London at Dawn: August 17th & 18th 2013

Workshop overview:

Starting an hour before sunrise and ending just before lunchtime over these two mornings you will get an intensive on-location introduction on how to shoot London at dawn and in the early morning. Starting with ‘blue hour photography’ you’ll get the low down on professional techniques and how to confidently and creatively shoot on manual.

The course will also focus on the ability to observe the world around you with a heightened awareness and insight. This ability is known as “seeing” in the photographic world, and it is what separates a good photographer from a great photographer. Designed for beginner and intermediate photographers, a basic understanding of how your camera operates is recommended but not essential.

Key things you’ll learn

• Confidently shoot on manual
• Creative Exposures
• Basic Daylight Exposure technique(sunny 16 rule)
• The musts of Composition
• Histograms
• Best practices for quality
• See our full course guide for a full details

Saturday – Westminster Bridge To London Bridge Route

Our tour starts on Westminster Bridge in the shadows of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament We’ll pass through Parliament Square pausing to capture Westminster Abbey, Edward the Confessor’s tribute to St. Peter and home to a church since 620AD.Strolling through St. James’ Park we get the opportunity to learn how to capture some stunning parkland shots before we hug the embankment crossing the river at Waterloo for perhaps the best view in London. Bankside has seen a remarkable renaissance in the last few years and has become one of the capital’s playgrounds once again as it was in Shakespeare’s day(without the brothels and bear baiting) . Back over the river again to the city again before finishing south of London Bridge at the bustling Borough market.

Tower Pier To Columbia Road Flower Market

This is a route that starts with a wonderful setting on a pontoon just west of Tower Bridge as we await sunrise and experience something very rare in the City of London – peace and solitude. Juxtaposing this we end the tour with a riot of noise, colour and wonderful smells as we ease our way through one of London’s most exciting and vibrant markets.

After experiencing sunrise in the shadow of the Tower of London containing nearly 1000 years of fascinating and sometimes gruesome history, we weave our way through deserted City streets pausing at plague pits, synagogues, homes of London’s iconic characters and pretty much anywhere that has a story attached to it. We’ll see the finest examples of Georgian shopfronts anywhere in London, climb up to a rooftop to capture Hawksmoor’s finest church, see the first port of call for generations of the capital’s immigrant communities and see how London adapts to their input. From what used to be the poorest and overcrowded streets, we’’ll see the incredible renaissance into an artistic and bohemian enclave bristling with activity and variety.

A welcome break at one of the areas last surviving jewish businesses for coffee and beigels always seems to revive everbody and has produced some of the best work on the tours. This area of London has always been home to many markets and we’ll pass through Spitalfield, Petticoat Lane and Brick Lane markets before we see the country’s first council housing and then on to our final destination of the flower market and its array of cafes and independent shops.