Cityscape’s Director Tony Pocock looks up at the back of the clock face.

In late June 2007 work was completed on two 6km tunnels to re-route electricity cabling underground from 52 pylons that previously crossed the site.  In 2011 all the major infrastructure can be seen – The Olympic Stadium, arenas, new roads, railway lines and bridges across the River Lea. The 2.5 square kilometre site is currently employing 12600 people in construction jobs, and soon the site will be open for test events.

Whilst waiting to meet a colleague on a rather chilly January afternoon around the South Bank in London, I took the opportunity to take a few quick photos in and around Jubilee Gardens and the London Eye. The crisp, January light was really beautiful and created some excellent silhouettes of the wheel and surrounding area.

A few facts…

The 135-metre London Eye is the tallest Ferris wheel of its kind in Europe and remains “the world’s tallest cantilevered observation wheel”. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the UK, with around 3.5m visitors taking flight annually.

Flying into London before reaching the shoot destination, there are often interesting and beautiful views over the landscape on the edges of the City.

About Cityscape Aerial Photography

Here at Cityscape, we have shot a huge amount of aerial photography and film for a wide variety marketing purposes. This is the first part of a on-going showcase of some of the best Aerial photographs we have taken across the UK. All the photographs shown were taken on shoots for other specific projects. All the photography in this collection was taken using hand-held DSLRs from helicopters. This provides us with a higher rate of accuracy when shooting specific targets and allows us to compose our photos properly. There is a real reliance on good instincts and a little improvisation with changeable conditions.

To see a series of aerial films we have shot, please visit our youTube channel.

If you are interested in using Cityscape for aerial photography or film, please contact us at enquries@cityscape3d.com or call us on +44 (0) 207 8367 111.

About Aerial Photography

Aerial photography refers to the technique of capturing photographs which are taken when the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. The camera in Aerial photography may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely, or triggered automatically.

Every Christmas, we welcome a part of nature into our homes. We take a tree from the outside world, uproot it and invite it into the shelter and warmth of the urban environment. We adorn these green giants with decorations and lights, gaze at them in wonder and gather round with loved ones to celebrate the festive period. However, as the season of goodwill comes and goes they are thrown out with the rubbish and left rolling around in the street, ignored, unloved and awaiting a shredded fate. Christmas trees are strewn across the streets of London, everywhere from vast Norwegian spruces outside large office buildings to more sedate foliage out in the suburbs, like a Christmas tree massacre that we are all choosing to ignore.

Please spare a thought for this year’s unfortunate victims.

If you have any pictures of neglected trees, please e-mail them to us and we will update them on the blog.

Christmas Tree Collection in London

It is unsurprising to know that London produces more rubbish at Christmas than during any other time of year. Fortunately, many London boroughs offer free Christmas tree recycling. Not only is it economically friendly, it is good for the environment and very convenient for residents of London. A number of London councils, including Wandsworth, Lambeth and Southwark provide special tree recycling services at this time of year.

For more information on Christmas tree recycling in your borough, please click on the following links.

Hackney Council Recycling

Islington Council Recycling

Lambeth Council Recycling

Southwark Council Recycling

Wandsworth Council Recycling

Croydon Council Christmas Tree Recycling Point

Outside St. Pancras International station next to the huge 67 acre development site at King’s Cross sits the Grade II listed German Gymnasium, or Die Turnhalle as it was originally known.  Funded by expat donations, designed by Edward Gruning and built in 1864-1865 for use by the German Gymnastics Society, it hosted the indoor events of the first National Olympic Games in 1866 and is believed to be the first purpose built gym in the country.

“The main exercise hall was a grand and elegant space with a floor to ceiling height of 57ft. The vast laminated timber roof trusses, with their original cast iron hooks from which budding Olympians swung from ropes as a form of exercise, are still in place today.”

A calm, church-like proportioned building, filled with light at the mezzanine level and a well-preserved historical marker in the midst of such a large regeneration site. The space is filled with wonderful period features, such as the laminated timber trusses that hold the roof up (an early example of the style), detailed brickwork, elegant iron pillars and foliage capitals, and arched windows.

Since the Midland Road realignment required 30 metres to be removed from the western side, a new façade was added facing the station and the building has been used as a venue space for hire, for events, exhibitions and art installations.  Now King’s Cross Central’s marketing suite and Visitor Centre, with an interior fit out by Studio Downie Architects who’s design incorporates the light-rings seen here, that provide a link between the ground floor spaces up into the timber roof.

Indian club swinging or broadsword practice anyone?

http://www.kingscrosscentral.com/

http://www.kingscrosscentral.com/marketing_suite

http://www.kingscrosscentral.com/gg_history

It has been hard to avoid the recent cold snap in the UK and not get affected by it in some way or another. Snow and ice have been branded harbingers of doom by all the rolling news channels, causing the collapse of infrastructure across an ill-prepared country. As a result of this frosty fear mongering, it is often too easy to forget about what incredible beauty snow and ice can provide.

Watching an unstoppable force of nature crawl into urban environments and creep across buildings creates stunning imagery. As well as this, both natural and man-made lighting can be magical, inspirational and nostalgic. Here is a mix of winter-time photography from a variety of places. Here at the Cityscape Photo Blog, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Three times a week this handler and her Harris Hawk visit Ropemaker Place to scare the pigeons and window cleaners. Ropemaker’s louvres make for perfect pigeon roosting, and the hawk patrols were introduced last year after the building opened.

Images from a roof top shoot last week – great views of the Shard and an autumnal stormy sky.