Low tech London

I’ve long since known that I work best as a photographer when I give myself some photographic restrictions. That might be working with a single prime lens, or sometimes even shooting with a camera which is really simple. During a recent visit to London I went very low tech, taking just my Holga 120 camera and my 6x6 format pinhole camera along.

For a cheap camera (mine cost me a princely £21 on eBay) the Holga’s plastic lens is remarkably sharp, but it has a very characterful look, with a distinctive softening around the edges. The viewfinder offers an approximation of what’ll appear in the finished photo - a quirk I’m still getting to understand better, as you can see in my photo below.

I wonder who visits a park with benches but takes along their own seat?!

A trio of photos from around BBC New Broadcasting House.

A little multiple exposure fun around the Post Office Tower.

And finally, one pinhole photo from the courtyard outside New Broadcasting House.

Photos taken April 2023

Low tech photography

As you know, I’m a fan of simple cameras - after all my pinhole cameras are about as simple as it gets! A couple of weeks ago I decided to use a different sort of machine, but almost as basic, when I made a couple of journeys west. My Holga camera is made of plastic (including the lens) and cost me the princely sum of £21 from eBay - undoubtedly one of my best photographic bargains! It has a single shutter speed and a fixed lens so the only setting you have to remember to adjust is the focus distance, although occasionally I forget to do that!

Holga photos have a recognisable look. If you get the focusing right the simple lens is remarkably sharp in the centre, but this clarity drops off at the edges, creating a dreamy effect. This simplicity makes you think about your compositions but it also brings the ability to make multiple exposures. During my wait at Paddington Station I had a play with this, creating multiple layers with the station’s architectural lines.

A few days later I found myself travelling through London again, with some time to kill before my train home from Liverpool Street. As I walked out of the tube station the sun emerged so I took a stroll with my Holga, seeking out interesting combinations of lines and light.

A shaft of sunlight on the pavement

Photos taken February 2023

Light and colour in Docklands

Every January the Canary Wharf area of London’s Docklands puts on a light show, with illuminated installations dotted among the buildings. I’ve never been able to go before, but as Peter and I were in London to visit St. Paul’s Cathedral last Monday we decided we’d stay on to see the lights.

We started off at the new Elizabeth Line station at Canary Wharf where the access tunnel was covered in an ever-shifting display of colours.

One of the installations was a tunnel full of fine fibre optic cables hanging down from the roof. I used their movement in the breeze to create an abstract image with some intentional camera movement.

Striking a pose in a crimson tunnel

Photos taken 23 January 2023

In the footsteps of Peter Marlow

Some weeks ago I read about the work of the late photographer Peter Marlow, whose exhibition ‘The English Cathedral’ is now touring the UK. He visited 42 Cathedrals at dawn, making a photo facing east towards the altar, using a large format film camera. This was a sight I couldn’t miss, so my friend Peter and I visited St Paul’s Cathedral last week to see his photos and perhaps make our own photographic record of this dramatic building. The exhibition was wonderful, although it made us realise how few of our ancient Cathedrals have architecture which is truly symmetrical and properly aligned! Given the challenges of building a Cathedral today, never mind several centuries ago, that perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise but seeing these structures together, all photographed in the same way makes it more evident.

After we’d explore Peter Marlow’s photos we spent the afternoon exploring St Paul’s with our cameras, searching for interesting photographic compositions. Ironically, we didn’t actually take any photos looking east like Marlow did!

Sir Christopher Wren’s wonderful geometric staircase, as seen in the Harry Potter and Paddington films.

Photos taken 23 January 2023

Still searching

In one of my earlier posts I shared the photos from a day in London when I dipped my toes back into some street photography. That was in preparation for a workshop with Brian Duckett where we learned to shoot in the style of American street photographer Saul Leiter - the images from which I have for you here.

