London Light | Weekly Photo #69
I’ve been able to travel into London with the camera a couple of times over the last few weeks and although the city still has a sleepy, quiet undertone to it, it felt great to be up there creating images again. I spent some time wandering London’s streets and along the River Thames and thankfully came home with a few good shots that I’m sure will be shared on this site soon enough. With the pandemic situation heading in the wrong direction for us here in the UK, the shackles are getting tighter and restrictions are increasing so it might not be long before opportunities to photograph London dry up once again, so, I’ll try to get back up there for more socially distanced photo trips as often as I can.
Fujifilm X-T10 | XF35mm F2 | 35mm | 1/600th Second | f/5.6 | ISO200
This is a pre-pandemic photo taken from the roof terrace atop the Garden at 120 on Fenchurch Street which happens to feature in my Top 5 Rooftop Locations to Photograph London.
It was taken while I was in London having an early spring day out with the family exploring London and having dinner. We decided to visit a few rooftop locations where we could grab a drink and take in the views so after visiting the Sky Garden, just down the road, we popped along to the Garden at 120 to have a look around.
As it wasn’t a photo trip, I had with me the since retired Fujifilm X-T10 camera and 35mm F2 prime lens. I now use the X-T30 for such trips which is the same size and form-factor as the X-T10 so it’s a perfect, lightweight combo for trips like this where photography isn’t the priority but if needed, I have the gear to capture a photo if an opportunity such as this presents itself.
It must have been about 3 in the afternoon by the time we arrived up at the roof terrace, but because of the time of year, the sun was still relatively low in the sky providing some nice contrasted light across the rooftops and it’s that light that caught my eye and the little voice in my head said: “take the shot”.
Instead of writing about the photo, I’ve decided to start including an annotated version of the image in some of these posts to help convey my thoughts about the image and what motivated me enough to press the shutter button.
Back in Lightroom, I went to work using the HSL sliders to bring down the blues in the sky and across the scene, allowing the light and warmer tones across the image to take centre stage without the harsh daytime colours taking over.
What do you think of the annotated image? Does it help convey my thoughts and approach when taking the photo? I hope so.
Stay safe everyone and talk to you 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.