Chasing the light

When I was a student I often used reading week as an excuse to make the most of cheap morning tickets for the cinema to catch up on films I wanted to see - a decadent luxury I haven’t enjoyed since then - until this week! When I discovered that I Am Martin Parr, a documentary about photographer Martin Parr was showing at the Picturehouse in Cambridge I booked up for an 11.15am showing and it reminded me of my student days.

Martin Parr is particularly known for his colour photography, but the film included some of his gritty monochrome photos from his younger days in Hebden Bridge too. Around Cambridge the sun was out much of the time, so I decided to go black and white for the rest of the day, exploring the city centre, seeking out curious scenes and beautiful light.

I could have cropped out the solitary leg from this image, but I decided that leaving told more of a story - as thought the cyclist was chasing her out of his lane!

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Why did the pigeon need a bicycle?

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Caught in the spotlight

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Mind the stripes…

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I can’t resist a cute dog and these two were both looking very alert as I bent down to photograph them.

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The light along Senate House Passage was interesting and as I waited to catch the shadow of a cyclist in the pool of light this little girl came skipping along, without a care in the world.

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I finally caught my cyclist, and captured the shadow of the man behind him with the spoke of his wheel too!

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Photos taken 25 February 2025

Shadowy figures in the cloister

Passing through the cloisters of Chichester Cathedral this afternoon the sun was filtering through the arches and I decided to make use of it for some contrasty monochrome photography, catching some of the visitors moving by with a slow shutter speed.

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Photos taken 18 July 2024

Rush hour ghosts

Travelling through Bank last week it struck me how busy the station was during the rush hour - a stark contrast to the time I spent taking photos here in February. I had a few minutes to spare before dashing for my next train so I loitered for a moment in two spots to capture a different view of my station ghosts project.

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Photos taken 9 July 2024

Ghostly London

I’ve really enjoyed working on my new ‘Station ghosts’ project, but until this point most of my photos have been taken while I’ve been travelling, as I wait for trains to arrive. Last week I took a more deliberate approach and headed into London with the express intention of using some of the underground stations as backdrops for my ghosts.

The day before I called out to my friends on social media to suggest stations which had interesting architectural features to act as a stage, and I received some fantastic ideas. The station at Canary Wharf was already on my shortlist, with its dramatic top-lit escalators descending into the gloomy depths, so this was where I started my day. Sure enough, the escalators at both ends of the station gave me plenty of opportunities to catch some movement among the commuters passing through.

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From Canary Wharf I headed for the Jubilee Line and this meant a change of trains at Westminster Station. The heavy, brutalist architecture has so much potential, but I only managed to capture a few frames before a member of staff told me photography wasn’t permitted, so I moved on. I was pretty certain this wasn’t true, but had no evidence so it didn’t seem worth arguing. Having checked the Transport for London website I discovered I was indeed correct and photography (providing it’s for one’s own interest and not a commercial shoot) is permitted. This was a useful lesson learnt and next time I’ll take a printout of the relevant page of the TfL website with me as evidence!

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Heading north on the Jubilee Line my first train terminated at West Hampstead so I took this as an opportunity to use the Art Deco architecture as a backdrop for a photo. The next station up the line (Kilburn) has similar, even more photogenic features, but it was too bright to achieve a slow enough shutter speed - that will have to wait for another day.

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From Kilburn I strolled the mile or so to Kilburn Park Station, on the Bakerloo Line, which is even more photogenic. The exterior and interior are decorated with beautiful glazed ceramic tiles but the feature that really interested me was the elegant cupola above the two escalators. I’d gone armed with a suitably wide angle lens and was delighted to find a staircase between the escalators, from where I could safely capture the movement of people descending into the depths, with the cupola above them - exactly the framing I’d hoped for.

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Photos taken 3 April 2024

Unseen passengers

My journey to Birmingham for the recent Photography Show didn’t quite go as planned, with delayed and cancelled trains. Rather than just sit around drinking coffee I decided instead to use the time to continue my station ghosts project. I began upstairs in Euston Station, capturing translucent passengers as they disembarked from the escalator.

On my return journey I had a few spare minutes before my train but instead of ghostly people we have a ghost train charging past the platform!