We gathered at a cinema cafe in Shaftsbury Avenue for a briefing and some guidance on the style we’d be aiming for. before walking down to Jermyn Street. Brian set us a series of assignments to shoot and here we were looking to play with reflections - in windows, cars and wherever else we might find them. Frustratingly there were many white vans in the street, along with workmen in high-vis jackets, which spoilt many of the reflections but I still found a few photos.

After lunch we moved on to Bond Street where our new challenge was to use things around to use as frames or as out of focus foreground colour and texture.

From there we walked on to Savile Row, where we hoped we might encounter some well dressed characters about town. The plan was to look for interesting details, such as stylish hats, shoes and the like. Naturally, all the well dressed folk had vanished but I did find one dapper looking chap inside one of the expensive shops.

Normally it’s typical to use a wide angle lens for street photography but Saul Leiter tended to use a longer focal length - often around 85mm, and frequently with a large aperture. I’d spend the day so far using a 75mm effective focal length but for the rest of the day I swapped to 135mm. This gave me a greater reach as the light faded and I found it really helpful for our final assigment.

Brian asked us to use shop fronts to shoot through, using colour and steamy windows to create layers as we walked through Chinatown and Soho.

Click on any image to see it enlarged.

By the end of the day I had a much better idea of the style we’d been searching for. My photos from the workshop have some of the qualities we’d been looking for, but I can see my search for Saul Leiter’s elusive style will continue.

Photos taken 16 January 2023.

Feline supervision

My stroll through London on Thursday took me past Southwark Cathedral and it would have been rude of me not to pop and say hello to Hodge, the Cathedral cat. Named after Samuel Johnson’s cat, Hodge has now been in residence for over two years and he’s thoroughly settled in.

Last time we met he was lounging around in the nave, but today Hodge was supervising in the Cathedral shop, although quite how anyone was supposed to use the computer was a mystery as he was sitting on the keyboard!

After a quick stroll around the Cathedral I discovered Hodge sitting outside the vestry door, hoping to be let in. We had a brief chat (you can see him meowing in this photo!) and I knocked on the door to see if anyone was home. Sadly there was no reply, but the steward at the Cathedral entrance assured me it wouldn’t be long before he was let in!

Photos taken 12 January 2023

In search of Saul Leiter

Street photography used to be something I did regularly, capturing the life and gestures of those around me in the city. Of course the streets became much quieter during the Covid pandemic so I focused on other genres of photography. I wanted to get back onto the streets with my camera so when I saw a workshop devoted to Saul' Leiter’s style of street photography I jumped at the chance.

Rather than going in cold I decided to use my day off yesterday to get some practice in and see if I could begin to see the world like Saul Leiter. His photos often use colour and texture so I spent the day in London looking for these things. He often shot through things, such as windows, to create depth so I tried my hand at this too, using the architecture of Borough Market to frame this image.

Leiter’s photos don’t always include people so I didn’t shy away from photographing other subjects when they caught my eye.

More windows on London life…

After a walk along the river I ended up at Tate Modern, which I find is always a rich hunting ground for people watching. This very dapper chap caught my eye and, even though he’s engrossed in his phone, I couldn’t resist taking a quick photo.

I love the way the light catches this chap as he’s engrossed in one of the art installations.

Reflected colour

Just as I was about to leave the gallery the heavens opened and this scene was visible above one of the stairwells. Such scenes appear in several of Leiter’s photos and he once said he found a photo of a rainy window more interesting than a portrait of a famous person.

Eventually the rain eased off and I braved the gusty winds across the Millennium Bridge.

As I walked near St Paul’s Cathedral I tried capturing the colour and movement around me with slower shutter speeds.

Movement and reflections around these eye catching bollards.

A passing bus. I’m probably stretching things a little too far here, but you don’t know unless you try!

Using intentional camera movement on one of London’s most iconic designs.

The stroll along Cheapside brought me more opportunities to play with colour and reflections.

And finally, this is one of my favourites from today. I saw the George Clooney advert and wondered if it might create an interesting element in a photo, then this gentleman came along and looked up quizzically at the perfect moment!

