The four-star Lensbury Hotel in Teddington is in a fabulous location on the banks of the River Thames in south-west London. It sits on 25 acres of manicured gardens and grounds, stretching from the river, mostly used as tennis courts, squash, and football.
I was there one cold and rainy December day and while I was contemplating an afternoon at the pool and sauna I watched tennis-playing die-hards out on the courts from my bedroom window.
The Lensbury Club was first formed in 1920 as a sports and social club becoming Shell’s head office and sports club. It was bought by London & Regional Hotels who acquired the hotel in 2019 and now one hundred years later The Lensbury remains true to its sporting vocation with more plans for further investment.
The Lensbury is located on the Thames surrunded by lush grounds
The Lensbury has another string to its bow. A staggering 42 conference spaces of all sizes including a theatre style space. So as a result the hotel tends to be busy year-round.
The approach is impressive, an expansive, lovely red brick building, a small reception, an impressive staircase, and a lounge area with a couple of cosy areas with fireplaces, and a spacious restaurant that spills out to a terrace when the sun is out.
Cosy fireplace in the lounge at The Lensbury
Every day, the lounge area and restaurant are full of people tapping away at their laptops while others are on the tennis courts or getting fit in the swimming pool and gym. It’s a nice vibe.
The decor though pleasant enough could do with a revamp here and there in the bedrooms. This I am told is already in the works.
The Lensbury is all about sports and well-being. Go there with the family – kids are welcome – or with sporty friends. It’s great for business people, too.
Bedroom 255
There are 152 spacious bedrooms, some with a bath and others like mine (room 255) with just a shower. They are spacious, double beds are comfortable with several types of pillow styles. There is a TV, Nespresso, coffee and tea facilities, a mini bar with full-size bottles of water that are free to take and other mod cons.
There is a bar in the lounge area and Lounge restaurant and Terrace were spacious and tables were plentiful. Food is an eclectic range of pub grub well prepared – I enjoyed the Chicken Makhani served with rice and nan, though other dishes included rib-eye steak, Cumberland sausage and mash, fish and chips, burger and lamb shawarma and a couple of vegetarian dishes.
In the summer there are bbqs on the grounds and al fresco dining and pop-up bars. The Dunbar restaurant serves the spa area.
The Olympic size pool at The Lensbury
The Lensbury has a private members club with a state-of-the-art gym, and an Olympic-sized pool as well as saunas. On sunny days their private boathouse opens and offers the opportunity to have a go at watersports or to hire a boat and enjoy a boating day out on the river.
For those whose one love is tennis, the advantage is a staggering 25 tennis courts both clay and astroturf. Or there is pickleball and squash.
The Lensbury tennis courts
It’s the elite-level sports pitches that make this hotel unique. Football and rugby pitches are used regularly by greats such as Manchester United who stay and practice here, the Springbok rugby team and The All Blacks from New Zealand.
How much
Classic Doubles start at £114 per night.
CHECK AVAILABILITY
The pretty Teddington village has a variety of pubs, restaurants and independent shopping. The station is a 20-minute walk or a five-minute drive away and within reach is Richmond, Hampton Court Palace and central London. Get there in spring or summer and combine a relaxing riverside break with fun day trips on the river.
VERDICT: The Lensbury has a really good vibe. Clean, friendly, with happy people milling around. The sporting – especially tennis – and business facilities are hard to beat Though the interior is pleasant enough, I understand there will be a refurb happening soon. This will make The Lensbury a top-notch destination hotel for leisure, sports and business.
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The handheld light meter is an extremely powerful accessory that was far more popular in the days of 35mm photography. But this versatile and precise tool is just as valuable when shooting with modern digital cameras, and this tutorial explains why, when, and how.
The meters in today’s DSLRs and mirrorless cameras are very sophisticated, but they lack many of the capabilities of hand-held units, including the ability to measure incident light, save previous settings, and other features that enable you to determine the optimal exposures for perfectly balanced images.
Our instructor Hamed explains various techniques for using accessory meters to achieve consistent and accurate results under a wide variety of lighting conditions. Along the way you’ll also pick up a few valuable tips for making the most of your camera’s built-in light meter and achieving greater precision.
In basic terms there are two types of meters, beginning with those that only measure reflected light like the meter in a camera. But full-featured handheld units can do that as well taking incident readings. Understanding the difference between these two types of readings and what they accomplish can be very significant depending up the specific scene at hand.
Hamed explains that reflective metering measures the light bouncing off a subject and entering the camera. This approach assumes that you’re photographing an “average” subject that reflects a value of 18% gray, and inconsistencies can occur when shooting brighter or darker subjects unless you compensate accordingly.
On the other hand, benefits include the convenience of taking reflected reading from the camera position, rather than by approaching the subject. Incident meters work differently by measuring the amount of light that falls directly on a subject. This approach can yield far more accurate results under difficult light.
With this technique you position the meter at the subject’s location, pointing back toward the light source. As Hamed says, “This method is independent of a subjects reflectivity, making it far more accurate in many cases.
There are numerous advantages of incident metering, including the fact that they provide accurate exposure settings regardless of a subject’s color or texture. They’re also ideal for scenes with complex lighting or extreme contrast. And they work particularly well when shooting environmental portraits.
Be sure to visit Hamed’s instructional YouTube channel where you’ll find gear recommendations and an abundance of shooting and post-processing advice.
And speaking of getting the light right, be sure to watch an earlier tutorial we featured with another accomplished pro who demonstrates a variety of iPhone exposure tips and techniques that will take your mobile photography to the next level.
