After a spectacular sunset last Saturday that unfortunately, due to time of year, happen over London Bridge rather than behind The Shard, lead to an impressive blue hour scene.
The clouds slowly gathered around the top of the skyscraper and half moon rising in the sky.
Shot on a Tilt-Shift lens, to straighten the lines of the Shard and surrounding buildings.
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.
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.
I am trying to improve my cityscape portfolio, especially of London as it is my home city. This weekend, I went walking for hours and ended up back at Tower Bridge. The streets were teeming with thousands of tourists and people on half term holiday. After much searching, I found a small platform on the Thames walk, overlooking Tower Bridge and the London Assembly. The clouds framing the Shard were perfect for a portrait of the scene.
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.
All Terrain Photography 