London - long exposures

It was sunny and dry today which was perfect for my planned photography afternoon in London. It was still rather cool but not as cold as yesterday, and I did not need to pack a rain jacket.

I walked Xena this morning and did some laundry and chores at home before getting the train to London. It was a treat to travel on a new electric train, it was so quiet and clean I almost thought I was on a Swiss train! We were meeting on the embankment at 2pm so I had something to eat at Waterloo station for lunch before walking over the bridge to our meeting place.

This was a cityscape outing organised through the RPS. There were only five of us with the photo leader and he had organised a route along both sides of the river, from Waterloo to London Bridge. We stopped at various locations and set up with tripods as we were doing long exposures. Of course people always stop and ask what we are photographing. There was a lot of walking, which I don’t mind but I am not sure it would have suited everyone - think we covered about 5 miles and together with my morning dog walk I have done over 25,000 steps today!

I got wet feet a few times - we were on the Thames beach (near the OXO tower) and every time a boat went past the waves came up higher than we expected. We were also caught out by the incoming tide when we were photographing on another narrow strip of beach and the route back to the street level was covered in water.

Waking along the South Bank was a bit tricky as it was so busy - it’s a very vibrant part of London with many cafes, restaurants, bars, food trucks, artists, buskers and even a few opera singers - I always consider it to be the heart of London where all the tourists gather.

We finished off with sunset from Bermondsey and then got the tube back to Waterloo and the train home. I only got home at about 9.30pm so it has been a long day. Gavin’s flight back from Glasgow was delayed due to a suspicious bag on the plane with no passenger, so he got in after me. 

I have quickly edited a couple of photos to upload to blip, I will edit all of them tomorrow.