Little Bit of London

Our week off at Easter wasn’t total, sadly – Holly had to go into work for one morning to sort out some stuff that could wait until the following week, so we decided to meet up in London afterwards and go for afternoon tea. Before we met up I took a bit of a stroll around some bits of London near where we were meeting at Piccadilly Circus to see if there was anything worth photographing.

Unlike my most recent London walks with Catherine, I had no real idea of what I was hoping to shoot; I had no specific plans or intentions, apart from a vague initial strategy to stat out shooting with my 50mm f/1.4 and maybe try some street photography. Ultimately, however, the routes I walked were a bit more touristy, and were so packed with people I never found the space to attempt many candid street shots.

I started by walking across Westminster Bridge towards the Houses of Parliament. It was, as you’d expect for a school holiday, pretty rammed. I felt too self-conscious to take photos holding my camera to my face, so I fired off come shots from the hip.

Opposite the Houses of Parliament is Westminster underground station, with similarly packed pavements.

Since I was there, I took a picture of the Elizabeth Tower. The light was actually pretty good for it – this was one of the first days this year that spring finally showed its face. I kept with the 50mm lens for this image.

Something new I have started doing since I’ve been shooting tourists in London is photographing people with the dreaded selfie sticks. I think this is an extension of my long-running trope of photographing photographers. As you’d expect, there were plenty of selfie stickers out in London, including this woman outside Westminster Cathedral, who seemed content to sake a selfie that included the ground she was sitting on, and not the major landmark she was sitting next to.

As I continued to wander about, I randomly found myself at Buckingham Palace. I’m not normally one for the tourist shots, but I did take some shots there. I decided to switch to my traditional 24-105mm lens – something I’ve not actually used much yet this year – to get a bit closer.

And of course, there were people with selfie sticks.

I started walking back towards Piccadilly Circus in an indirect fashion. I passed Green Park and snapped this shot, which is similar to some I’ve taken before.

I continued up the Mall towards Trafalgar Square. The Mall is a bit weird. It’s a wide road but relatively quiet, meaning there’s the opportunity to stand in the middle and take a picture.

I’d like that shot to be a bit busier, but not much I can do about that. I don’t often have the patience to wait around for shots I’m not certain about.

I soon made my way to Piccadilly Circus and met with Holly for a very pleasant afternoon tea.

There wasn’t a huge amount of pictures for this little wander. I blame that on not feeling particularly inspired when I went on it; I had no ideas or intentions for the shots I wanted to take on the walk, and that almost always means the end results are not as strong as when I have a concept from the beginning.