A Photo Walk on London's South Bank - Part I

Over the last year I have done a number of photo walks along this stretch of the Thames, anywhere between Westminster Bridge and Tower Bridge. I felt it was time to share some of my best images from those walks as well as provided some background for anyone else who might want to do a photo walk in this area too. Here's a basic route.

Because of it's location, the South Bank has had a varied and perhaps somewhat chequered history, still evident today. During the Middle Ages, it developed as a popular area for entertainment for Londoners. Being outside the formal jurisdiction of Westminster and the City of London this entertainment included theatres (most notably Shakespeare's Globe Theatre), prostitution and bear baiting. Later, its use changed to being more industrial, as docks were built along the bank. From the 19th Century, the area has returned to being a popular location for entertainment and is a must-do experience for any visitor to London.

With all that, the area is a perfect subject, night or day, for any photographer, either professinal or amateur. It would be impossible for me to cover all the sites and attractions in this blog, so I want to concentrate on the main attractions and offer ideas for areas to explore. My virtual walk starts from Westminster Bridge and finishes at Tower Bridge in Southwark. You can of course do as much or as little of this stretch as you like.

The first point to note is that this walk is at night, as this is when the South Bank is at it's most vibrant and when there are more opportunities to capture all the light and colour that the South Bank offers. I've also given a few links to external links to find further information about different sites and attractions.

 

Equipment

Here's a short list of the kit I've taken along with me, as a reference:

• Canon EOS 450D
• Canon EF 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 
• Canon EFS 18-55mm
• Canon ET-65B hood
• Hähnel Remote Shutter Release
• Joby GorillaPod
• Velbon CX 540 tripod

Westminster Bridge

 

Palace of Westminster (in monochrome)

My walk begins around Westminster Bridge, with the backdrop of the Houses of Parliament, or the Palace of Westminster. Along the bridge, you can play with light streaks from the traffic passing by, particularly the red London buses:

Westminster Bridge

But as a prelude to this, you can choose to start on the Westminster side of the river it is well worth walking along Victoria Embankment a few hundred metres or so, so you are directly opposite the London Eye. From here, you get a perfect view of the giant wheel (see image below). By setting a long exposure shot, with low ISO, you can get some really amazing shots. Or, if you have a remote control shutter, set the camera on BULB and you can extend the exposure even further, to achieve more extreme blurring and the light reflections in the river become much softer.

The Eye of London (in Blue)

The London Eye

The London Eye is one of the biggest attractions on the South Bank. Needless to say, the views from the wheel itself are astounding and I highly recommend it, either day or night. But an after dusk is probably the best time to go on. Taking pictures of the wheel can in itself be impressive. There are good views from behind the wheel, i.e. approaching from Waterloo Station and the walk through Jubilee Gardens.

London Eye from Jubilee Gardens

You can also try more unusual angles and perspectives. Experiment with timings and positions and find something that appeals to you. The image below was captured on a bulb setting with shutter open for more than 4 minutes, revealing some of the inner structure of the wheel.

London Eye ("Arc")

South Bank Centre and the National Theatre

 

Further along is the South Bank Centre and the National Theatre. The architecture of these buildings has divided opinion since work on the Centre began in the 60's. But these sharp angles can make for good subject matter. When taken up close, they can become quite abstract. The are also numerous neon signs and rolling bill boards which can also be used to some effect, as seen in the silhouetted statue of Lord Olivier as Hamlet.

The National Theatre

The distintive Sixties design of the arts centres can provide many different possibilities, particularly if architecture is your thing. Beyond the National Theatre there is a small underpass which has become the home for BMXers, skaters and boarders to try their skills. There's almost always something happening, and it's a good opportunity to experiment with movement:

South Bank "Street"

The South Bank book market under Waterloo bridge can also offer some interesting possibilies:

South Bank book market

The Millenium Bridge

 

The Millenium Bridge, is the newest bridge to span the Thames in London and so is a relatively new feature of the riverside landscape. Some interesting shots can be made on the south bank, or even on the bridge itself. There are several places around the bridge where you can position yourself to get some great views of the City of London. Do not be too put off by the number of pedestrians on the bridge as this can add some drame to the scene. Or if you prefer, with a long exposure of 30 seconds or more, this virtually erases most passers by from the shot. At this point, you could optionally cross the bridge and take some shots of the river and go on over towards St Paul's Cathedral. I have taken several night shots from St. Paul's Churchyard - a regular bus route and perfect for light streaks of the passing traffic.

Millenium Bridge

Millenium Bridge and St Paul's

In this image, shot with a 2 minute shutter, has removed any trace of people, despite there being a number of passers-by. It also happened that a cruise boat passed by at the same time. River traffic can sometimes be a bit slow so you can't always that busy light streak effect from on the river itself. You do have toi time it right and have a bit of luck on your side.

