Under Westminster Bridge

It’s always important to keep an open mind and learn from other photographers. While in London, I took a walk along the South Bank and noticed another photographer crouched in the passageway under Westminster Bridge. He had found the perfect angle for the situation and I took over his spot after he left. The low winter sun bouncing off the warm stone gave a lovely glow and the view of the Palace of Westminster through the archway was very nice. I didn’t have my tripod, so this was a handheld shot at 100 ISO and f6.7, with a shutter speed of 1/90. Usually that is too slow, but I braced myself on the wall behind and tried to hold my breath as I took the shot. To my surprise, it turned out reasonably well. I tried to bring out the warm tones a little in LR and overall, I really like the end result.

Misty Morning

The Thames is at its best on a misty December morning. This section of the river has always attracted me for some reason. I don’t know what it is about it, but perhaps it’s something to do with the contrast between the vibrancy of the South bank and the pomp of the North.
Anyway, I was lucky enough to have some free time on a business trip to London so I took the Tube to Piccadilly and walked through Soho and down through Trafalgar Square looking for inspiration. Although it was after 10, I noticed that there was still quite a lot of mist around so I headed down towards the Thames and found a good spot on the Golden Jubilee Bridge on the Westminster side of Hungerford Bridge. There was still quite a lot of cloud around but the sun was starting to break through. I quickly got a few shots before the light changed. This one was taken on Aperture Priority at f11 and 100 ISO to try to keep the noise down, which gave me a shutter speed of 1/500. The light and mist seemed to evoke memories of Victorian London, and so I tried to bring out those slightly sepia tones in Lightroom.