A London Sunrise | Weekly Photo #46
One of the first things I’ll be doing after lockdown is heading out with the camera to shoot this city once again. Being out on my own with the camera is my therapy which ordinarily, I try to do at least once a week but so far, it’s been a month and counting since I took the camera on a shoot and I’m itching to get back out there. During this period of necessary lockdown, one thing I have done is to make sure my camera (X-T30 with the 35mmF2 lens) is out of the bag and available so it can be picked up quickly in an instant when an opportunity to take a photo that documents my family’s experience while our movement is restricted. It’s not something I will ever share online but more of a personal project to both record our own journey as well as helping me keep my camera skills sharp for when we do get to go out and explore the world once again.
Fujifilm X-T30 | XF35mmF2 | 35mm | 1/2200 Seconds | f/5.6 | ISO160
This photo is part of a collection I took one morning in 2019 when I went for a walk along the River Thames at sunrise. I posted the full collection in a previous blog post called On Location | Photographing London With The Fuji XF35mm F2.
On this shoot, I had the X-T30 camera and 35mm F2 as I wanted to stay light and agile and find new compositions while keeping things simple and equipment decisions to a minimum. I had no plan to shoot anything in particular nor any idea as to what the weather had in store on that morning, I just wanted to be out with the camera and see what I could capture. Although at face value, walking around the city with a single 35mm prime lens might appear limiting, in fact, after just a short while my eye was in and I started to see all different compositions from the more obvious to the creative and I had great fun playing with depth of field to create some interesting shots. Do go and check them out using the link above.
Starting my walk near London Bridge, I ventured over to More London and captured a few of the classic compositions before heading along the river towards Bankside and the Millennium Bridge. As I crossed the bridge, the sun was hidden behind some of the clouds which defused the light enough to take the shot and not cast the entire foreground as a dark silhouette, leaving just enough detail and interest in the scene. This is also a testament to how good the dynamic range is on modern cameras. I am regularly blown away by how much detail can be recovered in the shadows in shots like this.
There is a cluster of taller buildings to the left of the frame which if included would change the entire look and interpretation of the image. I guess that supports the compositional lesson that it’s not just about what you include in the frame, it’s also about what you leave out.
Until next week.
Trevor.
This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.