Tate Modern

 

The gardens and trees in front of Tate Modern offer other opportunities to play with light and architecture. At night, the actual Tate Modern building is perhaps a bit monolithic and vast to capture from this side, except perhaps with a wide angle or fish-eye lens. In the image below, I have chosen a view which centres around St Paul's Cathedral as a kind of 'anchor point' in the shot, framed by the trees and the Millenium Bridge.

St Paul's from Tate Modern

Tower Bridge

The last area I will talk about is Tower Bridge. There are good photo opportunities from along the south bank, as well as on the bridge itself, where you can experiment with traffic streaks and other interesting effects.

Tower Bridge

Here is a slightly wider shot, taking in the Tower of London.

Tower Bridge and the Tower of London

From on the bridge I had a go at capturing the flow of the traffic against the backdrop of the bridge towers.

Tower Bridge traffic

If you are visiting London for the day, and depending on the time of year you visit, you may not get chance to go out at night so, in Part II, I will cover day time shoots in this area. Well, that's it! Thanks for reading!!

My 10 of the Best of 2011

Finally got round to compiling my first 'Best of' list. Hopefully this will be enjoyable for you as much as it is for me a way of assessing what I've done and seeing if any new patterns or styles have come forward over previous years.

Well, here we go, in reverse order...

10

Primrose Hill at Night

This was taken in the autumn, the clouds were advancing quickly across the sky, accentuated by this long-exposure shot (30 secs). This was a difficult shot to take, as even the slightest wind caused vibrations through the tripod, resulting in a slight blurring of the image. This was also one of my early attempts at night cityscapes.

 9

Picadilly Rain

This was an experimental shot, when out-and-about in a rainy Picadilly, London. The puddles were perfect for reflecting the silhuettes of passers-by. The amount of light and neon was dazzling. As a final touch I rotated the image 180 degrees.

8

Eiffel Tower

An unusual angle in this photo, but I was drawn by the arcs and curves of the architecture of the tower.

7

Takeout Mopeds (Chalk Farm Road)

A local walk-about for me. Camden Lock is literally down the road and a great area for just having a play with the camera. This appeals to me because it's such a simple subject yet made to look less ordinary. It was very early and so no-one was about. These mopeds are outdoor benches for an adjacent takeout bar, one of hundreds in Camden Market.

6

Chalk Farm Sunrise (Roundhouse)

Another local landmark: the Roundhouse, framed by the iron girders of the Regent's Park Road Bridge in Primrose Hill. My instinct was completely desaturate the image to monochrome. This image for me evokes the vernacular urban scenes of Sixties London and I suspect that this view has not changed much in those 40 years.

5

Celebration Cake

I can't take any credit for producing this delicious birthday cake (courtesy @cake_butterfly), which was baked for a friend. However, it was an opportunity for me to have a go at food photography. Rather than just snapping it, I set up a black cloth background and some atmospheric lighting and used quite a narrow depth of field. As this was the first time I had done anything like this, I feel it merits inclusion here.

4

Light streaks on Westminster Bridge

This is my first attempt at light streaks, taken as part of a photography workshop group. It taught me the basics and, while not the sharpest image I've ever produced, I feel that it was a good first effort at this technique. I have since tried this style in other spots in London and I'm keen to experiment further in more suburban and "scenic" locations in the future.

3

London Eye at Christmas

This was the first time I had my Gorillapod with me - a great little minipod that is handy to have in busy and small areas. With it being festive too, it adds a a bit of magic to the composition. The long exposure techniques I had learnt earlier were also employed here.

2

Carousel

Another long-exposure shot, this was at 20 seconds. The Carousel starts to resemble a spinning top, as the light colour fuses. An expected element to the image is the figure in the centre, who passes by briefly leaving a ghostly form. The wind was noticeable at times and some elements such as the small trees are noticeably blurry. Again, this as a first-time in trying this kind of subject matter.

1

Sunrise eclipsing the Shard

Okay, technically, this was taken in early Jan 2012 but it brings me right up to date as far as this retrospective is concerned and something of a culmination of what I had learned through 2011. I had been taking a series of shots on Primrose Hill from early dawn and so this was taken at the end of my planned shoot. It was starting to become too bright soon after this, and the scene lost some of that aura and mystique. This shot really brings out the silhouettes of the buildings and the rising steam and smoke in the cold air from office buildings. It's as close as I've got to a classic urban skyline image.



All in all, a lot of new techniques learnt. All of which I hope to build on in 2012...

Hope you enjoyed!

Dawn Photography

I recently went out on a short photo shoot on Primrose Hill, north London, very close to where I live. And with it being so close to home it was an ideal opportunity to get up early and take some dawn photos. The tempature had dropped a lot over the weekend and by Saturday morning it was quite chilly, but this also gave really clear skies.

