Borough Market

7 March 2012

297 Comments

Working, as I do, in the middle of London, one of the world’s most vibrant and varied cities, it theoretically doesn’t take much for me to get some interesting photos. All I should need to do is bring my camera to work, and then go for a walk at lunchtime.

It isn’t always that simple. For a start I’m obviously limited to somewhere I can get to and back from within an hour, allowing time for shooting. That’s difficult. I often shoot excessively to see what comes out which means I like to not have time constraints – not to mention I obviously also need to eat at some point during that hour. Then, of course, there is always the luck of the light with whatever you’re trying to photograph..

Sometimes, however, it all comes together. Last Friday two friends from work and I (Catherine and Simon – the same two who, for anyone with a long enough memory, I went along with to attend the International Paralympic Day celebrations) headed down to Borough Market. Catherine (curator of CJ Trigg Photography, linked to the right) had already spent a small amount of time there experimenting with the photographic possibilities, so we decided to all go there and see what we could capture. Fortunately, we got a work-sanctioned pass, which also removed the time commitment.

For us, the idea was to resurrect our joint blog plan from last August, as well as have the opportunity to compare and contrast the different images we got from the same location.

As is often the case with this sort of trip, initially it can take a while for the self-consciousness of going somewhere with a camera and shooting abstract things to wear off. It doesn’t help, of course, when you show up as three people, each with SLRs, looking quite a bit like this:

Borough Market, for those who’ve never heard of it, is a mostly-covered market selling primarily food, with a few arts and crafts thrown in for good measure. We went relatively early – about 11am – in order to avoid the crush of the lunchtime rush.

We stuck roughly together as we wandered around the market, separating a little when we saw something worthy of a shot. Occasionally we all found ourselves in the same spot – at least once, we ended up all standing in the same square couple of feet of space to avoid the crowds, whilst pointing our cameras in three completely different directions.

That said, when we got back into the office and had a quick look through the photos, we all have some very similar shots to each other. Some of them border on identical (give or take the height difference).

Still, it was interesting to shoot somewhere else, and above all shoot images that are impressive but generic. I even managed to use all four of my lenses at one point or another.

Due to the nature of the subject and the photographs, I liken the results to the Sights and Sounds of London Town post from two months ago, and as a result have put these images into the gallery format.

If you like these, check out Catherine’s shots on CJ Trigg Photography. Simon’s shots have been mixed with ours and posted on our shared blog, CSR Photography.

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297 thoughts on “Borough Market”

    • une exposition fantastique à paris, des photographies de robert doisneau sur le marché des halles avant la première déconstruction au sortir de la guerre. et maintenant les halles revivent pour une autre architecture.
      Les marchés, avec leurs parfums et leurs couleurs, mais aussi les hommes au travail et bien sûr les chalands!
      ces photos sont une invitation à decouvrir, à surprendre! bravo

      Reply

  2. Really like this set: I photographed a bit around the market a few years back, and got a good variety of shots. Just out of interest, what makes Caramel Nougat stand out more than some of the other images for you?

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    • Thanks for posting!

      There are a couple of things about Caramel Nougat that appeal strongly to me: the composition and colours, the sharpness of the sign, and the wonderful bokeh of the background.

      Reply

  4. These have all come out really well, some stunning shots – the detail in the b&w bread shot is amazing. We definitely have some near identical photos, were it not for your higher angle on things.

    I think my favourites are either the feta (which I didn’t see at all because, well, I couldn’t) or the bits of bread ready for tasting, I love the focus.

    Meanwhile, you need to eat more vegetables: the first one is cauliflower, not cabbage, the second is an artichoke and the last is dill (I think, if I’m remembering correctly where it was on the stall).

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  5. Thanks for your comments… although I reserve the right to not know about vegetables. If you’ve read this blog before you’ll know identifying any species is not something I excel at.

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  6. I love that you felt some semblance of self-consciousness when photographing random stuff — I do the same, yet I’m nowhere near the photographic talent that you are!

    Beautiful work…

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    • Thanks! I’ve always been a self-conscious photographer. This is why I often drag my wife along to keep me company when I shoot!

