Photo24: Through The Night

Some more images from Photo24.  Regular readers will know that night photography is a particular passion of mine.  So the idea of shooting through the shortest night of the year was one of my main reasons for taking part in the event.  The set meeting point for sunset was near Westminster Bridge at 8pm. 

On the bridge, an obvious first thing to try was blurred buses and taxis in the failing light.  Sadly, the weather was not kind.  It had rained quite hard earlier in the afternoon, and no sooner had we set up tripods and cameras than the showers returned, forcing a cover-up.  There followed an hour long battle with the on/off rain.  Eventually it cleared up enough for a hint of a sunset, and the wet roads did add a little something to some of the images.

It wasn't long before we had to head off for the next meet-up, 11.00pm at Liverpool Street Station for a late night walk through the City.  The initial rendezvous was a little confused (not helped by the fact that there was a completely separate 12 hour photo event also taking place), but eventually a group of us started a slow stroll though the heart of the City, ending at St Paul's.  I had bought the new version Canon 'nifty fifty' (the f1.8 STM) just prior to this trip, with the express purpose of having a lens I could use hand-held in low-light situations.  I didn't use it much, but it did help get a few shots.

The planned meet-up for dawn was back on Westminster Bridge.  However, I didn't see the point in doing that location twice, so I persuaded Vic that instead we should head for the 'More London' area near Tower Bridge.  Having failed to find an all night cafe that we were 'assured' was not too far from St Paul's (thanks Mr Cheung), we spent a couple of hours in a McDonalds, before heading over London Bridge and down past HMS Belfast to City Hall.  There, we met about 20 or so 'togs from the 12-hour event. 

This was clearly too many for the More London security, who felt the need to hassle us at 4am regarding the copyright status of their buildings.  God bless whoever it was that persuaded them we were merely shooting the sky (a singly dull flat featureless sky) on the shortest night.  At one point, there were so many cameras and tripods lined up facing Tower Bridge that the South Bank took on the appearance of an al fresco branch of Calumet.  Sadly, dawn didn't happen.  The flat grey sky just got lighter.  It was time to move on to another location.