Shard / London Bridge Tower | Southwark | 309m | 72 fl

[11001001]

Oh dear. From the south side of Southwark Bridge, it wasn't great. As a friend from Facebook put it; I've had a better light show opening my fridge! I think if it had been cloudy, it would of looked so much better!

[bangyuk]

Someone help me out here! The video on the Shard website is NOTHING like what we saw from the Millenium Bridge! The video has far more split lasers - we saw none - and no big green lasers from the top - we saw lots.

[stevekeiretsu]

Originally Posted by bangyuk

Well it was disappointing but also unmissable! Photos will be better than real life I think.

Yeah. I thought it hadn't started yet then I realised it was faintly visible in my "test shots"! Could barely see it with the naked eye but a couple of the shots made it appear fairly prominent. A group of people behind me were not sure if it was visible at all, I showed them the camera and we all agreed it looked far better on screen than in reality. Underwhelming indeed! Mind you, we were about 10 miles away so I was probably over-expecting.

[gothicform]

Originally Posted by DarJoLe

The scale of the lasers were completely off for a building that size. They needed move, create patterns in the sky or at least have a lot of them on at once to get the effect that was advertised.

The lighting was okay but again hardly anything dynamic. No real beginning, no real end, just sort of happening.

Sadly a lot of hype and too high an expectation.

i agree completely. i was quite surprised they weren't letting out dry ice from where the lasers were shooting out to actually give them a bit more size in terms of illumination next to the shard. i was under the millennium bridge, and noticed a lot of people leaving disappointingly after 10 minutes. i was also quite surprised they hadn't hooked up PA systems at certain vantage points that they recommended to the orchestra to blast out what was being played.

on the plus side i did get some very nice 2 minute long exposures of it at which point you can see all the lasers in view.

who did they interview on sky news btw? from what i know the researchers just got passed between the Relevant People. hehe. no one wanted to do it, and so everyone recommended someone else.

[stevekeiretsu]

image hosted on flickr

Shard lasers from Sawyer's Hill by stevekeiretsu, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Shard lasers from Sawyer's Hill by stevekeiretsu, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Shard lasers from Sawyer's Hill by stevekeiretsu, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Shard lasers from Sawyer's Hill by stevekeiretsu, on Flickr

[ooh]

Did they do the lasers from 1/2 way up the building so they could point at important landmarks? What a weird decision!

Would have been SO much better if they'd just copied a winning, proven formula of Hong Kong - put the lasers on the roof, make them move and change then light the building itself.

It's almost like they were nearly there but just couldn't be arsed to get it right.

I sincerely hope they retain a light display of some sort on this building after the olympics.

On another note, how sad is this article:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...s-7912144.html

[Supertall Robbo]

How did you get into sawyers hill at 11 o clock? i thought it was in richmond park?

and yes, the lasers on the video looked amazing, from what i could see though there were only about 5 lasers and they didn't move very much, and i was a similar distance from it to the video

[woodgnome]

CBS News Main Bulletin

[ooh]

Looks like the Aussies are more easily impressed than the Brits by lasers.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/world/...-1226418518258

Dazzling display saw coloured beams from 12 lasers and 30 powerful searchlights shoot across night sky

LONDONERS have been treated to a spectacular laser show projected from the tallest skyscraper in Europe.
The event marks the completion of the exterior of The Shard, with work on the inside expected to continue into 2013.

[cst1973]

I was on the beach opposite the Shard right next to Old Billingsgate where the VIP event was with the philharmonic orchestra (so I could actually hear the music live) – I think this might just have been the only vantage point where the show looked impressive.
About 10-20 static laser beams were directed above and below this area so it probably looked great if you were a VIP looking up from the Billingsgate terrace sandwiched between these.
I was actually directly underneath the terrace on the beach and there were lasers lighting up this whole undercroft area which was pretty cool, not that many people down there, few people having fun getting their pics taken in the pools of laser light, great atmosphere – EDIT That little green wiggle in the first pic is a fly buzzing through the beam

[stevekeiretsu]

Yup in Richmond Park, I wasn't sure if I'd have trouble getting in after dark but I needn't have worried, must have been 50+ people gathered.

Edit: cst1973 yeah that does look pretty sweet from there!

[eddyk]

I was stood directly opposite the shard on the other side of the river... not too far away from the Orchestra.

The Orchestra stopped after around 10min... so a waste of time.

Ill_Tonkso had to leave 5min after the show started to catch his train. He didn't miss anything.




Also if the Shard is officially open... it is the tallest building in Europe. Until the Mercury tower opens.

[potto]

I agree it was over hyped, not sure why they didn't go all out, but pretty nether the less

[eddyk]

I was unsure whether 1 new change would be open . I would have gone there if I had known.


Also there were no fireworks because of it's close proximity to two hospitals.

[ill tonkso]

Well, after seeing 5 minutes of the Laser show I ran to Monument Tube, Circle Lined to Victoria, train to Clapham Junction, train to Woking, train to Eastleigh, train to Fareham, Bustitution to Portchester. Simple...

[potto]

Originally Posted by eddyk

I was unsure whether 1 new change would be open . I would have gone there if I had known.


Also there were no fireworks because of it's close proximity to two hospitals.

i think cst1973 predicted the best view!

[Cat man do]

Wonder of the lasers will form part of the new year fireworks over at the eye

[mogwai83]

For goodness sake, the practice runs over the previous two nights were much more impressive than the event itself. After the first couple of minutes everyone at HMS President put their cameras away and turned to the drink instead.... what a galloping disappointment.

[cst1973]

Originally Posted by potto

i think cst1973 predicted the best view!

I was still more excited by Tower Bridge opening and closing twice within 20 minutes and the Olympic rings flipping up and down!

[potto]

laser reaching Battersea power station, oxo tower and houses of parliament, the faint laser beams visible in the photo were not detectable by the human eye (green enhanced in photo)