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  7. Really nice photos, Borough is such a great source of inspiration. The shot of the globe artichokes is particularly beautiful. i’m looking forward to seeing more of your work.

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    • As much as I love it, I’m still not looking forward to trying to travel to work when the Olympics rolls into town. Thanks for commenting!

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  9. Great selection of shots! Believe it or not, I was planning to sit down this afternoon and post some photos of my visit this week to . . . Borough Market! I was in such a sludgy state of mind however and found it difficult to engage. Oh and very few stalls were open with such mouth watering treats captured in your beautiful photos. Thank you for showing me what I missed!

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    • That can be the luck sometimes… you go somewhere, and what you see doesn’t inspire you, or you can’t find the angle, or even just sometimes your head isn’t in the right place. It happens to all of us (I have it most of the time, in fact). For this post, I was lucky that everything seemed to fall into place, and being Freshly Pressed should make up for the fact that I didn’t actually get to eat any of this stuff!

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      • I loved being there so much, I was overwhelmed. To be back in London, back home, albeit for only two days, it was too much to try and process. Best wishes to you for continued success with your photography!

    • Thanks!

      I’m always so distracted by that bokeh that I forget that in the foreground is some delicious-looking caramel nougat. I look at the sign and think “that looks nice and sharp” without reading the words. Caramel Nougat! I think I need to go down there and buy some now just to celebrate being Freshly Pressed…

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  15. These are beautiful photos. My husband and I went to London for our honeymoon this past November and stopped by Borough Market. It was easily one of my favorite parts of the trip and so much fun to photograph!

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    • I was surprised at how much inspiration there was to be found there… and why there were about as many photographers as people actually trying to buy things!

      Thanks for commenting; is it still soon enough to offer my congratulations for getting married?

      Reply

  16. Owl biscuits! I love your photos. It makes me want to reach into my computer screen and grab them. Only, that will just lead to a very sad and disappointing experience…

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    • Until they invent taste-o-vision then yes, I’m afraid you’ll get little enjoyment or nutritional value from attempting to eat things off of your computer screen. Perhaps the next iPad will have some sort of innovation in this area?

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  17. I love Borough Market. Great place to stop and eat across the way too. Great post – I really like your little explanations on the shots – and thanks for telling the world about one of London’s secrets. (Though not that secret, I suppose.) :)

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    • Thanks, I think I will definitely be returning there soon. I’ll buy some bread and have a nougat-salami-fudge-meringue-feta sandwich, lightly drizzled in olive oil. With artichokes.

      Actually, that doesn’t sound as bad as you’d think…

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  18. It’s amazing how you can take ordinary objects and make them into a spectacular image through angles and close-ups, and by showing texture. Wish my photos would turn out half as good!

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    • Trust me, I wish most of my photos would turn out half as good as well! I’m not sure why things seemed to click this time round, maybe having two other photographers for company did wonders for my inspiration?

      (I should also apologise to Simon and Catherine for the unflattering photo of them near the head of this post… I honestly didn’t expect that many views when I posted it…)

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  19. wow :) definitely love all of these photos! i love borough market, i can just get lost there for hours. my favourite places are the vegetable section and the tea sellers ALSO monmouth coffee shop= the bomb :)
    keep up the amazing photography :)

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    • You could certainly have a fantastic three course meal several times over during one visit if you let your stomach be in control of your money. Having a camera saved me from needing to be hospitalised later on due to overeating, I think!

      Thanks for commenting!

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  20. Congrats on being freshly-pressed! I’m not a city-person as a rule, but London is the exception. I’ve only been there a handful of times, but I never tire of reading about it, seeing images of it or remembering it.

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    • Thanks, it caught me a little by surprise but I think I’m over the initial shock now!

      I work in central London, so most of the time I’m one of those jaded Londoners who doesn’t appreciate the city that surrounds him every day. It is great to go one a trip like this and act like a tourist in my own city to remind me how lucky I am.

      Thank you for commenting!

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  23. Borough Market is a great place for taking photos; some of these are very similar to ones I’ve taken – and I’m with you on the mushrooms!

