Photographing London with my Fujifilm Prime Lenses

On Location

Mar 16

Those of you who have been following my work before, let’s say, 2019 would have seen me predominantly as a cityscape photographer, with photos of London representing about 90% of the images I took. Fast forward 2 or 3 years, my trips to London have been few and far between for obvious reasons and I started taking more photos outside of London, exploring the local countryside and coastline here in the southeast of England. So, when I get the opportunity to head into the city with my camera, I take full advantage.

A few weeks ago, I managed to carve some time out before and after work to take photos in London for the first time this year. Knowing I was a bit “cityscape” rusty; I didn’t have particularly high expectations, I was just happy to be out there again, soaking up the atmosphere in the city I love so much.

A cityscape photo of the Shard at More London. Taken by Trevor Sherwin — Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/50th Second | f2.8 | ISO160

When I travel to London, I usually end up at London Bridge Station, so it has become a bit of a ritual to start any shoot off surrounded by the modern architecture here at More London. I must have a thousand photos of The Shard, City Hall, and Tower bridge taken from this location, but I find it a great place to start things off, using some old faithful compositions to get that all so important first photo in the bag. I suspect that some of my fellow photographers might relate to the fact that when I’m out taking photos, I have to warm up a bit to get into the zone, so the sooner I start pressing the shutter button, the better.

This composition looking towards The Shard is a favourite of mine as I can use the thick, round rail around the scoop as a compositional lead-in line, adding interest as well as helping the viewer work their way around the frame and finish up at The Shard. The scene works both in portrait and landscape but the 16mm F2.8 lens I had with me could have done with being a little wider for the landscape composition above.

A cityscape photo of the Shard along the River Thames. Taken by Trevor Sherwin — Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/80th Second | f4 | ISO160

With the blue hour slowly giving way to sunrise and very little cloud around, the Belt of Venus started to cast its pastel-pink glow across London. As I left More London, crossing Tower bridge I had to stop and take a few photos of the view looking west along the River Thames. There was no direct light but the muted pre-sunrise colours were right up my street and it while crossing the bridge I took my favourite photo of the morning.

Framing up the classic view of More London and The Shard from across the water, I noticed behind me that one of the Uber Boats was approaching the bridge travelling up-stream and would soon appear from under the bridge below my feet be directly in front of me shortly after that.

Raising the camera a touch to show more of the river so the boat would have more room around it, I waited for the boat to enter the frame and as it approached the ideal spot, I rattled off a few shots with the one below, being the best of the bunch.

Once finished on Tower Bridge and with the pastel colours making way for the stronger, direct sunlight, I headed off towards my office, grabbing a few more snaps along the way.

A cityscape photo of the Shard and an Uber Boat along the River Thames. Taken by Trevor Sherwin — Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 125th Second | f4 | ISO160

A cityscape photo of a silhouetted figure coming down the stairs on Tower Bridge. Taken by Trevor Sherwin — Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/160th Second | f4 | ISO160

A cityscape photo of Tower Bridge along the River Thames. Taken by Trevor Sherwin — Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/200th Second | f4 | ISO160

A framed cityscape photo of the Shard along the River Thames. Taken by Trevor Sherwin — Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/3,200th Second | f3.2 | ISO200

For this London shoot, I had my lightweight Fujifilm kit with me (which you can see in the photo here) and there were a couple of reasons I left the heavier gear at home and went for this compact setup.

First off and the most obvious is that it was lighter and more freeing to walk around with less gear weighing me down. Secondly, and the main reason was that I had decided to visit St Paul’s Cathedral later that day, to climb the dome and take photos from the very top, which is something I hadn’t done since 2019.

The Golden Gallery situated at the very top of the dome is very small with barely enough room for people to pass up there, so having a smaller bag, no tripod and a more compact camera system makes it a little easier and helps me keep out of the way from the other visitors.

For a more comprehensive list of the gear I own and the different configurations I use, check out my most recent “What’s in my camera bag” blog post.

My Fujifilm X-T30 camera and prime lenses

The view of London from St Pauls Cathedral. Taken by Trevor Sherwin — Fujifilm X-T30 | XF23mm f2 | 23mm | 1/400th Second | f4 | ISO200

As you can see in the picture of my gear above, the three prime lenses I had with me were the 16mm F2.8, the 23mm F2 and the 35mm F2 and focusing predominantly on the city highrises and The Shard across the river, I spent the entire time I was up there switching between the three lenses, each one provided a different perspective of London’s cityscape.

Fujifilm X-T30 | XF16mm f2.8 | 16mm | 1/160th Second | f6.4 | ISO200

I would have loved to carry on shooting from the top of St Paul’s until after sunset but the cathedral closes quite early so with a season ticket giving me access to The Shard’s viewing platform and it being on my route back to the train station, I popped up there for just a few minutes to check out the view. Unfortunately, the cloud cover prevented any chance of nice light and a brief rain shower covered the glass in droplets, so I only managed to take one useable photo which you can see below. It’s nothing special but gives you an idea of the conditions.

The view of London from the Shard. Taken by Trevor Sherwin — Fujifilm X-T30 | XF23mm f2 | 23mm | 1/30th Second | f2 | ISO160

Overall, a successful first visit of the year to London and coming away with at least one keeper was a real bonus. I certainly plan to get back out there as the days get longer as it gives me more opportunity to capture the best light after a day in the office so stay tuned for more!

Until next time.

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Trevor Sherwin

Photographing London with my Fujifilm Prime Lenses

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