Blog Post #13

Tales of a Day Out #1

Something a bit different this time….

The pandemic has severely curtailed my photography outings so I felt it was time to get back into the swing of things. With train tickets booked for Saturday 16th Oct. it was time to hit London again. I love visiting our capital city as it offers so much scope for street photographers. I had the bag packed with the Fuji XT-3, fully charged batteries and spare memory cards and for a change I fitted the Fujinon 35mm lens in place of my preferred 23mm. I’ve had this lens for a while now and hadn’t really used it on an outing. This lens is equivalent to a full frame focal length of 53mm. This focal length is what I always used to shoot with back in my film photography days. It would get me in a bit closer than the 23mm (35mm full frame equivalent) so I was looking forward to using it.

The day started off on a rather stressful note with my taxi being 20 minutes late so it was a rush to get to my train on time. Once on the train, as expected someone was sitting in my reserved seat (cant these people read?), so once I had decanted them to find another seat I settled down for the journey. The weather forecast for London wasn’t too bad, cloudy but no rain or high winds.

The train was on-time into London at 09.35 so in no time I found myself on the underground heading for Oxford Circus station via the Victoria line. I had a timed ticket to see the Helen Levitt exhibition entitled “In The Street”, at The Photographer’s Gallery. When I emerged from the underground at Oxford Circus it was very grey and raining! I didn’t expect that but as I was a bit early I popped into the Costa next door for a coffee and shelter from the weather. It was quiet with only two other customers, one was sound asleep and the other was watching a movie taking advantage of the free wifi !

Duly refreshed I headed next door to The Photographer’s Gallery. First thing I noticed was they had a nice cafe, should have gone there. The Helen Levitt exhibition was on two floors of the gallery and contained some excellent work. Her photographs covered the 1940s mainly in New York and contained many images of the people in the city areas that were struggling post depression and pre American involvement in WW2. The quality of the silver gelitin prints impressed me. The prints were of varying sizes including some only about 4” x 3” but they were first class. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and finished it off with a visit to the gallery shop. The shop had one of the best collections of photography books I have seen and a significant stock of film, some of which I had never heard of.

Next stop was to be the Fuji House of Photography over in Covent Garden so back on the underground and off to Leicester Square. The shop is just up the road from the station so as it was still raining I got there sharpish. This was my first visit and it was very enjoyable. A nice member of staff was on hand to answer all my questions and let me have a look at all the current kit. He said I should visit the exhibition upstairs which I duly did. As I was ascending the stairs I noticed the name of the exhibition and it immediately caught my attention. It was entitled “Boobography”. It was work that Fuji had sponsored as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Week and contained some striking images. As I exited the House of Photography I noticed it had stopped raining so I headed back to Leicester Square and took the underground to Aldgate East which is the closest stop to Brick Lane in Spitalfields, a great place for street photography.

Before leaving The Fuji House of Photography, I had to take a quick pit-stop and I was directed towards the toilets. On arriving there I was confronted by this signage for the first time.

The first two symbols were familiar of course but my instant reaction to the third was this must be Zebedee’s toilet as well (Google Magic Roundabout if you dont know Zebedee).

Of course I knew what it meant, but I had never seen this on a toilet door before. I always learn something new in London.

The bottom end of Brick Lane was rather quiet with not a lot of people around but by the time I had reached the Truman Brewery it was packed. There was some event going on in the arts centre and the queue was huge. I don’t know if it was the weather in the morning or the crowds but there were few characters around. I found a few but I think I counted more photographers than subjects. Another thing that concerned me, that I never experienced here before, were the Just Eat and Deliveroo delivery riders. More than once I had to move out of the way as they careered down the road or when they crept up on me at ridiculous speeds. After about an hour or so I was also becoming a bit uninspired and tired. The mornings rain and the afternoon sun had resulted in a very humid atmosphere and I wasn’t dressed for it, too many layers I think and it made me feel uncomfortable. I pressed on down through Spitalfields market which was also packed to the hilt and ventured down to Liverpool St station.

Where next I mused, what about Soho? So back in the tube it was and over to Leicester Square. I found a nice Greek restaurant in St Martin’s Lane and had a lovely lunch of mousaka and calamari, washed down with some dark Greek beer which I cant remember the name of. Once finished I cut over to the Soho streets that I remembered photographing in many years ago. I hadn’t been back there for a while with my camera and was surprised at the change in the place. It seemed to me that the character had been ripped out of the area and had been replaced by trendy bistros and wine bars. Gone were the streets full of adult entertainment venues and shops, “Models” and massage parlours. A few remained but not like the old days. It used to be if one of the pimps saw you walking through with a camera, the would offer you good rates for a “model” to pose for you. It has moved with the times, and for the better I am told, but I am glad to have experienced the old Soho for myself.

By this time I was knackered and thinking of heading back up to St. Pancras to get the train home. The light was failing and so I headed back into the underground and made the 16.35 back to Derby.

It was a strange day. I had been looking forward to walking the streets of London again with my camera but for some reason I think I forgot to pack my mojo that day. I have learned too that as well as being prepared kit wise, you have to dress and feel comfortable or it can distract you and spoil the mood. I am also of the opinion that while people still cover their faces with masks, trying to photograph them is pointless. I have tried not to get sucked into photographing “The Days of Covid” type projects as they all look the same. I was also reminded that Saturday is a very busy day in London. I already knew that of course but Brick Lane was packed on Saturday, something also commented on by others. I have now had time to take a look at the photographs I took on the day and have three “keepers” that I have added to my London Street Photography Gallery. This isn’t bad I suppose given the very few subjects I actually photographed on the day.

My reaction today as I type this blog post is to get back down to London mid-week and get the shots I missed, because in a way I am angry with myself. Onwards and upwards!

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Peter Degnan