Early Morning Greenwich Photo Walk

It was early on a Saturday morning and I set out for my usual run along the river Thames and it was especially cold as there was little cloud cover. It was only 7.30am on a January morning, so there were only a few people were around, mainly other joggers and dog walkers. As I ran past the Trafalgar Tavern pub heading west down the Thames Path I couldn't help but notice how calm the river looked with the sun trying to break through the clear morning sky, it was a great photo opportunity which I just couldn’t miss! I cut short my run by completing a circuit through the Naval College and headed back home to grab my camera.

After getting changed I headed back out again a few minutes later, this time with my Fuji X-T3 along with the 35mm 1.4 lens. I headed back towards the Thames Path and walked towards the old Greenwich Power Station (which is used as a backup for the London Underground power), I turned back towards the O2 arena to see a view which I couldn't ignore. The water was calm and was still very quiet at this time, it felt very tranquil. I switched on my camera and set the aperture to f8 then experimented with various shutter speeds, I couldn’t set it too slow as I didn’t bring the tripod. This is the picture I was most happy with below, although it does contain a bit of noise due to the small aperture and the sun hadn’t fully risen by this point.

Aperture f8 - SS 1/250 sec - ISO 3200

I particularly like the composition with the boat in the foreground, which I didn’t think was too significant at the time when I took it. I also like how the O2 Arena is behind and off centre, however I didn’t notice the reflection from the arena in the water which makes the shot stand out for me. The water looks unnaturally calm and although I did add small amount of noise reduction, the water really did look that smooth to the eye.

I continued walking down the Thames path and kept taking shots as I walked both directions along the river. This one below was further west than the previous shot, just past Greenwich Power Station. You can see the coal jetty from the power station taking up the right hand side of the picture. The jetty is no longer used, but enabled boats to deliver coal to the station right up until the late 1970’s. Oil is now used instead which is delivered by road tankers.

Aperture f8 - SS 1/250 sec - ISO 2000

I carried on past the Naval College and then west towards the Cutty Sark and I could feel the sun trying to break through the clouds to my left, although it was still quite cold at this point. I kept taking shots as I walked both directions along the river. This is another one of my favourite shots of the day with the sun reflecting on the entrance to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel on the north side of the river.

Aperture f8 - SS 1/250 sec - ISO 500

I also like this one below with the smoke coming out of the chimney, although the ISO did creep up a bit here to 1600 due to there being less light facing west down river. With hindsight I should have reduced the shutter speed to 1/125 to avoid this happening, after all there was little need for it to be high due to the lack of movement in the shot.

Aperture f8 - SS 1/250 sec - ISO 1600

Once I’d taken a few more shots I began to head back home by turning around and heading east towards towards the O2 Arena. The sun was reflecting nicely on the apartment buildings in the distance, which gave me this shot below:

Aperture f8 - SS 1/250 sec - ISO 1600

And finally when I was almost at the point of putting my camera away I came across this view. Another one with the O2 Arena reflecting into the water, this time with the line of high rise apartment blocks next to it also reflecting, for me made a nice composition.

Aperture f8 - SS 1/250 sec - ISO 1250

So all in all a fairly successful impromptu photo walk by the river in Greenwich. If you make a point of getting up early to catch the sunrise then opportunities are usually waiting for you.