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    • Good to know I’m not the only one. My wife loves them, not sure what she sees in them. But then, she loves me, so I really shouldn’t go questioning her taste too readily.

      I had a look at some of your photos, they’re good! Your chillies especially came out a lot better than my attempts. My colleague Catherine got quite a few shots similar to mine, only she is almost a foot-and-a-half shorter than me, so everything is at a bit of a different angle!

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    • Thank you. For me, monochroming a shot can make a bad photo good or a good photo great, depending on the shot and how the monochrome is used. Or it can ruin everything. I experiment, and if it looks good it stays like it!

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  25. I love the concept of fresh markets, early mornings, community, wholesale. I wish my city had a market like this. I think it brings people together, offers the community an opportunity to gather over fresh, wholesome produce and to just get back to the basics together. Wonderful photography!

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    • I could certainly bankrupt myself if I let myself loose on markets like this. Even my local farmer’s market in Twickenham, which has a man who sells the best pesto in existence, could be my financial undoing if I were to not exercise a little restraint.

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  26. Wow. Tho I have never visited anywhere outside the U.S. other than Toronto, this makes me wanna fly out there. Your backstory on Borough Market (never heard of it until today) reminds me of some of the outside markets in the Metro Detroit area and yet there are some similarities between the two. The history that gave about the market and some of your friends that you mentioned was the first to wet my appetite, and the pictures were beyond crisp, vivid and clear. And the time you took to describe the settings behind each and every image was clearly off the hook. I enjoyed reading this.

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    • Thank you for taking the time to write such a lovely comment! I’m glad you like my posting style, I enjoy telling the story behind the photos.

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  28. On a very cold and rainy day in Texas, viewing your market photos has been a real treat for me! What lucky people you are to have such an amazing market! Nothing even close have I ever seen here! Thank you so much for such talented work!

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    • Don’t get me wrong, it was a pretty cold day in London when I took these photos, but we had many wondrous things to distract us from the cold… until we came to the end of our trip, and realised our hands had fused into the shape of our cameras!

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  30. Borough has great food but generally it’s a little claustrophic, really wish they would extend it a little. LOVE the black and white stilton shot, makes me want to try it again..someday

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    • When it got really busy as it got closer to lunch it was a bit awkward to be there with a telephoto lens; I kept on expecting to have my camera knocked out of my hand. There certainly isn’t a lot of space when it’s busy.

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    • Food is very hard to photograph, because it doesn’t usually stay on my plate long enough for even the quickest of shutter speeds to be able to pick it up. I guess it helps when you’re not allowed to eat the food!

      Thanks for commenting, I’ll take a look at your blogs.

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  33. I think my two most favorite pictures out of this collect are the first one (1970′s-like shop) and the one with the owl biscuits. Amazing photos – thanks for sharing them. I love it when photographers add filters to give photos a different look.

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    • I’m glad you like them. I’m often in two minds about filters, sometimes they work with the content of the photo and create an interesting image, but often they can look clichéd and repetitive. This is one of the first times I’ve used anything other than adjustments of saturation, and I’m pretty pleased with the results.

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  34. Yummy. There must be some kind of photographic law at work when more than one photographer shows up at the same place. When my sister and I used to go out together to take photos, we came up with similar images.

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    • I think if you know the other photographers, you are always going to be aware of what they are shooting. Quite often when we were out, one of us would look at another, see what they were trying to do and go ‘oh yes, that looks like a nice idea.’ It also helps that all three of us have a similar taste in photography. If you check out our joint blog post from this trip you can see we really weren’t all that different!

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    • We all start at the point-and-hope level. That’s the basics! Then you start to learn what constitutes a good photo in terms of composition and content, which is always going to be the main hurdle, you can’t necessarily teach that. Then you get to my level, which is playing about with the settings to see what effect they have on the shot. Eventually you get good enough to know what the heck you’re doing, hopefully I’ll get there someday!

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  39. I love markets! They make me want to try eating everything…but you can’t so choices have to be made! Probably is the same with what you shoot at markets…so much to see! Enjoyed your shots and perspectives! Thanks.

