For our second ImageZ summer meet we tried something different – Chris Andrews kindly offered to lead a photographic walk in London.
We met at Waterloo station at 10.30. The concourse was extremely busy, mainly with beautifully clad ladies in their finery and hats, heading to Ascot. It was all rather exciting, and we hadn’t even started on our walk.
First port of call was the Leake Street graffiti tunnel. Wonderful to see so much talent on display, and a cross section of both artists and performers being filmed and photographed. Plenty of photo opportunities, and see how far we could push our ISO’s! Or just watch and enjoy. Then a meander to Westminster bridge, where we visited the National Covid Memorial wall, personally I found this very moving.
We took a slow walk along the South Bank, it was absolutely crammed with people. Chris challenged us to take an ‘original ‘ photo of the London Eye, I wonder if anyone did? There were skateboarders, street performers and a beautiful carousel ride – an ideal opportunity to try slow shutter speed photography. There were ‘bubble blowing’ performers who were producing the biggest bubbles I’ve ever seen – another challenge to ‘capture the bubbles’. Along the way we stopped for lunch outside the National Theatre, some of us brought sandwiches, others sampled street foods from the various vendors along the route. Delicious!
Southbank Broadwalk, Blackfriars Bridge, and even some beach time in front of the Tate Modern. We joined the ‘Mudlarks’ along the waterfront who scavenged for priceless treasures as we photographed under the Millennium bridge. We passed Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and the Golden Hind replica ship. We squeezed our way through a very busy Borough Market and tried to capture some of the ‘interesting’ and ‘beautiful’ stall holders – an exercise in quick fire photography!
Then towards the Shard, a challenge to make interesting images, but also good to combine the old London with the new and shiny London. Lots of fabulous reflections. Next, London Bridge, and onto North Bank Viewing platform where we watched and captured youths practicing their dance moves in the window reflections, and where we took our group ‘selfie’ photo. Well done Sue for coming up with this fun idea!
Getting weary, but still determined and absolutely loving our day, we headed to 20 Fenchurch St. (aka The Walkie Talkie). The ‘City’ around The Cheese Grater was an incredible ‘Futuristic sight’, metal and glass buildings, interesting angles and heights of buildings gave us more challenges to be creative and think about which lens would suit best.
The day was a great success, the weather not too bad. We had sunshine, squally showers, some distant mist, and a little cloud cover. Towards the end of the day the sky gave us nothing, it was very flat, but then yet another challenge to think about! We can’t thank Chris enough for not only taking us on such an intensive tour of the sights, but also pointing out some of the ‘Nooks and Crannies’ of London.
Here’s a selection of the pictures we took on the day.
When can we do it again?
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Words by Tami Nunley
Brilliant photos and newsletter. So sorry to have missed it !! Thanks for sharing these. They are very motivating and I will make my own way around in the summer.
Yes indeed … when can we do it again?
Wow!!! What a fabulous day you all had in London, with some good and interesting images. I am glad you all had a good time, it looks as if it was well worth you all going and enjoying each other’s company. You obviously got a lot out of the day. Well done.