rashbre central: Tour de France in London

Monday 7 July 2014

Tour de France in London

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I knew I'd struggle to get any pictures at the roadside for the Tour de France in London. I only turned up about 45 minutes before they were due to zoom past and as I'd gone to Parliament Square, it was also one of the prime and therefore crowded locations. The picture above shows my blurry view of Marcel Kittel (3rd in picture) on his way to the Stage 3 victory.

The area along the Mall had been packed since the morning, with people arriving ten hours in advance to get a spot. I considered going to somewhere like Royal Docks, where I could probably have got a roadside position, but thought that there would be more of the atmosphere on the final stretch.
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There was certainly a lively crowd and even with a few spots of rain, the numbers just kept growing. I was a couple of rows back and realised that with the cyclists' speed, it would be tricky to even get them into frame.

I'll call my pictures impressionistic rather than documentary. Sometimes it's better to be in the moment rather than worrying about capturing it.
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2 comments:

OldLady Of The Hills said...

WOW! What a fantastic thing to see! And I think your pictures are GREAT! Very--In The Moment!

Pat said...

Thanks for reminding me. Last Saturday afternoon my son was driving me from the city (we had been to see his office) to Heathrow and it was horrendous traffic wise but lovely to see old buildings again. We made it in the end.