During a visit to London recently I changed trains at Baker Street and fell down a rabbit hole exploring the possibilities of exposing photos slowly so as to capture some ‘ghosts’ as people walked along the platform. The creative possibilities got me excited enough to turn this into a new personal project and I was itching to try some more.
A few days later I had another day in London, so I set my camera up to take photos of half or a quarter of a second and started out on the platform at Fenchurch Street Station. As I wasn’t travelling anywhere I needed a platform ticket to get past the barriers and was pleasantly surprised to discover that, not only do platform tickets still exist, the price is the same as it was thirty years ago - just ten pence!
While my Baker Street image works well in colour, I decided the overcast weather on this occasion better suited monochrome. Whether I’ll stick to this for all situations remains to be seen, but I like the coherence of this set in black and white.
I spent a while loitering in some of the narrow alleys which wind through the City of London. This made for some atmospheric images and also helped me keep dry while the rain poured down outside!
Heading into Bank tube station offered up some interesting possibilities.
I got some very strange looks hovering at the top of the travelator to the Waterloo and City line but it was worth it.
Using the curvaceous shapes of the Elizabeth Line station at Faringdon to frame my ghost.
My initial plan was for this project to focus on railway ghosts (I seem to spend a lot of my life on trains and at stations) but I think I’ll keep an open mind for now - who knows where it might lead!
Photos taken 24 & 29 February 2024