Entertainment has been badly hit by the pandemic, with cinemas sitting deserted on the high street. In photographing the Arthouse cinema I looked to capture its defiance in keeping the lights ablaze, reminding us of the good times and keeping our spirits uplifted. To enhance the drama of the shot, I looked to highlight the key architectural features of the cinema while deepening the shadows in the surrounding buildings.
As Shoreditch becomes ever-more the primary magnet for street and graffiti artists in East London, the creative bar gets ever higher. Whitby Street is one such sought-after location. In the heart of Shoreditch, Whitby Street buildings offer wonderfully expansive blank canvas walls on which artists can create and display their work. Potential shots for the photographer lie around every street corner.
Light, shade and Silhouettes are the lifeblood of street photographers. Winter, autumn and spring when the sun is low in the sky can present great opportunities for graphic images, vast areas of negative space or interesting geometry either as a backdrop or focus of interest for the photograph. When the light aligns with structures such as tunnels and covered walkways, ever more interesting juxtapositions become possible.
Bridges can be a great location for street photography. They often act as a magnet for shadows and interesting silhouettes. London Bridge is a maze of interconnecting tunnels, pathways and staircases. It is also nearly always bustling, with a pool of people coming and going that are potential subjects.
London Bridge can be a great place to capture long shadows juxtaposed against some dramatic sculptures and architecture. In winter months the sun tends to cut across the bridge from the south without being disrupted by tall buildings. This shot happened in slow motion. I saw the opportunity and took a sequence of shots, each time getting several steps closer to the main subject until he caught my eye.