It’s debatable whether I’ve captured any of Saul Leiter’s style here, but I had a fun day playing and it helped me get my nerve back for taking photos around strangers on the street. No doubt I’ll learn a lot more at Monday’s workshop and I’ll be sure to share the results here.

Photos taken 12th January 2023

Exploring Kings Cross

There are occasions when my work presents me with opportunities to fit in some photography along the way. On Saturday I’d allowed extra time to get into London in case of problems resulting from the train strike that day so I took a pinhole camera along in the hope that I may get a little extra time if all went well. My final destination was a church not far from Kings Cross Station, so I took the opportunity tovisit both Kings Cross and St Pancras Stations, as well as some other local sights.

At St Pancras I realised I’d forgotten the tool for removing my tripod plate so I couldn’t use my table top tripod (which doesn’t need a plate). Normally it works loose spontaneously, but of course today it was stuck fast, refusing to move so much as a millimetre! Fortunately I’d brought a back up solution so I spent the rest of the morning using my small beanbag to wedge my camera in interesting spots!

The image above is a close up of the huge statue which stands on the concourse at St Pancras. A passing security guard thought perhaps my little wooden box was a radio and was rather surprised to learn it was actually a camera!

Moving next door to Kings Cross Station, I found a large cinema screen in exactly the spot I’d hope to place my camera, so I improvised, and went behind the stations lattice structure. I can’t help feeling the photo has probably turned out better as a result!

The view from the upstairs gallery, with my camera held firmly against the handrail with my trusty beanbag.

A ten minute walk took me to the Coal Drops Yard area just north of Kings Cross, beside the Regents Canal. The cold weather we’ve had for the last ten days had frozen much of the canal and I managed to find a bridge on which to rest my camera.

The old gas holders here have been turned into a framework for luxury apartments and I couldn’t resist resting my camera at the base of one of the pillars to capture the framework above me.

Down by the canal again, looking for details I could get really close to. One of the canal trust volunteers watched me with much curiosity as I crouched down to take this one and we had a chat about it afterwards!

One of the gas holders has been left as a framework surrounding a public garden area, It’s circled with long mirrored posts so I tried a hand held self portrait of my reflection - my camera even made it into the photo!

A final look back at the gas holders before I headed off to do my afternoon’s work.

Photos taken 17 December 2022

Museum life

I never tire of photographing the British Museum, especially the Great Court. Today I went for a different approach, using my pinhole camera. The security guard at the entrance was intrigued by my little wooden box, but he eventually decided accept my explanation as to what it was!

I decided not to risk a full size tripod, but instead too my little table top one. This limited my options a little, but also meant I could try some unusual angles!

Click on any of the photos to see them enlarged.

The joy of long exposure photography - you’d never know a hoard of children walked up the stairs in front of these mosaics while my shutter was open!

I took another approach for this photo, propping my camera on a small beanbag beside these carved heads.

The classic view of the Great Court. All I had for support was a handrail so I clamped my camera to it with the beanbag for cushioning and, to my amazement, it worked!

On the steps outside the Museum.

With a few frames of film left I went off exploring to find more scenes to photograph and ended up at Daunt Books in Marylebone High Street for this view from their beautiful gallery.

Finally, some fun on the Elizabeth Line on my way back to the station!

Photos taken 1 December 2022

Early morning stroll

It’s rare for me to pass up the opportunity for some quality photography time in London so when a meeting back in May popped up in my diary I made time for a stroll through the City beforehand.

I meandered south towards the River, keeping my eye open for anything that inspired me to lift my camera.

Click on any of the images to see them enlarged.

When I reached the Thames I still had some time to spare, so I wandered along the south bank, making the most of the views and the deep blue sky which was peppered with puffy white clouds.

Eventually my time was up and I had to go into my meeting, but even there I was presented with a cute photo opportunity in the form of Bea, who obligingly posed for me!

Photos taken 31 May 2022