12 by 12 Challenge #1 Part Two

Following on from the first part of my 12 by 12 challenge, I made the same journey but in reverse - from Baker Street tube to Marylebone Station. In her challenge Vanessa Winship made the point that taking the same route may well lead to a different experience on another occasion. Walking in the opposite direction perhaps you notice things you missed on the way there - it's certainly always good to have an alternative viewpoint. Other factors will influence the look of the street - time of day, weather, amount of people and traffic etc. On my second trip it had been raining earlier, the pavements were wet and sleek in the sunshine, raindrops glistened on the reflective bonnets of parked cars....

The following month brings a fresh challenge which I will be documenting here later.  In hindsight, I found this challenge a little underwhelming but that was probably because I only engaged with it in a fairly superficial way. It's not too different to the way I normally operate when I go out with my camera in the city so I didn't really feel that I had covered any new ground! Onwards and upwards.....

12 by12 Challenge #1 Part One

12 by 12 is a year-long series of photo-challenges set by renowned photographers. Every month a new challenge is issued and group members are invited to interpret it by submitting their responses on Flickr or Instagram. The idea is to encourage creativity and experimentation, in terms of approach as well as aesthetics. The challenge is a continuation of previous tasks 52 by 52 and 26 by 26 examples of which are on the website. 

The first challenge was set by photographer Vanessa Winship and urged us to take a route you’re familiar with but have never photographed along and photograph someone or something every 100 or so steps. It's all about looking at a familiar environment with fresh eyes and working within a set of rules and a restricted framework. I really like the idea of imposing limitations on yourself - some may see it as a restriction but sticking to a set of rules can actually free you up. It's a bit like having too much choice in a shop - when you go into a shop which has a limited selection of goods on offer, it actually becomes easier to make a decision! 

Initially I struggled to think of a route to choose as most of my familiar routes are already well-documented. I realised though, that one route I have never photographed is the short walk on my arrival in London between Marylebone Station and Baker Street tube. I take this route on a regular basis but have never felt the need to photograph it as I'm usually focused on getting somewhere else. These are the results, all taken with my phone......

The Changing Skyline

At intervals along the Thames and on the bridges crossing the river there are a number of plaques showing the key buildings and monuments spread out in the vista before you. The stupefying rate of new building and developments taking place in the City of London in recent years means that these plaques are already out of date - there's the Gherkin but no sign of the Cheesegrater or the Walkie Talkie (spectacularly ugly when viewed from afar but dizzyingly impressive when standing directly underneath and looking upwards). A forest of cranes is sprouting up on this stretch of the Thames so no doubt shortly there will be many more of these giants, dwarfing both the ugly 70s and 80s buildings fronting the river as well as the classic proportions of the old city churches, Fishmongers' Hall and on the other side of London Bridge, Old Billingsgate Market and the Custom House. It saddens me to see the churches in particular with their spires almost struggling to reach the light, hemmed in on all sides by these monoliths - like delicate wild flowers being bullied by rampant weeds! It makes you wonder when this will all stop and what sort of City we are going to bequeath to future generations.

Turning away from the river and looking to the sky on this south bank, you can see the top of the Shard trying to mimic the turret of Southwark Cathedral - I like to think of it as an homage, a little piece of visual inspiration. The path soon deviates away from the river and takes you past the Clink prison and the old ruined Winchester Palace, the replica Golden Hind and the rather depressing array of fast food restaurants and tourist haunts, before emerging again in a quiet little spot to rest and look upon the passing river whilst contemplating Sir Walter Raleigh's words:

There are two things scarce matched in the universe - the sun in heaven and the Thames on earth......

Glittering and Shimmering

London never looked so fine as when I set out last week on another amble along the Thames, my route taking me from London Bridge to Southwark Bridge and back the other side. This time I made sure to monitor my photographic output so my battery didn't run out on the return leg!

The pleasure in the air was almost palpable as I stepped out onto the riverside path - people were everywhere enjoying the winter sunshine - strolling, running, eating lunch, chatting on the phone or just taking some quiet time to enjoy the view or read a book. Unlike the Seine and many other European rivers, until recently I hadn't really associated the Thames with public recreation. In fact, access to the riverbanks in this central area of London is easy apart from a few stretches where the path deviates away from the waterside. Contrast this to many areas both up and downstream which are being heavily developed with upmarket apartment complexes and where public access is increasingly thwarted, as featured in an article in the Guardian this week. As I venture further west, I'm sure I will encounter this problem.

The great ribbon of water creates myriad effects in the sunshine - glittering and shimmering, reflecting itself in the plate glass of the buildings thronging the riverbanks, slipping in and out of view, under bridges and behind parapets, then suddenly reappearing as a tantalising sliver of silver down some steep steps......

The great cord of humanity

The final leg of my first journey crossing the bridges of the River Thames.....a watery world, a palette of soft blues, greys and browns, reflections of water and sky, changing colour as the sun comes out and goes in.....

In Thames: Sacred River, Peter Ackroyd describes London Bridge as 'a great cord of humanity' linking the past to the present:

"It is the most frequented of all bridges, the great highway of the city. If we may speak in an Aboriginal sense of a songline, or dreamline, of London, then it is represented by this path across the river. It is a great cord of humanity. It creates the great stream of human beings, contracted and innumerable, which in itself becomes a river echoing the Thames. For a brief passage, vehicles and people are brought into relation with the push and flow of the sea. The wind and the dust, the noise of the traffic and the cry of the gulls, are brought together.

There are no buildings upon it, as there were in past ages of the bridge. Now the pedestrians are outlined against the sky and framed by the water beneath their feet; they are caught between immensities. They become frail and evanescent, a pilgrimage of passing souls suspended between the elements. Over the bridge cross all the varieties of human character with no complicity, or community of interest, between them. They are together but alone; they evince expressions of endurement or of merriment, of suffering or of abstraction. It is the most suggestive of all bridges; it has evoked in many writers and artists, phantasmal or oneiric images."

On the day I was there, the passage of souls was relatively modest, but I have witnessed the huge surge of humanity streaming across the bridge at the end of the day, headed for home, each trapped in their own little bubble, heedless of their travelling companions. It is a sight to behold and marvel at!