River Thames

Shot for the Day (27 September 2019)

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Last weekend, after watching the weather develop for a few days, it looked as though Sunday morning would be interesting with thunderstorms forecast.  I headed down to Tower Bridge, as I knew the light would be aligned with the bridge at dawn.

This was the first image I liked of the morning. The sky was a glorious mixture of red, yellow, orange and grey, opalescent clouds.

The rain held off for most of the time I was by the London Assembly.  Several ladies past me, heading to an early morning gym class along with many joggers running along the Thames.

Above is the last shot I took before the light  was obscured by ran clouds.

Which of these images did you like the most?

Shot for the Day (10 September 2019)

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Decided to try a new project based around London scenery as I do not currently have much opportunity to get out of town very often. Last Saturday evening, I found a wonderful, elevated platform that I had almost completely to myself for a couple of hours at the end of the day.

The scene above was of a tall shop that Tower Bridge opened up for. It came through, did the U-turn shown in this image and then sailed back down river towards the Channel, or is it North Sea?

The reason the boat in this shot looks a little like a toy is because I was using a tilt-shift lens.

Shot for the Day (10 October 2018)

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This weekend was my first chance in a while to venture out with the camera. I had fairy poor luck with the light, After a stunning afternoon, the moment I arrived at my first London location, the light turned very flat and the scenery became very uninspiring. I used the opportunity to scout out locations for future moments, when the light was better.

I decided to wonder along the Thames and shoot the Millennium Wheel around sunset. However, I spotted this attraction on the banks of the river, close to the Wheel. It was the juxtaposition of the red in the Union Flag against the warm dusk sky that grabbed my attention, along with the big top circus feel of the blue and white striped arms.

Shot for the Day (18 February 2018)

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The first decent (weekend) day of weather in London for almost a month and I was out to grab some more shots of London. Above is the Lloyds building with the Leadenhall Building to the right (also affectionately know as the Cheese Grater).  The curved glass facia of the building behind me to my left was throwing a lovely afternoon golden glow on the Lloyd building.

I wondered down to the river over the course of the afternoon and set up on the north shore of the River Thames, overlooking Tower Bridge and the Shard. A gaggle of photographers descended upon my location moments after I set up, which somewhat took away from the moment. However, they were a friendly bunch of mature gentlemen, so were very pleasant company.

Shot for the Day (15 January 2018)

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Towards the end of a very grey day in London, the clouds started to break up as I was overlooking the Shard on the River Thames. Lights from London Bridge cast a golden hue in the foreground with the trace of a tourist boat passing.  The tide was dropping fast, exposing the remains of wooden groynes beneath the waters, creating interesting shapes in the river.

Shot for the Day (10 October 2016)

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London Eye at dawn

Early yesterday morning, I stood opposite the London Eye to watch the dawn of a new day in London.  The shot above is a panorama of four shots stitched together of the south side of the River Thames.  The image is almost 18k pixels in width.

The shot below was taken a few moments before that, as the first light of day broke behind the Wheel.  The maintenance team still had the red lights on the wheel switched on and the so too for the Marriott County Hall Hotel.

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Shot for the Day (02 August 2016)

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A couple of other extra long exposure shots from last weekend.  This one was taken close to the Millennium Bridge.  As the river was low, I was able to walk down to the beach, to take a lower angle shot of the Thames and Shard. The sun had finally broken through the clod, albeit temporarily, to illuminate the scene and bath the Shard in light.

This next shot was of HMS Belfast, across the Thames, of the Walkie Talkie building with the Gherkin also visible.  As the ship was floating on the river, it tended to bob around, so I diminished the length of the exposure to compensate.  You can see this in comparison to the tub boats in the foreground, which are blurred.

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Shot for the Day (31 July 2016)

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Tower Bridge

This weekend, after gaining inspiration from a couple of YouTube tutorials, I tried my hand at some extra long exposure shots in London.  The weather on Sunday was perfect, with a mixture of sun and cloud.

I walked around Tower Bridge and the London Assembly.  However, it was the view from London Bridge that caught my eye.  The image above is made up of 8 long exposure images stitched together.  Each image was a 90 second exposure.  The whole shot took around 15 minutes, including set up and transition time.

One thing to look out for is battery usage as extreme long exposure shots use up a lot of power, so I recommend carrying spares.

The shot below was my first shot of the day.  Being a film photographer at heart, I used my handheld lightmeter plus Lee Filter Big Stopper app, to deduce the exposure.

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