Royal Festival Hall, London

When I lived in London I loved to walk along the south bank of the Thames, particularly the stretch between London Bridge and the Southbank Centre. 

It can be easy to start taking a place for granted when you live and work in it every day, and such became the case for me with London. One place I could always rely on to remind me what a cool city I lived in though, was the south bank at night.

In the daytime, it’s still impressive but busier with tourists and without the contrast of darkness and brightly-lit buildings to pick out the landmarks. That said, it’s still a lovely walk and on this day in February 2018 I had my Fuji X-T2 with the outstanding XF 16mm F1.4 lens.

A bright, sunny day provided good conditions for black and white photography and I really like this shot from the top of the steps onto one of the Jubilee foot bridges that cross the river to Embankment and Charing Cross stations.

The wide angle allowed me to fit in most of the festival hall as well as the run of restaurants and shops that sit beside it, lining the path towards Waterloo station.

With the conversion to black and white, and the high contrast of the sunny afternoon, I really like how most of the people are largely in silhouette, with the bright sun picking out details on only three people: one in the foreground approaching the steps I was on, one in the mid ground with shopping bag nicely catching the light, and one off to the left that I’d actually probably rather didn’t stand out compositionally.

This image acts as a nice memory piece for me of one of my favourite places in London for meeting friends. The Royal Festival Hall is ostensibly a music venue, but the large open ‘community’ space on the main floor is fantastic for meeting people and being able to have a proper chat without too much noise, unlike just about any cafe, restaurant or bar elsewhere in London.