taken with iPhone due to gallery security lurking around LOL)

The group were heading to The Salisbury pub for a few drinks but Yvonne and I side-tracked to a little Italian restaurant for a girlie chat, some great pasta and wine, of course. Then it was off to meet the others for a couple of hours catching up on all things photography, before heading back to Stafford on the late train :)

A great day out, as always. Lovely to see everyone again and meeting some new faces too.