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    • I must say there is the temptation to go with a supermarket trolley and fill it to the brim! I think however that much of it will go to waste or you’ll be very ill. I learnt this lesson once by eating no less than eight Krispy Kreme doughnuts in a single day. I’d do it again, of course – who wouldn’t – but at least now I know what to expect.

      Thanks for commenting!

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    • You’re quite an optimist if you think that I could put off eating one of those brownies long enough to get it in the mail! Thanks for commenting, and I’m secretly quite pleased I’m making people as hungry as I was when looking at all this food.

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  45. Nice – I’ve often wanted to take pictures at Borough Market but have always been wary of irritating the stall holders, especially since some have signs prohibiting photography. Did any of them get annoyed or were you just really surreptitious?

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    • I didn’t see any ‘no photography’ signs, so we weren’t trying to be particularly covert. Catherine spent the whole time with a 70-300mm lens on, and I used mine for a while too, so I don’t think stealth photography was really an option. In fact, one of the stallholders thrust a free sample into my hand whilst I was walking around with my camera, not clearly not all of them have a problem with it. It also helped that I was with two other photographers, and there were quite a few other people with cameras as well, but no-one got visibly annoyed at us (they may, however, have been cursing under their breath). We were just courteous and tried to make sure we never got in the way of people actually trying to buy stuff.

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  46. Really nice pictures Rob! My favorites are the first one and the one with the man & the eal. I’m visiting London for the first time in about a month, and I think you have just convinced me to make a trip to Borough Market :D

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    • Thank you. As I’ve said to a few other potential visitors to the market, put aside a bit of spending money! Those Uber Brownies are £2 each!

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    • Oh good, it’s nice to see people agreeing with my assessments of my photos! Quite often I’ll have a shot and think “I really like that”, but no-one else seems to. And quite a few of the shots in this set that a lot of people seem to like are ones which only just made the cut! Maybe I should just stick to taking the photos and get myself an editor?

      Look forward to seeing you back soon.

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    • I saw the mushroom counter; most of the shots I tried didn’t work out, although this one didn’t come out too badly.

      The chocolates look gorgeous. It was only this morning I realised one of them appear to be raspberry chocolates. Now I need to get some. When’s payday?

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      • These are them! Gruesome but appealing – just want to grab a handful for the texture.

        The chocolate stall is indeed so expensive but morish. I’ve never consumed £5 so quickly.

  53. As a fellow photographer, I would like to learn how you add a watermark to your WordPress photos to prevent image theft. WordPress has not responded to me regarding this issue. I use Picasa as my photo editor, and have copyrights listed on blog, yet actual images are not watermarked. Thanks and thanks for the great images.

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  58. If I were given a day to shop at that market and a lot of money, I could possibly die a very happy person. My favorite part are the olives. When my family used to live in Belgium, there were Turkish neighborhoods and stores which had the BEST olives.

    Least to say, I am very jealous of you!

    http://indiraadams.wordpress.com

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  61. wow. you are so talented. the color, atmosphere and the words below the picture all capture my eyeballs the first second i saw them. looking forward more artistic works coming from you~~

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    • Camden Market is different, but full of the very same sorts of things. I should try to get up there at some point too! Thanks for your comment. :)

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  66. Love the photos – they’re amazing. I also live in London and work just down the road from Borough Market. It’s one of my favourite spots in London, and the history of the whole area makes it even more special. My husband especially loves the olive counters at the market. The pies and the pastries are my best and, of course, the brownies! :-)
    Sunshine

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    • Thank you, I’m really pleased with how they all came out! I really want to return to Borough Market with my wife; she doesn’t like olives but I won’t be able to keep her away from the mushroom stall! I have an incredibly sweet tooth, so brownies, pastries, anything more than 50% sugar basically :D

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    • If you ask me, the real photographers are people like my dad who did the job for thirty-five years – I just get lucky with my hobby from time to time ;)

      I enjoyed looking through your photos – it’s always nice to see another perspective of the same place!

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    • Cheers! Seeing all these images whilst dealing with comments has made me hungry, but I’m having to make do with supermarket-bought fudge. :|

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  71. 30 odd yeras ago I used to go to Borough once a week and sell Ever Ready batteries. There seem to be more good photos here in one day that I get in a good year….

