I do enjoy a day out with the camera, so a trip to the capital city was the plan, with a view to walking along the northern bank of the river Thames towards the Palace of Westminster, better known as the houses of parliament. From there crossing Westminster bridge and walking along the Southbank to the Millennium Bridge, back over the river to St Pauls and then down to Tower bridge and finally back to Blackfriars. That should take up most of the day allowing for a few stops for photos.

The journey started with a train ride to Blackfriars station, on arrival I decided to have a bite to eat saving some space in my bag for my jacket, that I certainly didn’t need. It wasn’t a gourmet feast just a roll and a packet of crisps followed by a couple of wine gums.

The walk down to Westminster was fairly quick, the reason being that I drunk too much water on the train up and was desperate for the toilet. I would have used the toilets at Blackfriars, but it was just my luck that they were out of order, so I had to wait until reaching Waterloo (oh how appropriate). At least they didn’t charge unlike at Blackfriars where they charge you 30 pence, the problem is I can remember when it was a penny, hence the saying “spend a penny”.

Just after Waterloo station, I saw Princess Anne being driven in a car that was escorted by several Police outriders and two other vehicles, she was probably only going down to the supermarket 😉.

I crossed the river via Westminster bridge hoping to capture a long exposure shot of the Parliament buildings, only to find they had the builders in with lots of scaffolding up. I do now recall a news article about the work required on the crumbling building, so I just took a quick shot with the camera phone instead.

Leaving Westminster bridge I headed towards the Southbank taking in the London Eye, the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank and the National Theatre.

I kept walking along the south side of the river towards the Tate Modern, the tide was out so the sandy beach was accessible. Two lovers had made their mark in the sand, only for it to be washed away at the next high tide.

Just behind the Tate Modern, I saw some tall glass buildings that looked interesting so I took a few images looking up towards the sky.

From here it was back across the Thames on the Millennium Bridge, I thought It would be interesting to take a few long exposure shots of the many tourists on it, unfortunately the point at which I set up my tripod was very busy so I couldn’t quite get the centre of the bridge, maybe next time when it isn’t so busy.

Heading towards St Pauls I wanted to try and capture the reflections of the dome in the mirror surface of a glass building, luckily I found a new shopping centre that fitted the bill, however, I overheard a security guard on his radio asking if he should stop me, he didn’t, but I bet he would have if I had used the tripod.

From here it was back to the river which I followed all the way towards Tower Bridge, taking a small diversion around the back of the Tower of London, before crossing the river once again and for the last time.

From Tower Bridge I turned left towards Butlers Warf, and walked a short distance before turning around just before reaching the walkway into Bermondsey. Again following the river passing City Hall and across More London through Hayes Galleria and onwards towards Borough Market.

A quick tour around the many stalls and hot food traders, before joining the path along the river back to Blackfriars station. It was just past the Clink Prison museum I saw this excellent graffiti painting of the bard William Shakespeare, quite fitting as the Globe Theatre is just around the corner.

Last couple of shots of the Millenium bridge one taken from underneath it, for a different perspective, before catching the next train home from Blackfriars.

 

Equipment Used:

• Olympus EM-1
• Olympus 17mm F1.8
• Olympus 12mm F2.0
• Lee Seven5 Filter holder with 46mm ring
• Lee Seven5 Big Stopper
• Lee Seven5 Little Stopper
• Lee Seven5 Polariser
• Lee Seven5 ND Grads (various)
• Nokia Lumia 930
• Giottos MTL8350B Tripod
• Andoer Camera Tripod Ball Head Ballhead with Quick Release Plate 1/4

This is a map of the location of the walk, distance 8.5 miles.

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