Field Notes
Big Ben is one of those icons that look great in postcards but is hard to 'see' a picture when you're on the ground with your camera! There's thousands of viewpoints from up close to way down the river and it can be a bit hard to know where to begin (or end for that matter). This shot uses the Churchill statue in the park on the roundabout outside Westminster. Framing subjects is often referred to in the books as a technique for composition but I rarely use it or see opportunities for it so this was a welcome exception. With such a dark frame and grey building I needed some colour to make this work so I waited for the floodlights to come on and for the ambient light to drop so the sky went inky blue.