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      • Ah, but there’s a richness to life in central London, I wish I had the nerve to shoot more people going about their daily life, shopping, serving, browsing. Maybe I will get the chance in a week, working at Excel for 4 days….

  72. Congrats on being Freshly Pressed Rob. Great article. I love a good market to take photos in…there is always so much colour and flavour about. I was in Borough during my recent trip to London and loved it! It made my post about what to do in town. http://wp.me/p12XwO-k5 Cheers. Will be back in London town in a couple of weeks. Any tips on where to do a photo walk?

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    • Thanks! Looking at your blog, you’re far more knowledgeable than I on places to go in London! So far I’ve tended to stick to the bits of London I spend the most time in – which is about as central as you get. I did spend one whole day wandering aimlessly around the city looking for photographs, and although I covered a few miles I still didn’t venture that far from my comfort zone: http://creativesplurges.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/sights-and-sounds-of-london-town/

      Future trips Catherine, Simon and I are discussing include Covent Garden and Greenwich Park, but these are just vague notions at the minute, nothing itinerary worthy. The best advice I can offer, check out my London category or tag and see if there’s anything that floats your boat! Sorry I can’t help more!

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    • Thank you! Borough MArket is a special kind of place (or “Bourough Market” as one fishmonger’s sign had put it, although they had used a black marker pen to try to obscure the extra ‘U’, it might have worked if the text wasn’t over a colour picture).

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    • My filters are really inexpensive; the set I have for my ‘main’ lens cost £12.99 from Amazon:

      That said, I didn’t actually use any of them for these photos, everything you see in this post has been achieved either in-camera without a filter or in post-processing.

      Filters for coffee, by the way, are just as important a part of the photographer’s gear as the camera filters.

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  77. Awesome photos! I really enjoyed looking at them over and over! :) I think I know what kind of cake is the one with almonds on the top. It is of German origin and it’s called “Bienenstich” or Bee Sting in English…

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    • Bee Sting? Is there honey in it, and what gives it the ‘sting? Sounds good though, I must return and come me some of this, along with the Uber Brownies, caramel nougat… and everything else I took a photo of. Apart from the mushrooms. My wife can have those.

      Thanks for commenting!

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      • Some recipes (I assume original ones) have honey in it, others don’t… You shot lovely photos really! Love the mushrooms too, they are very expensive kind! :) Take care!
        Sibella

  79. All great shots, but the last three are my absolute favorites! That white rose is so perfect it looks like the sugar roses made to go on top of cakes. Oh … and I really do like the owl biscuits too.

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    • Thanks! Those roses took a bit of effort to shoot, my macro has no image stabilisation so it took a bit of playing about to get photos that were in focus. Glad the effort wasn’t wasted!

      A lot of people seem to like those owl biscuits… if the person selling them sees a spike in sales I should ask him to give me a cut of the profits…

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  82. Your photographs are wonderful as they exemplify such realness, creativity and freshness. An exciting sense of adventure, travel and exploration are greatly illustrated throughout your photographs-thank you for sharing.

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    • I can’t say I saw it, but this was my first trip to Borough Market and I wasn’t really looking for it. It rings a bell, but I might be confusing it with Fish! which has a similarly punchy title (I also saw a sign that said “These toilets are for the use of Fish! customers only” and couldn’t help dropping the last two words, but then that’s my juvenile sense of humour for you).

      Thanks for commenting!

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  84. hi! great stuff you have here!
    just what i like doing, IF i can get the time to do it!
    if youre ever in the US, you’ll love pike place market! its one of the most fantastic markets ive ever seen…aside of the Thieves Market (Chor Bazaar) in delhi, of course!
    now thats a sight to be seen….
    wonderful stuff…carry on the good work, and please may we have some more…?

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    • I don’t travel abroad that often, I’ve spent a lot of time holidaying in the UK, but I do want to get out and photograph more of the world (I’m told there’s a lot out there). I’ll have to start putting together lists for places to shoot!

