Sunrise in the City
Continuing my mission to upload more of the photos I take to this website without feeling pressure to write long-form, location-based stories or update my portfolio after every trip, here is another on-location jaunt where I took a stroll with my camera along the Thames at sunrise.
Arriving in the nick of time off the train, I started off just a little west of Tower Bridge on the south side of the river. A composition I’d not yet photographed at this time of day and with the blue hour making way for the pre-sunrise glow, I wasted no time getting the camera out to take the photo. It took a minute or two to fine-tune the composition, making sure Tower Bridge was nicely centred between the lights above and the wall below. With the composition looking as balanced as it could be, I took the photo.
With the help of my ND filter (I forget which one), I opted for a 15-second exposure. This was because there were one or two early morning runners on the walkway and by opening the shutter for 15 seconds, it rendered them invisible in the frame. This is a great tip for when photographing places with people and you want them to magically disappear from the photo.
Fujifilm XT5 | XF16-55mm | 16mm | 15 Seconds | f/9 | ISO125
Talking of quick tips, here’s another for anyone looking to photograph the city with a tripod, particularly in this area between London Bridge and Tower Bridge. Get it done fast! It doesn’t matter if you are the only one out there, the tripod police are always on the hunt, ready to pounce the minute they hear the telltale sound of a tripod leg being extended. That’s exactly what happened as I was taking the photo above. Luckily for me, I know it to be a hot spot for being told off for using a tripod, so I composed the photos, locked in a few settings and only then did I extend the tripod, mount the camera and click the shutter. I had around 3 or 4 minutes of photo-taking joy before the inevitable chap in a reflective jacket headed my way.
To be fair, whether you agree or not (obviously I do not), it’s private property and those are the rules. If the security guards come and ask me to put the tripod away, I know they are just doing their job and are usually polite enough. Deep down, they probably don’t see what the big deal is either, but I don’t cause a fuss and just pack up and move on. I can always return another time.
Fujifilm XT5 | XF16-55mm | 16mm | 2.5 Seconds | f/13 | ISO125
Moving on and with a little pre-sunrise magenta still lingering in the sky, I stopped by a spot I’ve photographed many times featuring this view of HMS Belfast with Tower Bridge and the Tower of London visible in the background.
The photo above is probably my favourite I’ve taken at this location. I love a blue-hour cityscape, but the pink light hitting the clouds and reflecting on the water added something extra to this image.
After taking in the last of that pre-sunrise colour, some thicker cloud passed through taking all the nice light and colour with it. I decided to hang around for a while and wait for the cloud to move, with the hope that some golden morning light might still make it through. As you can see by the photos below, that’s exactly what happened.
Fujifilm XT5 | XF10-24mm | 14mm | 1/80th Second | f/10 | ISO125
Fujifilm XT5 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1.3 Seconds | f/10 | ISO125
Fujifilm XT5 | XF16-55mm | 16mm | 1/1000th Second | f/6.4 | ISO125
The photo above of HMS Belfast using the railings and roof to create a framed composition is one I haven’t personally seen before and although it’s probably been taken a thousand times before, it was new to me. Finding previously unseen compositions of London’s cityscape is always difficult and on the rare occasions it does happen, it always gives me a buzz.
With the light getting increasingly stronger and more contrast appearing in the scene, I started to take photos to process them for my Timeless City project. While editing these as black-and-white photos back in post-production, I couldn’t ignore how good they looked in all that glorious golden light, so I also decided to process them in colour.
Fujifilm XT5 | XF16-55mm | 16mm | 1/1000th Second | f/6.4 | ISO125
Walking across London Bridge, I took a few photos looking east along the Thames, directly towards Tower Bridge and the rising sun. The dynamic range in the scene was through the roof, and I had to let go of some of the cloud details in the brightest areas around the sun to preserve some of the shadow details in the scene.
Even though this is a well-photographed view, taking the photos in these conditions, in this light and processing them my way makes them unique to me.
Fujifilm XT5 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/40th Second | f/11 | ISO125
While the sun rose higher into the sky, I made my way to the opposite side of the river to get a view of The Shard across the water and take my final photo of the morning.
Back of the camera shot with an iPhone
This composition from between two buildings and The Shard in the centre has captured my attention lately and I have visited it a few times to photograph it in different conditions. I have, in my mind’s eye two particular images which I know are possible in the right conditions, so being the person I am, I have returned time and again to take them before I feel I can move on with my life. It’s becoming an obsession!
It may well be the increased use of the square format, but I’ve fallen for the central composition recently, and with lines around the edge of this frame, leading into the centre, towards The Shard, this composition works for me. In this picture, I like the soft light illuminating the city across the river and the natural vignette created by the shadows in the alley.
That’s it for this on-location post. What do you think of these bite-sized blogs? Do you like them and want to see more?
As I mentioned, I like to write them as they enable me to share a few more of my photos without depending on the social media algorithm, and I can display and talk about them in a way that suits me.
If you have any feedback, please do leave a comment or get in touch here.
Until next time.
Trevor