Streets of London

 

I blame Harry Styles.

In 1 B.C (Before Covid), my teenage daughter came to me telling me that the Mr Styles was the best singer ever, as well as the best looking and her life would not be complete unless she could go and see him live, and by the way he was playing the NEC Birmingham, would I get tickets to go see him.

I'm a bit of a pushover when either of my daughters request something, so reluctantly I agreed, so spent time fighting with the female teenage population of Europe in a website death-match to gain 2 tickets (one for her and a friend). 

Then the inevitable happened and Covid hit, meaning the concert was postponed for first 3 months, then 6, and then indefinitely. Secretly, I was relieved. Not that I have any issue with Mr Styles music, it's perfectly pleasant, it was more the realisation that somehow I would have had to get my daughter to the NEC, and then pick her up at about 11 O'clock. Now the NEC is about an hour drive which is fine, it's what I would have done  in the intervening 5 hours stuck in the cultural desert of NEC car park that concerned me (slogan - Nothing to do, but at extortionate prices). Still, now with that bullet dodged, I could deal with the other issues such as a global pandemic.

Of course, it would not be that easy. This year, my daughter, now 2 years older, announced that the dates had been rearranged and could she go?

Two problems. Firstly, the NEC date had been nixed, leaving just London or Manchester. Secondly, the new dates were smack in the middle of her A-level dates. This latter issue made it clearly undoable, so we explained how her future came first, how there would be other opportunities, etc, which she all accepted stoicly, accepting the wisdom her parents. 

Like bugger, she did....   

After many tears, we compromised. Manchester was out because she had an exam the next day, but  Wembley was possible because the next exam was not for 4 days. So again I sat in mortal combat to re-arrange the tickets. 

This left the small problem of getting her too and more importantly safely back from the big smoke. 

Train was the obvious answer, since the entire UK rail network concentrated in London. However, while getting there was not an issue, the problem was that the last train North departed at about 10:45. It became abundantly clear that with the concert finishing about 10:30 and a 20-min tube journey, there was no way she was going to get back in time. Missing the train would mean spending 8 hours until the trains started again. There was nothing for it, I would have to drive them down and back on the day; a round trip of 5 hours at stupid O'Clock.

Sometime ago I had vowed never to drive into London, but with no choice, I had to decide a) how to do it and b) what I was going to do for the 5 hours wait as my daughter and friend disappeared off into Wembley. 

Realizing that driving, anywhere near Wembley, would be a big mistake, I came up with a cunning plan of parking at one of the outlying tube stations and let them make their own way there. This I realized gave me an opportunity. I could take my camera and head off into big town and take some cityscape shots. Win-win...

Of course my cunning plan was not as cunning as I thought, finding the car park full, it seemed pretty well everyone North of Watford had the same idea, so I had to drop them off and find some other place to park up. In doing so, it brought back to me why I moved away  from London so many years ago (apart from the insane house prices, which are even more insane now). The living constantly on top of each other means either you have to be very chilled, or constantly on the verge of territorial violence. 

Nothing says this more than car parking. Every space and road is guarded by impossible to decipher parking restrictions saying basically the if you don't live here, bugger off. Still I managed to locate a spot 15-minute walk away, but I spent the day constantly worried that I had missed a sign, or would get back to find my car set on fire by irate residents. 

London Calling

The Shard in all its glory...

Still, I was here, and I had up to 5 hours to myself to take photos. The question is what of? In most cities that is not a great issue, but London is such a treasure trove of sites that days not hours are required to cover it. 

Some time aback I received  Photographing London Vol 1 by George Johnson as a gift, but never had the opportunity to try it out (Note the entire of Scotland is covered in 1 volume of the series, but London requires more...). There was no way I could take the book with me, it was just too heavy, but it gave me the idea of walking the Thames, starting somewhere downstream and ending up at parliament. I would have preferred to go to Canary Wharf, but it felt too far out, so I decided to start at Tower Bridge. So carrying far too many camera lenses I set off on the tube to London Bridge station

Shard loads

Trying a bit of ICM

The Shard captures converging verticles fantastically

The multiverse of madness

Reflections

I always think that Londoner's take their tube system for granted. No other UK city has such a complete transport system, which teleports around the city. It is a modern marvel. Saying that as we got closer to the centre I could not help thinking that after 2 years of lockdown, going back to travelling this way each day must have been a nightmare and no wonder so many wanted to stay working from home. 

I also must admit here I made a mistake.  It has been so long since I have regularly worn a mask, that I did not carry one. But then again, nor did virtually anyone on the tube. It has if the last 2 years sacrifices has been erased from our collective memory. Whether we will come to regret this is to be seen. 

