T Is For Taxi

That’s What You Call A Handsome Cab

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

It's drizzling. It's foggy. Dawn is still about twenty minutes away. It's Tuesday, 2 June 2009 (yes, just hours ago) and I'm wondering why I have a camera bag slung over my shoulder.

Then, bingo, I see something that validates my decision to carry a camera, even when the weather's lousy and the light is unfriendly. There, outside the Langham Hotel, is a black London cab. On both sides of the cab, there are Union Jacks fluttering in the crisp winter breeze.


They're tricky shots to take, because the pre-dawn light is grey and weak, while the flags are flanked by the lights of the Langham porch. I take a couple of shots before moving round to the other side, after I see a huge bolster taking up the entire back window. Naturally, the bolster has the British colours on it as well.

Then I hear a voice behind me. It is the cab's owner, telling me that the Langham is celebrating a British Day today, to coincide with renovations and upgrades to their London hotel. While we talk about the cabs and their history, I notice (naturally) that his tie has the Union Jack emblazoned on it too. Then he shows me his braces as well - and I have to get a shot, despite the poor light outside.


Brian Hickey and Steve Olsen run a Melbourne company called London Taxi Wedding Services and this is the pride of their fleet. It's been a few moons since I sat in a traditional black London cab and I have to choose between a) a quick spin around the block or b) spending the next five minutes taking some shots.

The photographer side of my brain wins over the childlike part of my brain. But hey, it's a close call.


For the home of ABC Wednesday, go to Mrs Nesbitt's Place.

You Calling Me A Basket Case?

Hang On, They're Petunias

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Last July we were on a family holiday in Malaysia, a part of the world I'd never visited before although I have made several visits to neighbouring Singapore. The result was that the clan had a great two-part holiday, on the island of Langkawi where time stood still, and then in Kuala Lumpur where there were too many photographs to be taken, so I couldn't stand still.

This was taken on the main road, just outside our hotel, the Shangri-La, as we walked to the monorail shortly after checking in. I was determined to get as close to the kerb as possible (within the bounds of safety, of course) to take this shot, because I wanted to frame the white petunias with the blue-and-white sign. Yes, it is a taxi bay.

They really do things in style in KL. If you want a taxi, you don't have to stand there windmilling your arms as the traffic flies past you. You just walk to a taxi bay, clearly designated and prominently marked - and hey presto, it all happens as if by magic. And if you do have to wait a minute or two, you have beautiful flowers to gaze at in the interim.

Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

All The Fun Of The Fare

Deep In The Heart Of Taxis

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I’ve caught taxis in many parts of the world, but I don’t think I’ve ever come across a taxi company that extends such a colourful welcome - or a more enthusiastic, visible greeting - to prospective passengers.

These shots were taken in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last July, when the entire Authorblog family escaped the Melbourne winter and jumped on a plane to spend ten days in the tropics.

I was eleven years old when we visited Singapore for the first time and I remember being fascinated by the share-taxi concept that existed on the route from the city centre to Bukit Timah. You got into the cab and waited for three other passengers and as soon as they had materialised, the cab driver would get going. Because it was a fixed route, you paid a fixed fare, too.

That was a big deal for me, because the cabs that plied the route were big, majestic diesel Mercedes-Benz sedans. The first time I sat in one, I could barely believe my luck because it was the first time I had ever sat in a Benz. Man, did I have some stories to tell my envious classmates when I got back home.

I also remember vividly the self-closing doors of the silver-and-red taxis in another former British colony, Hong Kong. As soon as we got in I would reach for my seatbelt with one hand and the door handle with the other - but the door would swing closed. It was not immediately that I realised the cab driver was activating a switch that was closing the passenger door!

Both these shots were taken on the move. In KL. The first shot was taken on the long, scenic drive from the international airport to the Shangri-La hotel in the city. I saw the welcoming sticker on the door of a cab that pulled up alongside us at a traffic light - and quickly angled this shot before the lights changed.

The second shot (below) was taken as we walked along a busy footpath in the city centre a few days later. I could see the cab approaching in the lane closest to me and I knew the driver would have to slow down for a set of traffic lights.

I had my 18-125mm lens on the camera, so I composed a neat, tight frame and set the speed accordingly. Then I tracked the cab, allowing the camera lens to follow its path - and simply hit the shutter as soon as the cab was where I wanted it.

(Extra, extra, read all about it: I've been interviewed here. Thank you to all those who have followed this link and checked out the interview. There have been so many wonderful comments that I've tried to reply to each one personally - but you're setting a cracking pace. My humble and heartfelt thanks to all of you for the wonderful tributes and thoughts you have shared on the interview.)


For earlier posts in this series, check out The Doors Archive.