London calling
Join us on a sightseeing tour of the capital
Mission: To capture famous London landmarks under a beautiful light Photographer: Andrea Heribanova Age: 37 Location: London, UK Kit: Nikon D800, Nikon 16-35mm f/4 Website: andreaheribanova.com
When I started working in London’s Kew Gardens in 2008, I first became interested in photography. Kew is an ideal place for macro photography and wildlife photography, and that’s what I started with initially. I spent my breaks, early mornings and late evenings photographing this beautiful place and also getting to know my first DSLR. Since I like exploring London and also travelling around England, I gradually shifted to landscapes a few years later. And, as I started to take this hobby more seriously, from early 2016 I started staking out my favourite landmarks around London.
The first thing I realized is I had to time my photos, not only to get the right light, but also to avoid too many people getting in them. Piccadilly Circus is always very busy with buses and people milling around, so I headed out late one cold and wet winter’s evening to get this shot [1]. I had to wait for the perfect moment, which took some time, and heavy rain meant I had to keep cleaning the front of the lens. I also had to shoot handheld, as I didn’t have a tripod with me, but luckily the famous lit-up signs were bright enough to give me a decent shutter speed at a relatively low ISO for the time of the day. The rain meant I had a good reflection in the ground and so I composed my shot to demonstrate this symmetry
Symmetry is seldom had in London, except for the grandest pieces of architecture. I was standing on the Millennium Bridge in midsummer and, despite walking across it many
I realized I had to time my photos, not only to get the right light, but also to avoid too many people getting in them
times before, I never really noticed the black strip in the middle. I loved the contrast of it against the rest of the bridge. I waited for a long while to shoot this with nobody walking on it but, unfortunately, there was always someone standing in front of my lens taking their selfies, so I eventually gave up as I didn’t have any filters on me that day, just the camera. I returned to the same spot two or three days later hoping to shoot the sunset but overcast conditions meant I wasn’t going to get a shot with a nice golden light falling on St Paul’s Cathedral, so I went for the long exposure instead to blur the moving clouds [2]. I also used a three-stop neutral density filter. Ideally I wanted to use a stronger filter to blur out people completely but the bridge is a bit wobbly and I wanted to avoid the inevitable camera shake every time someone walked past me. It’s amazing to reveal the beauty in a bridge I use so much through the year.
As a yearly pass holder, another place I visit frequently is the Shard. I’ve witnessed a few sunsets from up there but none quite like this [3]. The sky was very clear all day and I wasn’t expecting to take any interesting photos. But that all changed just in time for sunset. This particular view, looking eastwards across London, is my favourite. It includes the City Hall, Tower Bridge, London Bridge station and Canary Wharf and I love the way the Thames meanders in this section. It’s a challenge taking photos from the Shard because of the glass reflection. No matter what I did, there would always be part of the image spoilt with a reflection. I used a polarizer but that wasn’t ideal because it dropped my shutter speed by a stop or two. Tripods are not allowed up there so I had to compromise and zoom in to 20mm, which luckily still left all of the landmarks in the frame.