Not many mask wearers

On Arrival, the weather was not the best. Despite being in the middle of a drought and heat wave, that day was cold, slightly damp and the sky was just bland grey. It was clear that this would be a day for B&W photography

Arriving at London Bridge, the 1st challenge was finding the river. You would have thought that this would have been easy, but London hides one of its major landmarks quite effectively. 

One thing that was easy to find was the Shard. It was the closest I had been to it, and it was impressive and a great photographic target. I spent a good 20 minutes playing with some shots and I got a few interesting things out of it. In hindsight I should of concentrated on it, but that was notv the plan

London rising

Framed

Wedding Party

The ever expanding skyline

There are a lot of these bronzes explaining about Chimps.

The old and new Southwark Cathedrals

 

Finally finding the river, I headed off to Tower Bridge. In London, unlike Paris or Berlin, access to the Thames betrays its working roots, meaning access is often interrupted by old wharves and buildings, (now pubs and wine bars), which means that following its course is harder than it should be. 

Maybe it was the long journey, worries about collecting my daughter or just the weather, but I was just not feeling very creative. In hindsight, I perhaps should have just concentrated on one small area (bit like trying everything in a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet, rather than sticking to the stick chicken). It was 6 O'clock, so I stopped in 5 guys to get a meal in the hope to get me going (slogan - like McDonalds, just slower, more expensive and less tasty), but it only made me feel more sluggish.

I should really just of sat down and took pictures of tourists enjoying London, however I just still feel very self-conscious of being out in a street with my camera. I find there are two types of people in London. Tourists, who are just there to have a good time, and therefore are quite happy to be snapped and locals who see any supposed intrusion on their privacy as something to be defended verbally, or expect something from it. 

 

I met the latter in an underpass by the national theatre. A skate park had been set up and I started taking images of various youths doing tricks. Then one of them told me I should not take pictures without permission. I considered briefly calling him over to educate him on the law on street privacy, and ask him anyway how would I get the permission of 40 strangers, and it was not that sort of photography anyway, but then I realised I would be arguing with a 20+ adult who still spent his life playing on a kid's toy, so I decided to move on. However, that is London. It's Disney World overlayiong Mordor.

My plan was to go into the Tate modern, but it was closed. Of course, no sign actually said that, I was only told when I tried to enter, by a security guard with poor English. A reminder that London is built on cheap immigration and would fall to a quivering heap without fresh blood. Instead, I tried taking some shots on the eponymous Millennium bridge. Problem is, that location has been done to death, so rather than re-create, I moved on (passing a photographer trying to capture the parliament under Westminster bridge shot. I felt like calling out to them "I know what you're doing!")  

 

The eye has it

The covid memorial...

 

I ended up opposite Parliament and I thought after dragging my tripod 5 miles, I should perhaps use it, so I tried some long exposure shots, but it was neither dark enough or enough cloud. 

It was 9 by then, and I had had enough, so I stacked up with the other drones and head back to the car, which fortunately was still there and had not been identified as some foreign particle in the body London. 

All that was left was to pick up my daughter and friend. This did not happen until 12, so I had a fine 2 hours of reading, snoozing and generally worrying about where the hell they were. 

As I waited on Stanmore tube station, the vast herd of tired Harry Styles fans disgorged from the tube and headed up the platform. Of course, my camera was in the car, but it would have made a great shot....

All that was left was a hour journey up the M1 at one in the morning. The good news however was apparently Harry Styles was great... 

And say for you that the sun don't shine?

She's no time for talking
She just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home
In two carrier bags

-- Ralph McTell

Maybe it was 2 years of lockdown, but I feel I am now more anti-social photographer than I was. This is difficult in a city because you will need to deal with people. A whole lot of them. I feel very naked in places like this, and I think a city is one place where I would feel more comfortable in a group.

 Probably the big mistake in London is attempt too much. London is unique in Europe in that it is really about 10 towns put together, each with their own character. If I did it again, I would stake out a small section, and concentrate on that. 

Although I lived just North of London for 3 years, it has always felt alien to me. I have friends who would not live anywhere else, but the whole compression of personnel space, the undercurrent of dog-eat-dog aggression feels just wrong. We are a species evolved to walk the savannah, not all live in the same tree

I don't think I will ever truly be comfortable taking pictures in a city. You either need great self-confidence or little empathy, but it would be nice to try again, although I think not involving a 4-hour drive. 

However I learned again what sort of photography interests me (Spoiler - not the common type), so we never know, if my daughter wants to see Harry Styles 2 tour, I may just volunteer my services again.