This picture illustrates three important things to me. Firstly the importance of having a camera with you every where you go. I came across the scene on my way in to London one morning. Everybody on London Bridge had stopped to stare at the scene. The low sun was hitting the side of the building and light rays were being scattered and reflected in all directions. I always have a camera with me, in case of need, and on this ocasion I had my trusty Samsung compact system camera. The second important thing is that it doesn’t matter what the camera is, you don’t need an expensive DSLR to get a good picture. It is the scene that matters. Many people were taking pictures with their mobile phones. Finally for me it shows how important post processing is to an image. The version you see above is the one I processed for my landscape photography site but I also have a street photography site at www.the-decisive-moment.co.uk and for the project I was working on there I needed something much more contrasty. I wanted something that had the feel of the Fritz Lang film Metropolis, which led to the treatment below.
Pete Bridgwood
10 Sep 2012Love this image Jon. Great processing too, I think I prefer the bottom image, more dramatic.
Jon
10 Sep 2012Thanks Pete. I tend to flip back and forth as to which I prefer. In the end I think it depends on context. Alongside the very contrasty black and white images I use in my street work I feel the second image works better. For something to hang on my wall and look at for long periods, I prefer the first.