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Finally I made it back to the tube and each time we stopped in a station I took a few snaps, looking out onto the platform. Once again, the people waiting for trains seemed oblivious to the movement around them.

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Having said that, this chap does have a concerned expression on his face, as though he’s sensed the ghostly shape passing behind him!

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My final image came from a different day, when I found myself passing through Swiss Cottage tube station. I couldn’t resist using its fabulously elegant escalators as the backdrop for some more ghostly goings on!

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Photos taken 19 March 2024

Ghosts of the city

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!

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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.

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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!

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Heading into Bank tube station offered up some interesting possibilities.

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I got some very strange looks hovering at the top of the travelator to the Waterloo and City line but it was worth it.

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Using the curvaceous shapes of the Elizabeth Line station at Faringdon to frame my ghost.

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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

In the footsteps of Saul Leiter

A recent work trip to Milton Keynes brought me a very welcome opportunity to visit the town’s art gallery where a new exhibition of Saul Leiter’s photography had just opened. Armed with my little Fuji X100V camera I found I could take some photos without being intrusive and these two were my favourites. I wouldn’t say they are particularly ‘Saul Leiter-ish’ but his observation of every day scenes and the mundane certainly influenced me. I took several frames of the two chaps looking at the central display (above) but this one was the winner because of the way the man on the right had his arms extended just as I opened the shutter!

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Photos taken 21 February 2024

Walking the city streets

Before I made it to the Barbican during my last visit to London I also spent some time walking the streets of the City, photographing whatever caught my eye. Sometimes it was imposing architecture, but I was open to any photo opportunities, such as the light patterns on the paving stones.

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Just a few yards away I found some wonderful lines in a spiral staircase.

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An opening in the tunnel beneath the Barbican Centre allowed in the light and I made sure I waited to catch a silhouette of a person against the bright buildings beyond.

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One of the more curious sights around Smithfield Market…

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With beautiful light like this even the humble street bollard can be elevated to a thing of beauty! I made sure to carefully line up the decorative bollards between the more utilitarian ones closer to e=me

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It’s unusual to see vans this old on London’s streets and it seems to me the scene could be from an earlier era. I’d love to know the story behind the crooked lampost too!

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Another sight from a bygone age - a K2 phonebox. Most surviving red phone boxes are the later K6 version with larger windows, but perhaps that’s shows an excessive level of geekery on my part!

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Racing to the line…

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Photos taken 19 January 2024

The streets of London

It’s been a long while since I’ve had a day in London to explore and indulge in a little street photography. I’d recently booked for a couple of events so I used this as an excuse to make up for my long dry patch in street photography. My first port of call was the Kings Cross area, where they have some of the remastered photos from the Apollo moon missions on display. I was hoping for photos of the public interreacting with the photos, but it was too quiet for that, but I liked this juxtaposition in any case!

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A couple down by the river at Coal Drops Yard. I had to wait a while for this one was everyone kept ducking out of my way, thinking I didn’t want them in my photo, when I was actually after some silhouetted figures!

A little slow motion in the illuminated tunnel at Kings Cross Station…

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Some of my afternoon was spent at the V&A Museum, people watching and looking for interesting goings on among the exhibits. I was curious about these three teenagers, collapsed in a pile, glued to their mobile phones!

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Poking one’s head above the parapet…

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Framed…

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The artist.

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Photos taken 14 December 2023

Hitting the streets of London

I don’t do as much street photography as before the pandemic, but it’s something I’d like to get back into when time allows. Last week I went into London to catch the end of the Paul McCartney photography exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and decided my focus for the rest of the day would be people watching.

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I had a few minutes before my booked time to see the exhibition so I loitered for a while here, hoping for a good juxtaposition between the Anthony Gormley statue and the folks exiting the escalator.

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After leaving the National Portrait Gallery I strolled back through London towards the city, making good use of the strong sunshine - perfect conditions for a spot of black and white photography.

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Finally back at Liverpool Street I took a photo of Benson. He’s owned by a homeless chap called Mick who I regularly chat with here and I thought he might like a print of his pet to keep. Benson isn’t in the best of health but has defied all the vet’s dire predictions in recent months and is always happy to received some ear tickles whenever I stop by!

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Photos taken 26 September 2023