Having got my takeaway coffee I headed off up the hill, still dark but the light was growing. I knew sunrise was at 8am, giving me half an hour or so to set up and get some pre-dawn shots in too. Primrose Hill is the best vantage point in north-central London to see spectacular views across to the City and as far as Canary Wharf and the hills of Greenwich beyond. The sky had a morning glow, tinged with a low-lying mist. There was a frost on the ground which enhanced the light. After I set up the camera and tripod, fairly close to the summit, I decided to have a quick play with the iPhone. With hands shaking slightly from the cold, I tried a HDR shot with a great app called Pro HDR. The result (below) came out pretty good:

Taken with my iPhone 4, using Pro HDR

I set the camera up (my Canon EOS 450D with the standard 18-55mm lens to get some wider shots. I found the best setting at 1600 ISO, about f20, 1/8 sec, then tried a few variations in exposure.

The City from Primrose Hill

The above image has not been retouched or enhanced but is as shot. The foreground shades of the grass and trees are more natural compared to the HDR iPhone image, but the haze is still quite marked above the skyline. I swapped lens, to my EF 70-300mm zoom, so I could get some closer shots, at similar speeds, but keeping the ISO high at 1600.

Early dawn over the City

As dawn broke, the light intensified so a much faster shutter speed was required, around 1/250 sec. The sun just peaking now over low-lying cloud. Orange became the dominant colour now.

Sunrise over St. Pauls and the Shard

 A quick lens swap to get a wider shot across London came out well. Here is one of the better ones.

Sunrise over the City

 At this time of day,  the sun tracks across incredibly quickly. I swapped lenses back over once more as the sun was eclipsed by the Shard (currently under construction but nearing completion) to produce my favourite shot of the whole morning.

Sunrise eclipsing the Shard

This shot also really brings out the silhouettes of the buildings and the rising smoke from office buildings. As the sun climbed, the light intensified and shifted further towards the blue and I felt it was time to finish up. What's more is that was really cold and I was keen to get back into the warm! On my walk I took a couple more images with the iPhone, experimenting as much as anything else. These were quite pleasing too...

Chalk Farm at Sunrise

"Made in Camden"

All the above images can be found in my Primrose Hill set on Flickr.

I would have to say that I'm lucky to be living so close to such a great location for urban landscapes such as these, but sometimes the beautiful can be found in the most unlikeliest and unexpected of places. Just look around your own neighbourhood.

Pictures from MasterChef Live 2011, 13th November at London Olympia

As I perused the stalls at this year's MasterChef Live at Olympia, there was a heady mix of world coffees, spices, infusions and an assortment of other exotic aromas, all under one roof.

It's really all about the food, but it gave me an opportunity to take in the atmosphere and one or two celebrities spotted along the way. I have had an interest in food photography for a while but this was a chance to see a variety of dishes being prepared there and then. Here are a selection of images I took at from the day:

 

Sugar and Spice: 5 Top Tips for Photographing cakes and other foods

I've recently started taking photographs of food more seriously, mainly as a result of a new business that my fiance has started, making cupcakes. This has really given me an opportunity to see what I can do technically. The main thing is to make the food look as irresistible as possible.

Here are a few very basic tips that I've found useful in getting started:

1. Timing
   
   Some food may be perishable and so of course the food will look better, the fresher it is. It might be useful to set up in advance of the food being prepared or delivered.
   
   
2. Setting Up
   
   When setting up the food, think about the arrangement of the food and the context. Decide on whether, for example, a bowl or a plate will work best. Fruit would normally be served or kept in a bowl. But this might not suit the particular mood you are setting.
   
   
3. Lighting
   
   This is really important. This helps set the right atmosphere. The amopunt of light you use will depend on the subject and the context in which you are portraying the food. For example, it might be seasonal. Perhaps using a device such as a window, or maybe more subtle visible lighting such as a candle can help give warmth. Try an be clever and use walls and reflective surfaces effectively. Adding a glazing to bread with olive oil will also add an appetizing glow.
   
   
4. Composition
   
   Think about the arrangement of the food to provide the best composition, applying the same processes that you would for any photograph. Sometimes, less is more and try and avoid too much clutter. Practice photographing both narrow and wider shots and from a number of positions to see what works best.
   
   
5. Perspective
   
   Keeping a low perspective and angle than from up above makes a much more interesting shot. This also adds extra depth of field and can accentuate detail and focus on a particular area.

You might also like to have a look at my Food collection on Flickr.

Cupcakes at a cake tasting event

Festive Mince Pies

Freshly baked focaccia bread

Mini cupcakes on display

Yule log at a set table

Edinburgh: yon Empress of the North

Last week I spent spent several days up in Edinburgh (also once affectionately nicknamed "Auld Reekie", because when buildings were heated by coal and wood fires, chimneys would spew thick columns of smoke into the air. Certainly there were signs off this from the blackened facades of old Georgian buildings.

