Where it started
The Millennium Bridge Project began in 2011, the year I bought my limited edition silver Pentax K-5. I’d spent the afternoon in the Tate Modern and was heading over the river to meet a friend in a pub near St Paul’s when I stopped on the bridge to get the shot. That first picture is still my favourite, and it’s the first photo in the gallery below.
A few visits later I found myself back on the bridge with a camera, trying to get a different photograph of the same subject, and I realised it could be a series. It’s grown from there. Whenever I’m in London and in the area, I head down to the bridge to try for something new. It’s an ongoing project that will never really end.
Why the Millennium Bridge
I like the area for many reasons, but mostly it’s the leading lines. The walkway and railings draw your eye straight to St Paul’s Cathedral.
I still think it’s funny that the bridge had to close just days after it opened in 2000, because the footsteps of everyone crossing it resonated at a frequency that made it wobble. Londoners have called it the Wobbly Bridge ever since.
Making each picture different
I’ve used all kinds of cameras for this project: my Pentax, my Fuji, a Leica and a Hasselblad. It just depends which camera I have on me at the time, and if all I have is my phone, I’ll use that.
Something as simple as a different camera, lens or focal length is enough to change so much. Why I’m in London that day affects my state of mind creatively too. If I’ve spent the afternoon doing street photography and people watching, that’s my head space. If I’ve been shooting architecture, that changes how I look at the world. If I’ve got a tripod and some filters with me, why not capture the motion of people moving across the bridge? And if it’s night time, there’s a good chance I’ve been in the pub somewhere, and a few beers affect the way I look at the world too.
Ron
Two of the pictures are of Ron. Sadly, Ron is homeless. He came to the UK in search of a better life, escaping war and conflict. The language barrier meant we couldn’t have a deep and meaningful conversation, but I was able to learn that much. He was sitting on the bridge exactly where I like to stand to take my picture. In one image you can only see his back, and the subject became the faces of the passers-by looking at him as he sat there asking for small change.
The gallery
The photos are in the order I edited them, from the first to the most recent. That’s roughly the order I took them, but I don’t always edit a picture straight away. Sometimes I come back to images days or weeks later.
My only tip if you want to photograph the bridge: it’s great to shoot at any time, so keep trying to make something different.