      I’ll try to keep the work coming, I can’t guarantee it’ll be as good as this stuff, but now I seem to have set the bar quite high for myself so I’ve got something to aim for!

      Thanks for taking the time to comment!

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  86. Wow, some really amazing photo’s up there! My faves are probably the nougat and the artichoke ones. I haven’t ben to borough market for ages, but really want to go again now, I bet the smells were delicious too, wish we could capture that somehow!

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    • Thanks, those are two of my favourites as well. I suppose you could invent a smell-o-camera, but what if someone farted whilst you took the picture? It would be like someone walking into your shot.

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  87. What a wonderful array of photos from Borough market – I’m feeling hungry just looking at them. I love the photo of the colourful chutney/jams – so vibrant and well captured. What camera and lens would you recommend for food photography? In time I will upgrade my camera as I think it will really make a difference. I want to be able to take a sharp photo of say a jar of chutney but the items behind to be slightly blured. Some of my food photos are ok but I still feel I have a long way to go! Huge congrats at getting freshly pressed. What joy.

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    • Thank you for your comments! It is truly a shock but a great pleasure to be Freshly Pressed, today I’ve had a bit of trouble keeping up with comments so I’m sorry it’s taken a while to moderate yours!

      Regarding food photography, all I can really suggest is my camera, but that is probably overkill if you’re just photographing food. The trick to a nice blurry background is a big aperture and, if you can, shoot from further away and zoomed in. This will narrow the depth of field giving you that nice blurry background (bokeh).

      As it happens, I came across this post the other week which might help you get the results you’re after from the equipment you already have.

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    • I am really pleased with how sharp these photos have come out… quite often my images are a bit blurry, but these have really brought out the textures.

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      • Yeah, and my favs are the cauliflower, the cake with mould or mint and the feta cheese, something about all 3 of them, the shot composition, the lighting, the angle, just makes them seem so honest and so come hither! very cool!

    • It seemed so simple when I took it, it was just ‘there’s a man, let’s take his picture’, but I seemed to have captured something there I didn’t expect. I’m glad people seem to like the shot! Thanks for commenting.

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      • I think you just captured, not to be overly dramatic or anything, a raw human moment. A man is puzzling over his groceries…We see people do it all the time, and yet, what an almost voyeuristic look into someone’s life.

    • I thought it quite intriguing that, by all visiting the same place, we got so many different photos, and yet many that were so similar. It was very good, though, to have some peers with me, it kept me on my toes and give me some decent ideas.

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  94. I love your photographs! the last time I went to borough market was at least a year ago, and I keep trying to find time to go there. It is such an amazing place for food and groceries!

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  95. Really nice photos – enjoy having your post on the front page of WordPress, happened to me once and I’ve never seen my inbox so full.

    I was wondering if the owners of the market, or the stall-holders have/had any problems with you taking photos?

    Funnily enough, the post of mine that got featured was about a market, but in Spain. I’ve been wanting to try to acheive something similar here in the UK, but I always find that you get people a lot more annoyed with you snapping away here than you do in Europe. Perhaps you get away with it because you’re also a regular customer, maybe?

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    • Thanks, I think I’ve had about 700 emails in the last 48 hours about likes, follows or comments. It’s been amazing!

      I never had any trouble with the stallholders. I didn’t see any ‘no photography’ signs (although one commenter further up saw one) and no-one seemed to complain. There were quite a few people taking photos, I think it’s kind of expected at this point. I’ve never actually been to Borough Market before I made this trip, and I didn’t end up spending any money (part of the reason I must return with cash!), so there was no ‘regular customer’ benefit I was taking advantage of. I guess it might be different if you’re at a less famous and tourist-ridden market, but that would really depend on the market. It also helped I was with two other people so I was more confident in taking pictures.

      All you can do, I suppose, is try a market and see what happens. Have you hit trouble before?

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      • Well, the pictures I took were at La Boqueria in Barcelona, which is hugely famous and full of tourists. Some of the stallholders in there shouted at me “NO SENORA, NO PHOTO, NO PHOTO!!!!” despite not having any signs, while a couple of signs did say no photo – of which I respected.

        One of the stallholders actually pushed me out of the way.

