The Shard by night with reflection on the Thames

Last night I saw the light at the top of the Shard reflected in the Thames. The light is lit almost every night and during the pandemic it’s been lit mostly in blue. So you would think that it’s not unusual to see the reflection in the Thames. It is though! I look at that view often and rarely see the reflection. Thinking about it, it seems that the right combination of strength of colour of the light, the height of the river due to tides and the calmness of the water all play a part. After all, the Shard is a couple of miles away across the river as the crow flies.

So, when I had the chance yesterday I jumped at it. I’m pleased with this photo although it would have been nice if the glow from the street lamps had lined up artistically or symmetrically with the blue reflection. That’s photographers for you. Always chasing perfection!

This week I’m enjoying an art course. It’s free and I’m always amazed at the sheer quantity and quality of what’s available for no cost online. The topics covered will be shape, value and colour among others and the artist promotes it as being good for all types of art including sculpture and photography although from the group posts I can see that most of the others are painters. I’ve only just started on the content and I’d better hurry because I think there’s a time limit on watching the videos which is entirely fair for free quality content. If this is something you’re interested in, check out the artist. His name is Nicholas Wilton. Even from the first few videos, I can see this’ll be useful so I’m happy to share the love. If he’s making this available for free I’m happy to share his details. He’s promoting a more in depth paid course and is using the short course to showcase what’s on offer but for the moment I’m happy with the free videos.

I’m a huge fan of online learning and one of the benefits is that you can go at your own pace. If I develop a desperate desire to find out about something right now I can binge that content until I know everything I need to know. Similarly if I want to make a considered research about something (such as a piece of photography gear) I can dip in and out of reviews and content, pausing when I feel like it, until I finally make a decision. My photography knowledge is entirely due to the ‘university’ of YouTube, books I’ve bought on line, countless blogs and articles along with snippets and inspiration picked up on social media. It’s aptly named the web, because I feel when I’m at my laptop I’m spinning a huge web to capture all the information I need for my progress. In return, all I have to do is be polite and grateful to the people sending their knowledge into the world and share their details whenever I can.

Back to today and what I’m going to do next… I also took a few short videos last night so I’m going to look at those now and edit them if they’re any good.

I hope you also find the answers to some of your burning questions online.

Yours

Loren x