CCC London Trip: Thames Night Walk

A selection of images from our night walk along the Thames on Sunday evening. The first image is a panorama of two long exposures to show the span of the Millenium Bridge (this should come after image 9 in temporal sequence but is the right aspect ratio to share on Facebook). They are a mixture of long exposures (up to 15sec) on the FujiX100V and live composites from the Olympus EM1-II with base exposure of 30sec and variable number of added exposures (need more experimentation with exposure values and number of shots!!)

 

Long Exposures Through the Day

Final series of long exposures from our London trip. These weren't taken on the same day but are in approximate time order though the sky conditions were different on the three days. First three images are all at 30secs with the 'big stopper' neutral density filter; Westminster Bridge 20secs (very impressed Phil stood still for most of the exposure), next two 15seconds and last two 60 seconds when fully dark. 

 

London Long Exposures at Dusk

I purchased a variable neutral density filter some years ago and was disappointed that it didn't work on my Fuji wide-angle lens. However I recently tried it on the X1000v and found it worked fine so I am now experimenting with very long exposures. Christmas Day was very murky and misty in London. Here are a few images that worked relatively well with the filter rotated to give 30-50 seconds exposures. Keeping the camera still on a fairly flimsy tripod proved a challenge!

Southbank London

We ended our final walk of our Christmas break at Southbank, as on our first day. It was a lot busier than Xmas Eve but people were keeping their distance and most, like us, were wearing masks when in busier areas. Certainly images that record the 2021 Covid Christmas in London.

Pinhole View of London

 My pinhole is an ideal 'lens' to take on a walking holiday as it is very light and compact being a modified lens cap with an insert of foil containing a central pinprick. They work best in bright light but thought I would try a few yesterday as dusk fell on a very cloudy afternoon. The exposures were between 25secs and 8 minutes depending on the light available. The results are reminiscent of the images that I would have been so delighted with using my first camera (a Box Brownie) visiting central London on the bus and then developing and printing the images on our dining room table. The skyline would have been a bit different!!

Trip to London: Regent's Canal and Limehouse Basin

Yesterday we took the coach from Cambridge to Mile End (an impressive service taking just over the hour) and explored various areas. Regent’s Canal was named after the Prince Regent, later to be King George IV, and first opened in 1820. We walked part of the Canal down to Limehouse Basin in cool showery conditions. There are some surprisingly wild areas with abundant bird life.

Limehouse Basin links Regent's Canal to the Thames and was, at one point, the principal entrance from the Thames to the entire national canal network. The redevelopment of the Basin started in 1983. The Docklands Light Railway is carried on a viaduct originally built for the London and Blackwall Railway above the original wharves along the north side of the basin.