Skate

After doing some odd jobs this morning, we found time this afternoon to go into London.  Our first visit was to Waterloo station, where the "Landscape Photographer of the Year" exhibition is being staged this year.  This location almost certainly has many more people passing by the displays than the foyer of the Lyttleton  Theatre at the National, where previous years' exhibitions have been staged, and undoubtedly a greater range of people have seen the images.  This is good.  However, I didn't enjoy the presentation as much as at the Lyttleton and this evening, after dark with no natural light entering the building, I found the lighting on the prints rather variable.

The pictures this year seemed to me to include a larger proportion of detailed "intimate" landscapes.  I have always enjoyed the broad interpretation of the theme "landscape" accepted by this competition, but I know a good many people who would not consider many of the images to be landscapes.  To each his own, I guess.

After the exhibition, we wandered along the South Bank enjoying the Christmas markets and stalls.  A mug of mulled cider and some street food definitely helped the evening along.

Finally, we walked over to Somerset House where the usual skate rink was open in the central courtyard.  The coloured lights shining on the rink provided a contrast against the warm colours of the building in the background. 

Some of the skaters were pretty good, too!