Misty River | Weekly Photo #88
I don’t know what it is about certain views or scenes I return to photograph time and time again. Take this particular view of the London Eye taken from the Golden Jubilee Bridge, I have photographed it countless times over the years as the sheer scale of the structure against the rather modest-sized buildings around it never fails to captivate me. I’ve taken photos I’m really pleased with but still, whenever I cross this bridge, I will often try and capture a new version of this epic London scene. “How many do I really need?” I guess I’m unconsciously creating a small body of work, maybe even a project to see how many different ways or in what different conditions I can capture this, one of my favourite views in London.
Fujifilm X-T30 | XF23mm F2 | 23mm | 1/125th Second | f/6.4 | ISO200
In mid-December last year, (in between lockdowns), my family and I made our way into a very quiet London for a bit of sight-seeing, drink some mulled wine and see the Christmas lights. Living only 30 minutes away on the train, we do this most years, as in normal times, there is a real buzz about the place at Christmas and we love to spend a bit of time soaking up London’s festive atmosphere.
Although this wasn’t a dedicated photography outing, I still like to have a “proper” camera with me to take the odd family picture as we go, so I took my Fujifilm X-T30 and 23mm F2 prime lens. Together this makes a super lightweight, but very capable set up to walk around with.
We spend some time over on the Southbank, trying out the street food with the kids digging into some churros with chocolate source while my wife and I enjoyed a cheeky mulled wine. Once finished, we decided to head over to Covent Garden to see the famous tree and maybe try the mulled wine on sale over there…., you know, to compare ;-) which meant crossing the Thames and passing by this London cityscape view which I like so much. As we crossed the bridge, the cold, misty rain started to make its way up the river and I noticed how the rain was defusing the buildings in the distance, softening the cityscape somewhat and giving a sense of depth and atmosphere throughout the scene. I was sure there was a shot to be had here.
As I lifted my camera to the eye, the rain started to hit the bridge. I had to be quick as my camera wouldn’t fare well in the rain and as my family ran ahead to get cover, I dialled in the settings and snapped away. As I was taking a hand-held shot, I had to be mindful of the shutter speed so not to introduce any camera shake so without any close foreground to worry about, I opened up the aperture to f/6.4 to let a bit more light in which in turn allowed me to keep the shutter speed quick and the ISO nice and low.
You could be forgiven in thinking this was a black and white conversion as, apart from the hints of orange on the boats and London Eye, there is very little colour elsewhere but that was how the scene looked and this one isn’t about the epic light and high contrast. For me, it’s more about the mood and atmosphere I tried to capture in this recognisable view of London.
Without many recent trips into the “Big Smoke”, I’ve enjoyed exploring my local area, hunting down and photographing the mist or frost in the forests nearby. I plan, over the next few weeks to share a few of the photos I’ve taken over the winter so far and although there will be fewer London photos (I still have some to share) in this Weekly Photoblog over the next couple of months, I do plan to get back up-town with the camera as soon as I am able to do so. How are you liking this mix of natural and urban landscapes? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Until next time.
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.