        Here in the UK when I’ve taken pictures of markets and such like, people seem to wonder why I’m doing it and give a look of distrust – I try to smile and get acknowledgement, but it doesn’t always work.

        I must have misread your post when it said about being a regular customer – for some reason I thought it said you were! D’oh! That’s my fault for quickly skimming in order to get to the photo goodness :)

        Good idea about having other people with you – I think I might try that.

      • In the UK I think people are a little bit less forward. It’s more British to give funny looks and be quietly annoyed rather than start pushing people out of the way.

        Still, if you have people with you, especially if some of you are actually buying things, they might not complain as much!

    • as much as I love and am proud of these pictures, I can’t really look at them that often for fear of eating the nearest thing to fudge that’s in my house (which, at this moment, is probably some modelling clay).

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    • Ah yes, thank you! I’m useless as species classification, this blog if nothing else is a long history of me failing to identify birds, plants, and anything else classed as ‘life’.

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    • It is a fantastic place, but it’s full of photographers (and if it wasn’t before, it probably will be, going by some of the comments in this post!). Thanks for your comments!

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    • Thank you! It really means a lot to hear that my post has had such a positive effect on someone!

      And yes, inducing hunger seems to have been the main result of these pictures!

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  101. Stucturally and colourfully fascinating. Shows us how to look at things! Congratulations. i did a few like this in the Jewish market in Jerusalem. Best wishes…

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      • Yes Ill need to find the memory stick which was taken from the computer…This was before I had a blog or theydd have ben straight up there! Thanks for the interest. Ill let you know when I find them.

  105. Great photos! This really brought me back to Borough market (was there in december) and LOVED it! The coffee, the food, the CHEESE market. – Dinner @ Wright brothers… Envious that you get to work there :)

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    • I don’t work there, but I work close enough that I can pop down on a lunch break (although that is a fact I keep recessed in my mind, else bankruptcy and a ruptured stomach will result). Thanks for commenting!

      Reply

    • I can see how difficult it would be to get that atmosphere anywhere else. I always love the mix of tourist and workers on a lunch break. Always interesting to see the different priorities!

      Reply

  117. Ahh…Borough Market….I moved out of London in August and the market is one of the few things that I truly truly miss….particularly the chorzo sandwiches from Brindisa. Thanks for the memories!

    Reply

    • No problem, glad to be able to return you to Borough in some way. Hopefully this doesn’t give you cravings that can only truly be sated from the Market itself!

      Reply

  119. lovely photographs, it is a great place to hang out on a weekend. Try Broadway market too, the food is amazing and lots of photo opportunities.

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  120. Great photos. Makes me hungry. I’ve always heard that London is one of the most atrtistic places to be in every sense of the word and I can see that through your images of food. Cool!

    Reply

    • Oh man, it must have been quite interesting back then. Although, I get the feeling they’d not be that keen on people taking photos if there were stolen goods all over the place.

      I would actually like to go to the Covent Garden Apple Market with my camera, as there are all sorts of interesting trinkets for sale that I think could photograph well -something similar to what I’ve achieved here, but with non-edible goods.

      Thanks for commenting!

      Reply

  123. Great photos, just want to try the food – all of it! Lovely seeing a market as big and as vibrant as Borough. In Newcastle we have Grainger market, which is lovely but nowhere on the same scale. Looking at the photos Borough reminds me of the Rialto market in Venice, which is great. You have really caught the atmosphere of the market.

    Reply

    • Thank you! Hopefully shooting Borough has left me confident in suitably photographing any other market I find myself in – I’d love to go to Venice at some point, but I might start small with my local farmer’s market.

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  124. I love Borough Market. If you’re happy to travel a bit further south, try Brixton Market on a Saturday or Sunday – very, err, interesting! Excellent shots btw :)

    Reply

    • I’m contemplating checking out some of the other London markets after the success of this post – but the nearest one to my is Lower Marsh, which isn’t really quite the same. Thanks for the tip, I’ll put it on the list!

      Reply

  126. My first visit to your site, and I’m loving the gorgeous images! Brings back memories of a trip to London last year…Now I’m trying to explore Delhi, but I wish I had the natural talent you do!