Early morning mist, Edinburgh

Never having been to Edinburgh before, I wanted to cover some of the main places of interest in the city centre. This included the Castle and the Royal Mile, the Scottish National Gallery (with a small but lovely collection of the great Impressionists altogether in one small room), The National Museum of Scotland, Princes Street, the Scott Monument, Calton Hill and the monuments around that area, as well as a walk up Arthur's Seat (well worth the hike).

The weather couldn't be better for late October - bright sunshine for most of the time and relatively warm. I was prepared for more gloom and anticipated a more 'moody' setting, but the strong light meant that my best images were in the early morning, just after dawn and again towards dusk. I didn't want the hassle of traveling up on the train with the addition of my tripod and so, inevitably, this limited my scope for night photography.

St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh

Edinburgh certainly has one of the most attractive and dramatic skylines to be found in Britain and I took advantage of this whenever possible. There are great views from Calton Hill as well as Arthur's Seat, where the summit offers the best panorama of the city and surrounding area. I shot mostly in RAW, so that I could work with my images once I got back. Any images where I thought the exposure was just too far off or the white balance was wrong, I binned them instantly.

I thought I might have had chance to take more street performers, but I guess with it being October it was a bit late for that (the Edinburgh Fringe is through August). That said, there was more than a few bagpipers on the Royal Mile and Princes Street.

The cannons of the Half Moon Battery, Edinburgh Castle, as well as in Calton Hill park made for some interesting shots, with city backdrops, experimenting with narrow depth of field. Some good interior shots in the Castle's halls and palaces too.

Royal Crests, Edinburgh Castle

Sadly, there wasn't enough time to do everything, or see everything, but I think I got the most I could from those few days, but definitely want to go back, even if just for a few days again, as part of a longer tour through Scotland.

You can see my Edinburgh Collection on Flickr.

Day four on the market stall: the final chapter?

After the previous market back on the 15th Oct, things were looking hopeful. I had made a profit and thought that if I could just tighten up on a few things, the future looked good. However, this week it was a little more sobering. Bottom line: nothing sold.

So, where to go from here? It would be pointless and futile for me to try and say it was a great day just to 'big up' my own success. Rather, I think today's blog is a reflective one. Although it was frustrating, I'm going to take away the positives with me and decide on the direction and focus of what the market is all about. So what happened?

Firstly, it was school half-term and I feel that this had some part to play. There didn't seem to be the normal amount of shoppers in Archway.

The stall looked okay, but feel in places it was a bit bare and could be improved. I was hoping to get some wallets for loose prints but these weren't available in time to be used. I'm inclined to spread a few mounted pictures out on the table to be clearly seen. I was also without my colleague alongside me, who also sells his own prints and wasn't able to make it. This might have made our combined stock look more enticing and gave us a greater presence. Here's a picture from the day...

Market stall - 29th October 2011

I had a go at running a slideshow on the laptop, but it was difficult to see the screen in the open daylight, so I abandoned it. Might try another time if the conditions are right. I  then tried using some twine and weights to display a few prints at the back of the stall, but the wind was too strong and the pegs I used were far too small to withstand it. So I had to take them down.

During the morning I spent some time cataloging my stock, so that any sales I could easily record from a catalog number. While this is important, this may have proved to be too much of a distraction. Sometimes, interaction with passers-by at the stall can help break a potential sale, or at least add some polite engagement.

Also, the box I have, with mounted pictures in, still isn't very substantial, with only a few dozen mounted. I need to really step up and get more prints mounted quickly. I might need to change the way I mount the pictures, perhaps just sticking the prints directly onto mount board rather than the conventional window cut mount, which is quite time-consuming. I might also consider using a foam board backing. I did also find this useful guide on YouTube to cutting a mount.
 
I added some laminated pricing and signage, which helped a bit, but I still feel that the canvas paintings are not selling themselves well enough. One or two people took business cards and inquired about the service, and this may yet yield something. I'll have to wait and see.

There are still question marks in my mind about whether Archway Market is the right place for selling photo prints. I'm not under any obligation to stay, which is ok. But I will need to think carefully about what I want to do going into the new year. There is also talk of a more 'seasonal' upcoming market and so this might be a good opportunity, perhaps bring more 'wintry' themes to sell. For now I'm going to continue but I cannot afford to continue to take losses, unless I simply absorb it and use the stall as a spring board to do other things, notably the made-to-order canvas painting.

Elsewhere, on a positive note, this week was a great escape for us as we went to Edinburgh for a few days and I recommend anyone who hasn't been there to go and visit. Got some fantastic shots from in and around the city. I hope to push them to Flickr some time very soon and will write a post on the subject.