Squirrels, Lights & Reflections | Photos of London

‘I wish I was a squirrel’ I thought to myself.

Think about it. Spending the whole day in the park, climbing trees and being feed copious amounts of food by passing tourists. Yup, it’s a sweet life for squirrels in London’s parks. Walking through Green Park near Buckingham Palace, I spotted a family getting up close and personal with a couple of squirrels.

What do you think they are saying to each other?

I decided to walk down a street I’ve never been down before – Horse Guards Road – and stumbled upon this magnificent building. You can just see The London Eye photobombing in the top right hand corner – even though it’s quite a walk to there!

I visited two photography exhibitions looking for some inspiration. The first was Alex MacLean’s Aerial Perspectives at Beetles and Huxley. There are some incredible shots of planes, roads and holiday scenes, making things look like toys. I can’t recreate these as he has a plane…

The second was the brilliant Harry Callahan at Tate Modern. There were great colours of shop fronts, landscapes and portraits of his wife, Eleanor. My absolute favourite is this reflection of the street and a woman in the shop – or is it vice versa?

Walking towards the Shard, I stumbled upon this sign. I love these old signs as they hark back to when buildings like these were once factories, producing a variety of things for the British public. Apparently the tins Barclay and Fry made are quite collectible these days.

I also saw this colourful building which reminded me of a dancefloor!

London is filled with fantastic street art – I’m hoping to go on a street art walking tour in a couple weeks time. These are rather menacing looking dolphins kitted out in builders gear I think you’ll agree! Check out more of Nathan Bowern’s street art.

We jump towards the night – I finally bought a tripod! I have wanted to try long exposure shots for a number of years now and so headed to Tower Bridge to try and recreate what I had seen many times before. Okay, I clearly need to research the technique a little more but I’m pleased for a first attempt! What do you think?

I also found this fountain nearby of what appears to be a woman dancing with a dolphin? Answers on a postcard please…

Continuing to mess about with long exposure, I took this photo which had lots of people walking in front, but all that’s left are ghostly shadows!

Taking inspiration from Harry Callahan’s reflection image, I tried to use The Design Museum’s glass box to recreate my own – and failed miserably. But I do quite like this photo with my reflection in the glass where there seems to be lights bouncing all over and there’s also the lights of London through the glass.

I saw this old looking boat and really like the way it’s lit up.

The tree seems to be alive with the tip of the Shard glowing in the background.

Outside Shakespeare’s Globe is the message ‘all that glistens is not gold’ taken from the esteemed writers play, The Merchant of Venice.

The way St. Paul’s Cathedral is lit up at night makes me think there is a film premiere happening!

And finally, we finish with a merry-go round at Southbank. I love how it’s lit up against the black night sky. The last image is actually a reflection from the adjacent toilets!

What do you think the squirrels were saying to one another? Do you think the woman is dancing with the dolphin in the fountain? Do you have any tips for long exposure photography? Tell me in the comments section below!