Here To Geneva

Last Saturday, I spent much of the day in London for my very first Flickr Meet. About 50 Flickr members and I went on a very pleasant stroll around London’s South bank along the Tate Modern’s Street Art walking route. Even if you’re not into Street Art, it’s still a great way to spend a few hours in an area of London you may not have otherwise ever ventured into. The art, by five Madrid-based street artists, was pretty cool. Not sensational, but still worth a look. Some of it is pretty random, while other pieces you can appreciate for their obvious complexity. I have to admit, I found wandering through unfamiliar streets and seeing brand new, shiny buildings standing next to old, dirty warehouse buildings more of a thrill than the art. Even more thrilling was seeing my first ever Space Invader, followed shortly afterwards by my second. That’ll be 20 points to me then!

After the walk, we all followed the pink and blue balloons towards the Founders Arms where Flickr treated us to a free drink (literally anything from the bar) and piles of free toasted paninis and sandwiches. Oh, and there was also the obligatory Flickr Schwag and geeky chat. I was a good day. The photos you see in this post were all taken with a Panasonic Lumix TZ5, a camera that boasts an impressive feature set (9MP, 10x Optical, Intelligent Auto mode, HD video). With good reviews elsewhere on the net, and the device looking good on paper, I was expecting to get my money’s worth. My expectations however, were not met. Compared with my much cheaper Nikon L6, the Panasonic did produce sharper images, but failed in producing rich vibrant colours. On the whole, the colours were washed out with a slight, yet detectable blue tint. The lack of vibrancy affected the depth of field and so the images looked flat and lifeless. Some of the images were OK, but for £240, OK isn’t good enough. After two days of ownership, it’s now been sent back. Disappointing.

Incidentally, if you’re considering going to the Tate Modern, don’t! It’s rubbish! Even though it’s free to get in, it’ll be a waste of your time. After just 25 minutes, I left feeling a mixture of depression, confusion and anger. I can appreciate art so long as it looks like someone’s taken time over it to make sure it resembles the thing it’s meant to represent (and admitedly, there are some pieces in the Tate Modern that fulfil this criteria). I cannot and will not appreciate “art” that looks like someone’s rubbed the canvas on the pavement, or dipped it in in a vat of sewage or spilt tea over it. Utter twoddle! It’s the only free attraction I’ve been to where I’ve left feeling I’ve been robbed. The best part of visiting the Tate Modern was crossing the Millennium Bridge (above) to get away from it.

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For more photos taken on the day, check out the Flickr set.