As you may know, I will be studying at Imperial College in the following four years. So in the first week, I took the opportunity to wander around London as a tourist, with my family. Besides, what better way to fully understand my new camera’s capabilities than to explore a place I’ve (almost) never been too?
In the following blog, I have selected a few of my favourite SOOCs (straight out of camera photos) from London. Being accustomed to editing photos for posts, I absolutely feel liberated when posting SOOCs !
Wandering around aimlessly (sort of)……
When you wander around the streets of a new city as a tourist, you start to see the pace of the city and the way people spend their time wandering around. To me the pace of living seems pretty relaxed, but my Swedish and Greek classmates say they have a hard time adapting to such a fast-moving metropolitan lifestyle.
Eventually, you really get an idea of how inclusive a community is to foreigners and to photographers. I’ve never been accustomed to the idea of taking photographs of random passerby’s, but these photos demonstrate that many don’t care being photographed at all. Maybe it is to do with the inconspicuous nature of my new LX100, maybe it is to do with the fact that people don’t mind at all. Needless to say, I have definitely captured many unique moments of London’s streets.
By the way, if you see monochrome photos below, I would like to remind you that they are also SOOCs, taken with the L Monochrome D profile on newer Panasonic cameras.
I know that taking monochrome photos may seem like something of the past, and taking them on a digital camera may even seem counterintuitive. But in many ways, when it comes to shooting photographs on the street, it seems appropriate to eliminate the excessive plethora of colours from the photo.
For example, this photo would have looked pretty pale in colour, but in monochrome the highlights and shadows definitely pops. I think monochrome enhances the contrast rendition and brings more attention to the texture of the walls.
Like Hong Kong, London is a 24/7 city that never stops moving. But in this seemingly busy city, people find the time and place to enjoy themselves and to entertain everybody else. Perhaps this is the thing that gives London energy and brings people together.
When you’re walking around outerskirts of London, there is a set of entirely different sights. However you see this photo, I really like the fact that the shadow of the rails is elegantly complemented with the shadow of a random passerby.
And wherever you go, there’s always some tourists doing (normal/nosy) touristy things.
Back to some coloured photos, 2 red photos to be specific. The first is a passerby with clothes and hair matching the brick walls behind! The second looks as if it is an advertisement for Uber JUMP rental bikes (I wish I got paid for something like this lol), but the contrast between the bright red finish of the bike and the somewhat washed colours of the buildings behind makes for an absolutely brilliant photo!
It is now approximately 10 days away from Brexit. People’s lives continue no matter what, but street photos do get interesting when you mix in a bit of politics. As a photographer, a tourist, and a newcomer, I’m always happy to see more perspectives.
Graffiti and Street Art
Graffiti is one of the things I see everywhere around London, and as a tourist, I find them absolutely inspiring. Camden is one of the places where much of the interesting street art comes alive. I don’t think the government exactly endorses this sort of things, but I’m glad that they are tolerated. I am not sure whether people really appreciate street art or not, but I do believe this kind of art cultivates a sense of creativity and creates a community that is open and inclusive to artists with different visions.
As a tourist, I think these drawings very much display the vibrance of this city, and how people are proud of their city and its heritage. It feels exciting to witness artists adding their strokes to these walls, and even more so when you see this space utilised by such talented skateboarders.
British Museum — where heritage and modern things come together
While I’ve tried not to sort photos in this article according to different tourist attractions, I’ve decided to dedicate a section of this article to the British Museum; not because I wanted to display photos of its exhibits, rather because I think it really shows how heritage and modern things come together seamlessly in London.
The British Museum is a museum of the globe’s heritage, human history and art, and the greek revival architecture of the grand entrance certainly reflects it. Simultaneously, we are constantly reminded that a museum is a place representing cultures of the modern world too.
When you enter the museum, you are greeted with a massive triangle-filled glass roof, one of the most reconisable features of the British Museum. It is wonderful how architects have made the museum unique without excessive decoration. Indeed, the unique lighting effect created by this glass roof brings life to the completely white-washed walls below.
I did enjoy many artifacts within the British Museum, especially the greek marble walls. Nevertheless, this probably isn’t the best place to display those pictures, or at at least I’m not in the best position to comment on them. You would have to take ages to see each artefact in this museum closely, but the best thing about the museum is that admission’s free!
More modern architecture
Time to move on to something else……I know that zoomed in photos of buildings like this somewhat removes context from the environment, but I think the combination of colours at Mizuho Bank, Old Bailey, lookd refreshing.
Architects nowadys tend to take a more simplistic approach to designing building exteriors, and the exciting thing is that I get to recreate them on Minecraft (I wish I had time for this kind of stuff though)!
In contrast, this building has a greater emphasis on curvature rathern than color.
Here’s some glassy stuff.
And more glassy stuff.
The colour rendition of this photo may have been slightly distorted, but the building’s wavy patterns and their shadows look absolutely gorgeous under the scorching sun!
Nevertheless, the pronounced contrast between old and new is what defines London’s streetscapes.
A few more words
I don’t really want to cram too many photos in one article, so that’s it. Not sure whether I have time for another article, but nevertheless, I would like to end the article with a few of my favourite photos.
I feel kinda lost at the moment,
Probably because I’m off without my family venturing about in a new city and studying in a completely different environment,
But I see that there is a bright future ahead of me,
And with my brillinat peers (and with many I will meet in the future), I’m sure we’ll have a great 4 years ahead of us in University!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief collection of photos!