The Hungerford and Golden Jubilee Bridge – Photographing London

I have visited Southbank for many years photographing every crevice I could find.

I have also take my clients to this location whenever I hear they want a “London Theme”.

During a little walk around with my friend Alvin, he showed me a spot where we could see the sunset and I was gobsmacked that I didn’t know this location existed!

You can access this view on the 5th floor of the Royal Festival Hall. It’s free to access and its a great location to chill out, have a drink, and enjoy the view.

One word of warning and that is I was told you need permission to take photos from this location. I had seen a number of other people taking snap shots with their mobile phones and I was the only photographer with a tripod. However I was up on this location for a good hour before anyone approached me, so if you was quick enough, I’m sure you can grab a snap or two without too much trouble.

It’s a very short walk from Waterloo Station and there are tonnes of places around this location to eat and drink. So not only will you get to enjoy this lovely view, it should also be a fun day/evening where you get to enjoy street food to fine dining restaurants. A short 5min walk down The Queen’s Walk will take you to the London Eye where you can either enjoy a flight on the London Eye, or soak up the view of Westminster Abbey across the River Thames.

My shot is a little more complex than the average photo, however the base of it all was shot at f/11 and ISO100. Shutter speed is dependant on the available ambient light. My shot is actually a composite of two shots, one shot right at the point of the sun setting and the second was shot once the streets, buildings and bridges were all lit up.

Conclusion

The style of shot was inspired by Elia Locardi’s work where he uses Time Blending to blend the ideal moments of the scene into one shot. My edit was a quick down and dirty version of it, but I am loving the results.

Whilst the sunset is visible, none of the lights are on, so adding the sunset into a shot where all the London lights are on it creates more of an experience looking at this image as opposed to capturing a single moment.