Last Minute

A new month, and a new set of challenges. Today we are asked to photograph something beginning with "L".

Every year we go to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London. This year, we left it to the Last minute: the exhibition finishes this weekend after a 4 and a half month run. (We were anxious to avoid our mistake of previous years when we went during the week schools took their half-term break - when there is a one to two hour queue just to get into the building).

The photographs in the exhibition were - as always - astounding. Every image made us gasp: every image had the "Wow" factor. My only doubt was the winning image which I thought was a little "busy" and confusing - there were two other images by the same photographer (Paul Nicklen) which I felt were better, although my overall favourite was a picture of a group of cheetah cubs all intently watching a terrified Thomson's gazelle. The composition, focus and story telling power of this image are fantastic.

As always when we visit this wonderful building, which was constructed between 1873 and 1880 and first opened in 1881, I took some photographs of the beautiful main entrance hall, with its replica skeleton of a diplodocus. The shot I have chosen here is not my usual symmetrical shot down the length of the hall: this one shows off the skeleton to better effect. (It's worth pressing L on the keyboard to see this image large.)