Day two down in London started off dismally. I am not sure how many other people feel this way, but some days I feel that all of my photography is not worthy of showcasing and that I may as well give it up. I have no idea why I get like this sometimes, but it becomes a vicious circle as when I feel uninspired, uninterested in photography, I cannot take a good image to save my life. So the feeling of uselessness gets compounded. At times like this, I crave inspiration. I crave something to come along to help me turn the corner and begin once more to believe in art. Today, it came in the form of one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. London is rarely a clear city, with the smog dominating the sky and turning everything a mottled grey. That was exactly how it started out when I left my hotel at 6am. It was drizzling and the sky was featureless and bland. My feet were hurting and my well of creativity was dry. I stumbled forwards along the cobbled streets towards Tower Bridge with a feeling of emptiness. But all of a sudden, as I was just approaching the bridge, the sun erupted from over the top of the Docklands and the sky above me began to turn a salmon colour. All of a sudden my spirits were lifted and I decided on the shot I wanted to take. I knew this colour in the sky would not last forever and the shot I wanted to take would take a good few minutes. I wanted a panorama of the entire city taken right in the centre of tower bridge. The Shard and the city skyline would act as bookends for the scene and this would be balanced out by London Bridge in the distance. There would be a symmetry to the image and a lot of detail, 50mp simply wasn't going to cut it. So, instead of settling for a single 16mm shot of the city, I decided on a gigantic 400mp image, spanning the entire city. 8 individual shots, stitched together to make a single piece. This would take a while, as I would shoot it with both a polariser and Pro Glass filter on, slowing my shutter down by 4-stops. I had to get into position. By the time the images were taken, the sky was turning more orange. So I decided to walk back towards the city along the South Bank. From there, I took photographs as the sky turned from red to orange, to yellow and then to a soft purple. Using my 6-stop ND filter, which mixes colour in an image like pigment on a paint palette, some of the colours I managed to capture are incredible. Each image looks like it must have been taken on a different day, such is the difference in colour. Yet the images were taken only minutes apart. I am very happy with the results, and my spirits are lifted once more. Tomorrow, it is the turn of Westminster and the London Eye.
Lamplit Pathways
