One to One
Behind the scenes with commercial pro Ron Timehin on a photo walk in London
Music and photography have overlapped for decades – Bill Wyman, Stewart Copeland and Bryan Adams are just three rock stars to have enjoyed success on the other side of a lens. And although a young Ron Timehin seemed destined for a successful career as a trumpet player, having achieved grade 8 at the age of 15, sheet music lost out to shutter speeds and apertures.
Ron nurtured his nascent love of photography by shooting cityscapes during downtime on overseas tours with the Bromley Youth Music Trust, initially on his smartphone. He started posting his images on Instagram in 2011, becoming the social media platform’s user of the week in 2013. The high profile that resulted allowed him to build a career as a commercial photographer, and cityscapes feature in much of his output – his location work often inspires assignments for clients including Asahi beer, adidas, Nike, 2HR SET, Google, Switzerland Tourism and Canada Goose.
Although his first DSLR was a Canon EOS 6D, in 2018 Ron was invited to become a Sony Europe Imaging Ambassador, so his current setup sees him use Sony’s full-frame mirrorless models, including the Alpha 7R III and Alpha 9, plus the brand’s growing range of native E-Mount lenses (see page 106).
It’s a nimble and flexible system for shooting cityscapes, so what better than an evening photo walk around London’s financial district to witness Ron’s skills and techniques at first hand? The dramatic change in the City of London skyline over the past two decades has resulted in a wealth of new photo opportunities. Buildings once home to offices now house restaurants and bars with bird’s-eye views of this continually changing panorama. Ron’s
I’m trying to take a step back, focus my efforts on longer-term projects and create meaningful content
passion for shooting cityscapes – he’s used to rising well before dawn and exploring urban areas for hours on end – means he knows where the best views are likely to be from, and how to shoot them when he gets there.
The route for our Friday evening photo walk has been sketched out by Ron beforehand; we will rendezvous on Cornhill, then head to the rooftop bar at Coq d’Argent on Poultry. After that, it’s a brisk walk (Ron doesn’t hang around) to Tower 42 – formerly known as the NatWest Tower. Once the HQ of the bank’s international division, it now accommodates several bars and restaurants, including the City Social. 24 floors up, its 360-degree views offer some of the best vantage points from which to see the evolving landscape, which the ghastly weather is trying hard to obscure.
And climate conditions certainly bedevil us at the start of the evening: following heavy showers, Coq d’Argent’s roof terrace is closed. This is a setback, as the views from here towards the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange are spectacular. Before the City turbocharged its retail and hospitality offerings, the best chance you had to shoot images of this financial district’s old and new architecture was from the top deck of a bus.
Fortunately, the shopping centre at One New Change, with its postcard view of St Paul’s Cathedral framed by the shopfronts of a pedestrian alley, is just along Cheapside. The rain has bestowed a small gift, though: it’s given the pavement a sheen, while umbrellatoting pedestrians provide human interest. Framing a shot here on some popular DSLR models would require throwing a coat on the wet pavement, but Ron can just kneel down and use the Sony’s tilting rear display.
“I’ll always have grid lines enabled if I’m shooting buildings,” Ron points out. He tries both orientations to see which one he prefers, and composes the image using some handily positioned lead-in lines – the steel drain cover that points neatly towards St Paul’s. A wide aperture of f/4 blurs the image behind the focus point of the drain cover, creating an impressionistic rendition of the cathedral.
Framing a hero shot of St Paul’s from down low is one approach, but to capture the true majesty of the structure some elevation is required. A quick lift ride up to the One New Change rooftop bar is our next move, but unfortunately for us most of the tourists in the vicinity are thinking along the same lines. Ron has a couple of minutes in which to compose a shot of the dome of St Paul’s before a succession of young couples move in to have it star in their selfies. Working on the rear screen of the A7R III, he uses a standing pool of rainwater as a mirror device in the foreground, to very good effect.