London Cityscapes

Southbank - Canon EOSR Infrared converted camera 3 shot stitched panorama.

These are some photographs that I took when I went down to the Southbank along the River Thames in London a few days ago. I was inspired by Andy Grey who is a landscape photographer I follow. While browsing Instagram, I noticed that he has set up a new Instagram page covering his recent photography of London cityscapes. I admit this is not landscape photography, but cityscapes are not too dissimilar from landscapes, and it is a good alternative during the middle of a British summer when the sunrises are so early or late in the day, to make it almost insane to chase them. (I just don’t admit that I do get up at those times!)

One of the first spots I went to was outside Westminster, looking from the Southbank towards the Parliament buildings and Big Ben. It was a hot sunny day, packed with tourists. Certainly, getting over Westminster Bridge was a bit of a struggle among the throng of tourists. I did wonder at this point if it might have been worth an early start before any tourists were out of bed, but this thought was soon dispelled.

Canon EOS R Infrared camera @24mm 1/125th Sec @f7.1 ISO 200

On the south side of the bridge, I found a great little walkway with an arch that perfectly framed the Houses of Parliament. Unfortunately, a steady flow of tourists kept passing through, often blocking the entrance and the view.

A little patience was needed, and I waited within the arch for pedestrians to come and go. That ideal moment happened as the flow of tourists changed in density and I was presented with just the right moment with the right number of people in the foreground.  One of the rules of photography is the “rule of odds”. Very quickly I was presented with three ladies here seen together in various poses and enjoying the view and sunshine. This was complemented by some great framing by the arch. As a result, the viewer’s eye is hopefully captured within the scene.

For this shot, I decided to use my converted Canon R infrared camera.   I will nearly always present the final infrared (IR) images in black and white, so I knew how this image would turn out. (Colour IR images are a turn-off for me). Because the camera is converted to IR it allows me to use a fast shutter handheld and be unrestricted by a tripod. Unless a camera is converted when using an infrared filter, a long shutter speed of at least 15 seconds is required, along with a tripod. However, once converted into IR, the camera can be shot handheld.

Very little needs to be done in post-production for this image. What do you think?

Next, I headed east towards the city along the South Bank. At this point, I stopped next to the National Theatre. This location is revered by British street photographers for its variety of pedestrians, street performers and city life. These characters are all contrasted against the brutalist concrete structures which create the National Theatre.

National Theatre, Southbank

I shot few images here which I quite liked. This was done with the normal Canon EOS R5 camera. I shot these images in colour, but I knew that I would probably convert a couple into black and white.

It is the diagonal lines that make these images work for me. Because of the bright sunlight, I have used the shadows to emphasise the leading lines in these images. Often those leading lines point towards the main subject. In many of the images, the subject is a human walking through the scene.

Some images shown here are in colour, and then some have been converted into black and white. I would be really interested to know what you think. Do you prefer the black and white or do you prefer the colour versions?

National Theatre cafe

National Theatre steps

National Theatre fire escape. Dull yes! but I love the diagonal lines.

My last stop, before the heat finished me off, was the iconic Shard Tower. It was built in 2012 by the Italian Renzo Piano. It towers above the Southbank and can be seen for miles around in London.

Canon EOS R IR converted camera, Lens 24mm @f8, 1/400th sec, ISO400

When I got to the Southbank, I crossed over onto the north side of the river. This gives a much better review of the Shard because being on the Southbank (same side as the Shard) is too close to get a cityscape picture with the Shard as part of the image.

I started to look for a composition near London Bridge on the north bank. I think the normal place for people to take an image is from the top of these steps on the bridge. However, I noticed that by descending the stairs there were better compositions to frame the building within. The bright sunlight created some quite cool diagonal lines to frame The Shard within. I deployed the Canon infrared camera and started taking some wide-angle shots. I didn't go too wide because this would have distorted the Shard itself.

As I was taking the final images I became aware of a lady carrying a sun umbrella and taking in the view to my left halfway up the steps. This just added that extra element of interest to help the image along. I feel this image is somewhat unbalanced and plan to revisit it soon for a better result.