People walking along a corridor in a shopping mall in Birmingham, England. 2022.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 23mm |
| ISO | 640 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Tag Archives: United Kingdom
Silhouettes Under the Bridge
A man and a woman look along the shoreline of the Thames in London, probably for old pieces of pipe which are common along there.
Above us was the modern Blackfriars Railway Bridge, and of course off in the distance is the London skyline.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 33mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/320s |
Juggling Knives in London
I love that this street entertainer is wearing such bright and distinctive clothes but I wish his knives were brightly coloured. Still, the reaction of (some) people was worth it even if the background is too busy to see the knives properly.
Knives. He’s juggling knives over the head of a tourist lying on the ground. That could have ended badly, but people who perform in Covent Square are really good.
Street performers must audition for their spots in Covent Square through a formal licensing system managed by the local authority. Performers are allocated specific time slots and locations, with the most desirable pitches going to those who demonstrate the highest skill levels and ability to manage crowds safely. The system was introduced to maintain quality and safety standards after the area’s transformation from a working market to a major tourist destination in the 1980s.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 101mm |
| ISO | 1600 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
London’s Most Pampered Pooch
I love this little dog’s pet carrier, but every little dog wants to walk and smell the world around them. When they get tired it’s time for a rest and this dog is spoiled with that pet carrier. As they should be. 🙂
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 1250 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Another One Bites the Crust
Meet London’s most successful entrepreneur. This seagull has cornered the market on prime real estate with a view. Perched on the Millennium Bridge like it owns the place, this feathered opportunist represents everything brilliant about urban wildlife adaptation. While Freddie Mercury sang about another one biting the dust, this gull’s motto is clearly “another one bites the crust”, and judging by its confident posture, business is booming.
From this vantage point, our avian overlord can survey the entire pedestrian buffet streaming across the bridge below. Dropped sandwiches, abandoned chips, and tourist snacks are all fair game in the urban food chain. Those gleaming towers in the background might house London’s financial elite, but this bird has figured out a more direct route to success: position yourself where the food comes to you.
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 122mm |
| ISO | 160 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Roses on Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge is one of those places that is always bustling with tourists. It is so busy.
Westminster Bridge is one of the few locations in central London where street vendors can legally operate without special permits for certain goods, thanks to historic trading rights that date back centuries. However, flower sellers must still navigate complex licensing requirements, and the competition for prime spots along the bridge is fierce, with established vendors often working the same locations for years.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 125 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
A Little Privacy
When there’s CCTV everywhere and you just want a little privacy to check your phone, you have to hide from the cameras.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 160mm |
| ISO | 1000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The Flying Train
When you can take the train, you should probably take it rather than flying.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 17mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/5s |
Ghosts on the Millennium Bridge
The Millennium Bridge has always been a bit of a drama queen – first it wobbled so much they had to shut it down, and now it’s serving up some of the most atmospheric shots in London.
This long exposure captures something almost supernatural about the daily pilgrimage across the Thames, with ghostly figures drifting like spirits between the sleek modernity of Norman Foster’s steel and glass creation and the timeless majesty of Wren’s baroque masterpiece. The blurred pedestrians become streams of human consciousness, each person’s journey reduced to ethereal wisps against the solid certainty of St. Paul’s dome.
The Millennium Bridge earned the nickname “Wobbly Bridge” because it swayed so dramatically when it first opened in 2000 that it had to be closed after just three days. The problem was “synchronous lateral excitation” – when large crowds walked in step, their footfalls created a resonance that made the bridge sway side to side by up to 7 centimetres, causing people to walk in sync to compensate, which only made the wobbling worse.
Photography videos I’ve watched recently:
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 41mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 5s |
Stop and Look Up
If you look up, you might see something towering overhead. Gleaming glass towers stretching up until they seem to pierce the clouds themselves.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/5000s |
Trans+ Pride London 2025
An estimated 100,000 people joined the Trans+ Pride event yesterday in London as they marched from near BBC Broadcasting House, past Downing Street, and on to Westminster Palace to Parliament Square Gardens. It was spectacular & emotional to watch.
“The message was clear: we will not be erased. Our existence is natural, historic, and enduring. You can try to take away our rights, but you will never remove us from society. We are a part of humanity, and the public will not stand by while harm is done to our community.”
Lewis G Burton, one of the founding members of London Trans+ Pride
More coverage from the Guardian & BBC and elsewhere.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 125 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
A Solitary Figure in Birmingham
Walking along Corporation Street, I was watching out for interesting people to photograph when I saw a man watching people walking past. We’d just come out of Grand Central Shopping Centre, the sun was shining, and I quickly walked over to the shaded part of the street. It was too warm for me. Might have been the same for this gentleman.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 320 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |