Recently, I spent the evening walking around London to see the Christmas lights. Here’s a photo tour for anyone who isn’t able to or doesn’t want to do the same, but would still like to see London’s festive cheer.
The header photo was taken at South Crescent not far from Tottenham Court Road. I wasn’t expecting to see any lights as I made my way to the first location of my planned walk. This was a bonus indeed. I think it shows that even though the places below are good examples of London lights, there are many more beautiful lights to be found in London.
Our tour starts at Seven Dials a road junction in Covent Garden. All seven streets that radiate from the central sundial looked amazing and really got the Christmas spirit started on the walk. It was very difficult to find a way to capture the views to do them justice. I was like a child in a sweet shop!
The next port of call on my evening walk was The Strand, and as you can see from the photo below it was a very busy location. I stood on the central island of the road with two lanes of traffic either side of me and waited for the most photogenic distribution of traffic. A double decker bus would be a good addition, I thought, and it wasn’t long before one came along. As an aside, ideally I would have used a tripod for my photos but I felt that that would have been impractical considering the lack of space and the amount of people moving about. Because of the lack of tripod, I used a wide aperture and high ISO so that I could keep the shutter speed as short as possible to avoid blur. I’m certainly no expert at night time photography so it was a good opportunity to extend my experience in this area.
On the way to Regent Street, just past Trafalgar Square, you can find these lovely lights in Norris Street, a side street off Haymarket. Again, these were a bonus. I like to have a plan when I’m out and about but I’m always looking out for unexpected things too. Sometimes these unexpected things turn out to be the best things that you see or experience.
One of my favourite places that evening was Regent Street and the beautiful and enormous angels it contained. I found the architecture combined with the angels breathtaking. The colours and grandeur of both complimented each other perfectly.
Carnaby Street was well worth seeing as the lights were stunning and they were made in conjunction with ocean conservation charity ‘Project Zero’ to produce a more eco-friendly display.
Carnaby Street contained all sorts from the ocean and each area represented aspects of ocean life in need of conservation. It isn’t often that you see whales, fish, crabs and sea-horses suspended in the air over the streets of London.
It was interesting to read about the Carnaby lights, I discovered that each element was made by using recycled or reusable materials including eco-friendly, vegan paint. I think gives an important message and highlights what is possible. It shows a world where we can have those extras in life that give us pleasure but in a way that doesn’t disrespect the planet. The photo above was my favourite from that area.
I hope that you have enjoyed the tour. Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!
