London buses

This week's pictures are about London buses. Most of them feature the old Routemasters, though these now only run on just a single tourist route in the city. Why, oh why were they ever scrapped ? The red Routemaster was not just one of London's great icons. Above all else, it worked. The rot started, of course, years ago with the introduction of driver-only buses. Whatever excuse was given at the time, the real reason was to save money. And now we have the bendy buses, which not only get stuck but have also shown an alarming tendency to catch fire. The story of London's buses in recent years is, sadly, the same as for so much else in contemporary Britain. Management consultants and businessmen move in, fuck up everything apart from their own pay packets and then tell us there's been a marvellous improvement. No more room on top for them, I wish. Ding ! Ding !

Last week's pictures came from a churchyard in Sussex

The picture set last week featured St Margaret's Churchyard in the Sussex village of Rottingdean, just along the coast from Brighton. St Margaret's is an old church, dating from the 13th century. It has a close association with the Victorian artist Edward Burne-Jones, whose ashes are in the churchyard and who also made some stained glass for the church. Interestingly, and quite why I do not know, there is a replica of St Margaret's in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in California. The churchyard is a beautiful place, divided up by flint walls and containing the remains of famous and ordinary people in equal peace and tranquillity. The pictures in this set were all taken on a sunny spring day in March 2007.

Other recent pictures of the week

The Queen, subject of the picture set a fortnight ago, came to Brighton on March 8th. Despite being almost 81, she still dutifully carries on her lifelong schedule of visits and tours. A sunny day out in Brighton must have been quite an easy and pleasant trip for her. But spare a thought for what this woman has had to endure over the years by way of entertainment. She must have had to sit through more ridiculous spectacles than anyone else in history, the emperors Nero and Caligula not excluded. To the Queen, the world outside her front door must seem like a perpetual version of Fame Academy. All those eager smiles. All that endless waving and cheering. No wonder she likes to come home to Prince Philip.

Three weeks ago the pictures were about women and hats. There's an old saying that goes "If the cap fits, wear it". As any mere man would tell you, this advice is routinely ignored by women, especially at weddings and race meetings. Dull practicality is, happily, not often a consideration for the female choice of head adornment. Fashion and fun may seem more frivolous reasons for buying a hat than whether or not it keeps you dry or stays on your head in the wind. But, rain or shine, the world's a brighter place when women put their hats on and we can all enjoy that. You may also like to see the earlier picture set about men and hats.

The subject of the picture set four weeks ago was big brother britain. There are more CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) cameras in the UK than throughout the whole of the rest of Western Europe. When they first appeared, their rationale was said to be the prevention of street crime. All well and good, but now they have multiplied in number and purpose far beyond anything imagined by George Orwell in "1984", his classic novel about a controlled society. Wherever you go nowadays, there are cameras watching for the slightest infringement of the rules. Speeding and parking, drinking and smoking, dropping litter and, of course, bombing. If only bombers were stopped by cameras. The trouble is that the average suicide bomber probably wants his ghastly final act preserved on film. Big Brother may be all-seeing, but all too often he's also useless.

About this site and picture library

There are now over 48000 images in the library and they can all be keyword searched from the picture search page. New or updated subjects include London buses, Rottingdean, The Queen, women and hats, CCTV cameras, St James's in London and ducks. The site has several ways to help make relevant and fruitful searches, including index pages for both subjects and events & places.  There is also a useful search guide and information page.

A good showcase of the type and range of photography available can be explored in the pictures of the week series. Published on the site since December 2001, this now totals more than 2500 images. Every week there is a set of ten pictures about a particular place, event or theme. Almost all the library's pictures are available for personal or commercial reproduction. Digital files can be delivered by email or CD, prices start from as little as £8 and there is further information on the prices and terms & conditions pages. You can also contact David Gray for quotations and availability for new photography commissions.