Photographers love London – the light, the geometry, the variety of architectural forms and the reflections of the cityscape and its lights in the River Thames.
Square Mile magazine, the lifestyle magazine for the bankers in the City of London, has an article Cometh The Tower on photography and the changing skyline of London. It shows the work of several photographers; a few of are illustrated here: Paul Shears, Billy Currie and Arpad Lukacs, but with other examples, all in black and white. Somehow, colour doesn’t seem to work well. Black and white is better at showing the geometry, the detail, the reflections, the grittiness and the contrast of light and shade in London.
One of the photographers earlier in the month won the Network Rail Lines in the Landscape Award at this year’s Take a View’s Landscape Photographer of the Year competition with his photograph looking down on passengers like ants boarding and leaving trains at London Bridge station, As the winner, Stephen Bright has a unique opportunity to joining a flight in Network Rail’s inspection helicopter or a ride on the New Measurement Train, a converted high speed train that is used to capture geotechnical track data. A selection of the best images from this year’s competition will be on show at London Waterloo station from 1 December 2014 to 31 January 2015.
London Bridge station is undergoing huge transformation which will not be completed until 2108. Charlie Waite, competition founder of the competition and himself a landscape photographer said:
“The changes that are currently occurring at London Bridge are impressive in their scale and a traveller coming through the station for the first time in five years would undoubtedly wonder if they were in the same place.
Stephen’s picture, looking down on the London Bridge platforms gives the idea of a vast train set transporting the many little figures back to their homes and families. The trains are modern but the monotone treatment of the image harks back to times past and reminds us how long railways have been an important part of British life.”