I often wander around this area of London. It’s popular with tourists for good reason, with so many of the city’s iconic landmarks close by. As my train into the city terminates at London Bridge Station, it has become a natural starting point for many of my morning photo walks.

I’ve spoken many times about photographing London early in the morning, when the city is just waking up and the usually busy streets have a little more room to wander. I enjoy taking the time to explore, to appreciate the architecture and the photographic opportunities it offers, and to try and capture the sense of calm I feel when all I can hear are my own footsteps. It’s a similar feeling of familiarity and quiet I experience when wandering my local forest, and one that sits at the heart of my London-based photography project, City Stille.

After leaving the station, I made my way towards the river. It’s here that the space opens up, allowing me to get a sense of the conditions and the potential for light. With so much light pollution around, it isn’t always easy to read the sky until the light levels begin to lift, but looking east, I could just make out some pre-dawn colour starting to filter through. It felt like a long time since one of my early morning trips into the city had coincided with a good sunrise, and if there was even the smallest chance of colour, I wanted to be in one of the best spots to witness it — slightly upstream on London Bridge.

As I walked along the Thames, I had around twenty minutes before any significant colour might appear. I stopped to photograph this view of HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge. I’ve photographed this spot a few times before, but never at night, so mindful not to miss any potential colour, I quickly set up the camera and composed the image below.

London cityscape at night featuring HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge — *Fujifilm X-T50 | XF16-80mm | 20mm | 1/8th Second | f/5.6 | ISO800*

As the sliver of light near the horizon began to glow, subtle pre-dawn colour started to emerge. I stayed just long enough to take a few variations, experimenting with different shutter speeds and focal lengths. Many who read this will know I tend to lean towards a more restrained colour palette, and the soft blues and magentas in the sky provided a fitting backdrop for this familiar London view.

London cityscape at sunrise featuring HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge — *Fujifilm X-T50 | XF16-80mm | 32mm | 30 Seconds | f/16 | ISO125*

Finishing up near HMS Belfast, I made the short walk up to London Bridge, settling in where the ship lines up centrally with Tower Bridge (as you may have guessed, I have a fondness for symmetry in my cityscape compositions). The sun had not yet risen, but the colour was growing stronger. Once the tripod was set up and the camera mounted, I began capturing the scene as warm tones gradually intensified.

Below is a selection of the photos I took from this spot over the course of thirty minutes.

London cityscape at sunrise from London Bridge, featuring HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge — *Fujifilm X-T50 | XF16-80mm | 38mm | 0.8 Seconds | f/8 | ISO125*

One photo I had never successfully captured was this framed composition of the Shard from beneath London Bridge at sunrise. It works best in winter, when the sun rises in the south-east, and although I’ve photographed from here many times, I had never managed to time it right with the backdrop of sunrise colour. Before the light faded, I crossed to the north side of the river and descended the stairs just in time to take this shot before the colours fully retreated.

That’s what I enjoy about photographing sunrise here: the compositions are so close together that it’s possible to capture several in a matter of minutes without feeling rushed.

As the colour faded, I packed the tripod away and, with my camera in hand, wandered west along the north bank of the Thames towards St Paul’s Cathedral, where I would finish the morning shoot and catch the Tube. The morning light had a soft, subtle quality, and along the way I stopped to take a distant framed view of the Shard. I had discovered this composition a year or two earlier but had only photographed it for my black and white Timeless City project, so I took the opportunity to capture it in colour — however muted the tones were.

Arriving at St Paul’s, and with it still being early, there weren’t too many people around, so I took the opportunity to photograph the cathedral in the soft, cool ambient light. I couldn’t avoid people entirely, so one technique I use in situations like this to create cityscape images free of other figures is a long exposure. Using the steps as a foreground and an ND filter mounted on my lens, I took a long exposure to blur the movement of people as they passed through the frame.

I’m sure — actually, no, I’m certain — there are many who could not imagine anything worse than spending time in a busy city like London. To those people, I would say: before making up your mind, try a sunrise walk in your nearest town or city. The silence and stillness can be intoxicating. For someone like me, who appreciates the history and architecture a city like London offers but doesn’t particularly enjoy the crowds, waking up early and heading out before sunrise is truly the best time of day to experience this great city.

I now have two London city and streetscape projects on the go: my black and white project, Timeless City, and another aligned with the photos in this post, called City Stille. Feel free to check them out and follow along as they progress.

Until next time.

Trevor

A Winter Sunrise at London Bridge

Oak by Simon Baxter | My Photo Bookshelf