    Reply

    • Thanks for commenting!

      Unfortunately, I’m about to go off on a tangent. Bear with me, I do this a lot.

      The problem with natural talent, assuming that is what I have, is that you feel that you’ve just gotten lucky and haven’t really put the effort in. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but I do things like this without much thought, and if they come out well, great, but it makes me feel like I just got lucky. If other people are getting the same results but having to consciously think about it, I feel like they’re the more talented because they understand it, I just do it.

      Is that just me?

      Reply

    • I’d love to go back when the weather is a bit different… it was just a standard cold grey day in London when I took these photos, I’d love to go back on a summer’s afternoon or during a summer downpour, I think that would look absolutely stunning through the lens.

      Thanks for your comment!

      Reply

  130. Really nice photos! I’m a big fan of shallow depths of field, and I like the way you manipulated that throughout the shoot. I was wondering, since you use a SLR and not digital, how many rolls of film you use? I’m taking a black & white film photography course at school, and I find that I’m very conservative with my shots now because I have to order the film online now as opposed to storing it on my computer. I found it interesting that you said you “shoot excessively.”

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  131. Ah, never mind about my previous comment. I read your “about” page and realized you use a digital camera after all. Before, I thought you scanned your photos and uploaded them. Anyway, great photography and thanks for sharing!

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    • As much as I’d love to play with film, my shooting style of ‘let’s see what that does, oh, that, well I’d better try this’ is not really possible without the instant results of digital photography. That said, a family friend has promised to lend me his medium format film camera at some point, which will be an interesting experience!

      Thanks for your comment, sorry to confuse!

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      • No problem! I know what you mean though, because I’m the same way. But I am falling in love with the darkroom aspect of film photography. If you do work with the film camera, I hope you scan and upload some of your results : )

    • Thanks for the comment and follow, glad you liked it! You got some really good results with your phone, what were you using?

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      • thanks for the like! Nokia N97. its great when there is good sunlight to play with otherwise it comes oujt really grainy. but for a phone, i was pretty happy.
        I have an ancient Film Nikon SLR that i also play with but seeing as it is film, I dont use it as much as i would like because i cant use the images.
        ps. Awesome last name!!! hehe im a Howard too!!!

    • Cheers! I just love the variety, I saw such a wide array of foodstuffs that no-one would be able to leave hungry. Apart from an anorexic. But that’s cheating.

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  138. Brilliant account of one of my favourite markets. The veg that you’d forgotten the name of is an artichoke but I guess one of the previous respondees (is that a word?) has told you this.

    Great stuff!!

    Reply

    • I did think it was an artichoke, but I always end up second-guessing myself on these matters. People don’t always tell me when I’m wrong so I’d rather not believe it to be something and then spend the rest of my life living a lie.

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  139. This was a very handsome read. If there ever a faithful equivalent of leafing through a high-class magazine, it would be blogs like this. I specially loved the way you put notes on the way you did your shots. I’ve never been to this place but it’s not like a fellow tourist took me, but an insider who knows what to show. so cool!

    Reply

    • Glad you liked it! I’d never been there before but good to know I managed to sound like a regular.

      Thanks for commenting!

      Reply

  140. Borough Market is fascinating! I was in London in January this year and loved visiting the place. So much beautify colour and produce. Your pics capture the liveliness of the market as well as the ‘smells’ :)

    Reply

  141. I do the same as you — I always carry my point-and-shoot small camera in my handbag, and Borough Market was just across the river from where I worked (until I switched jobs about a month ago now). The lunch rush starts at 12:30ish (sometimes getting my ex-colleagues out early enough to actually get food without waiting for long queues was a pain), but it’s fairly quiet at noon, but I do notice it’s gotten busier in the last couple of years. It used to be quiet in winter/spring, but it’s not anymore. They also don’t seem to mind you taking photos since all the tourists do it.

    Here’s some of my photos on my blog:
    http://jenikya.com/blog/2011/07/borough-market-part-2.html
    http://jenikya.com/blog/2011/06/borough-market.html

    Reply

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