During a recent adventure on the north bank of the River Thames, I found myself stumbling over rocks and sliding down concrete slabs with Bunny Lestrange. We had met through Bella Whispers shows and I had offered to do a photoshoot with her amongst the stones and discarded bones on the beach at Southwark Bridge.
I had shot here three times before; it was a new experience for those who attended, Bunny and I agreed we both lived and worked in London but rarely got to see it!
We started walking under the bridge and headed towards the wider expanse of beach away for the people waving metal detectors around. The sun was dodging its lighting duties again by weaving in and out of the clouds. I was testing a polarising filter to reduce the glare on the highlights and the water, which worked pretty well in most cases. This is a nice segway into this first shoot of Bunny looking a bit lost on the beach.
Luckily I knew the way back and we slide our way to the rusting barge closer to the shore. Avoiding the detecortists who were poking at the floor with sticks I asked Bunny to lean against the wall of the barge, I had checked it wasnt going to fall over and was dry to the touch. I had already checked to see if the tide was out before we arrived.
After this we moved further along the beach to a place I remember from the first time I visited this area on my own many years back. I did know know that I was stepping on was slick mud and not concrete, I fell backwards onto my camera bag, my Canon camera was jarred from my hand as my elbow cracked into the stones and I was sliding towards the water. Luckily my decent into the murky depths was stopped at the waters edge by a broken part of a jetty. I know the Thames has been the source of transportation, trade, and industry throughout history but I didnt want to become part of it.
Thankfully I did not want to repeat this so we stayed away from the area and choose to remain near the pillars at the entrance to the tunnel.
Whenever I am out with a model, I make their health and safety a priority., and despite potential hazards, I was able to get a great shot of Bunny by the water's edge near the wall front. However, I made sure to remain vigilant of passing riverboats, especially the larger ones that can cause sudden flooding and swamp the area.
Once we scrambled back up to the main road, we headed across the bridge to the south bank. After the exertion of the photo shoot, we decided to stop off at a coffee bar to take a breather, catch up, and review the shots we had taken so far. While I try to show the images as we go, it's often more convenient to review them on the back of the camera under indoor lighting.
We walked further down the beach until we reached a spot just in front of the Tate Gallery. I had a particular shot in mind: Bunny standing at one end of a tunnel, with the tunnel stretching out behind her.
Unlike the north bank, there were no metal detector enthusiasts on the south bank of the Thames. Instead, the beach was bustling with families, a few dogs running about, and even someone blowing bubbles. As we started shooting, some of the bubbles managed to float the whole length of the tunnel,
We could not venture to close the shore here as the south bank was sandier than the north so it had retained a lot of the water, it wasn’t advisable to attempt to get closer. There were some swans paddling about whom seemed to enjoy it though.
We crossed the Millennium Bridge and continued towards St. Paul's Cathedral, as I wanted to take Bunny to a special spot I had in mind: One New Place. This accessible rooftop area features a couple of bars, but most importantly, offers an incredible view of St. Paul's Cathedral in the near background. There were some people here already taking photos and selfies with mobile phones. We found a spot which is cordoned off a little from the edge of the sloped roof. The shot with St Pauls is fantastic! I tried some other rood tops shots just be moving to the left of where Bunny was standing too.
After all this walking about we were hungry and wanted some pub grab… this being a Sunday we could not find a pub, let alone one that was open. OK we thought, lets walk down here a bit.. Nope, nothing… OK how about here? Why are we now in Chancery Lane? We had walked from St Pauls to Chancery Lane looking for something to eat. Looking on Google maps later our whole journey took us 2.27 miles! Worth it though!
Thanks to Bunny Lestrange “The girl with the golden vocal chords”, for braving the cold, the slippery stones, countless animal bones, swans, pigeons, bubbles and the lack of food for miles around for a great photoshoot!
