I've been to Piccadilly Circus a few times and I really love it's funky vibes but sometimes it's so busy that you literally can't move or if you do stop you run the risk of being swept away in a stampede of touristy people. So, having experienced the hustle and bustle of this famous city landmark it was kind of surreal yet calming experience being there at 7.30 in the morning before the place got swamped with people - it reminded me of the movie '28 Days Later' where the character Jim wakes up from his coma and wanders around a eerily empty London. He ends up at Piccadilly Circus and the 'Statue of Eros' is covered in messages from people looking for their loved ones - luckily for me there were no bloodthirsty zombies on the loose. Also in a nice turn of fortune the big screens and lights, that were covered up with ugly banners and scaffolding on my last visit, had been fixed - good times. POST PROCESSING - With all the movement and lights of Piccadilly Circus I expected there to be alot of damage to repair after it came out of Photomatix but came out pretty much unscathed. The minor damage to the buses and the girl on the bike were fixed by masking one of my original RAW files with the Photomatix result. It still needed a bit more punch so I ran it through Topaz Adjust to give it that. I also used Photoshop to smarten up the sky and remove some focus from the dull segments of the foreground.

It rains all the time in Auckland. Like, all the time. I like rain. But it's all symbolic of misery and stuff, so here it follows me around. Last week the government made an announcement about which suburbs in Christchurch were going to be disestablished - i.e deemed uneconomical to repair and rebuild on, so basically torn to ground level and turned into a swamp. If your house was red zoned, it meant that you can either take the money that the government offers you and leave, or stay but not be entitled to any repairs, sewerage, power or running water. My family home was red zoned. It's pretty heartbreaking to be forced to leave a family home, which I grew up in and thought would stay in our family for much longer than this. I hate to think of it being destroyed. My parents are appealing the decision. Which makes me feel a little better. Maybe it won't be the end. I owe a big thank you to my love, for holding me endlessly when I rained. And for letting me use his tripod and his camera for this shot. Actually, I took them without asking, so it's thanks for not minding :) It's raining right now. Very hard. It's kinda cool, but I literally can't hear myself. For ODC 22/6 - On the back side. Sorry for being such a bad contact/ODC group member! I'm trying to catch up on my commenting. The photos will follow. Hopefully. And this is late for 52 weeks! I suck.