London Skyline in 2024

Then and now....

Compare these two scenes. Similar locations nineteen years apart. The pace of change could not be more obvious.

Dateline December 2005, the City of London skyline and one of the first photographs of London in my professional era. This view stretched from Blackfriars to Cannon Street railway bridge. Just two skyscrapers are visible - the NatWest tower slightly left of centre and 20 St Mary Axe ("the Gherkin) slightly right of centre.

Roll forward to October 2024. The same City of London skyline shot from a similar location. The same but different.

The NatWest tower is now barely visible. The Gherkin is dwarfed and obscured by the monster skyscrapers which have been built in the last twenty, but mainly the last twelve years as London recovered from the global financial crisis of the late 2000's.

Now in view are the Salesforce Tower (formally Heron Tower), the NatWest Tower, 22 Bishopsgate, 8 Bishopsgate, the Leadenhall Building ("Cheesegrater"), 52 Lime Street ("Scalpel") and 20 Fenchurch Street ("Walkie Talkie").

London Skyline in 2024 - the making of an image

An almost unique time in London. With no cranes visible in the square mile this was a vista crying out to be photographed.

This image was captured on a wonderful Saturday evening in late autumn. I had checked out the location a few days earlier. and according to the weather forecast the rain would stop and the sun shine through the clouds just before dusk. Perfect conditions,

The weather behaved and I was able to capture this dramatic scene. Don't you just love it when a plan works?

Other Photographs of the Skyline from this shoot

How do I create an image like the one above? After researching the location I capture a series of shots from ninety minutes before sunset to about an hour after. With natural and artificial light changes who knows what might happen? Then I sift through several images looking for the ones that best capture the moment. Here are some of other images created during this shoot.