Here’s another quick update from ‘project London’ (a week long assignment to capture the iconic sites of central London for large format wall art prints in the newly built and soon to open UCH Macmillan Cancer Centre.)
Day 2 now, and my first full day in the city. The weather is freakishly good for April so it’s time to don the comfy boots and get out there snapping.

Location(s): South Bank along the Thames
Targets for the day:  Houses of Parliament (daytime), St Paul’s and Millenium bridge, Oxo Tower, Tower Bridge, anything else that catches my eye along the South Bank. More after the leap…

Day 2 was a very long one. Always conscious that the weather might nosedive I stayed out snapping from morning til night to get in as much as I could and take advantage of the good light. I must have walked at least 10 miles on day 2 and my back and shoulders were taking a real battering from my backpack (which is a Lowepro AW mini trekker II for anyone interested. I did think this was a brilliant bag, but I’m not so sure now – may have to invest in something with comfier straps!)

HP tilt-shifted

Strolling on the South Bank. Almost felt like a tourist today.

Trying to get a different perspective on big ben

Trying to photograph the sites of central London without falling into the ‘tourist snapshot’ trap is harder than you might think. I quickly realised this assignment was going to be tough on my photographic brain as well as my feet. I had to try and put a DanD spin on locations and look for interesting angles, aspects or lighting whenever possible, which wasn’t always easy.

Loads of cranes around the London skyline at the moment. Maybe the recession is just up North eh?

St Paul's and Millennium bridge

Astute readers may be wondering ‘how did he get motion blur into the shot above when it’s such bright light?’ For those of you that didn’t notice, shame on you. Note the runner left of frame – by using a variable ND filter you can drag the shutter even in very bright daylight. You can get some really interesting shots using this technique, the above shot being a very subtle example.

"Yes, I do like the music of the 1960's as it happens" (or at least I pretend to)

The shard. Difficult not to get this in any sort of London cityscape shot at the moment. It's big alright

Tower Bridge, sun beginning to set now...

Oxo tower and night cityscape. This is a 30 second exposure, and 3 exposures blended together

Day 2 done it’s back to the travel tavern to recover, download and backup all images (and dismantle the corby trouser press if I get bored). Stay tuned for day 3.

> Project London (part 1)
> Project London (intro) 

by Dan Dunkley

Browse Timeline

• « Project London (part 1)
• » Timelapse: a personal video project

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