There are times when I want to go out to do some photography but I don't have any kind of plan on where to go, or what to photograph.
Saturday was one of these days. Going into the city can sometimes mean I end up treading the same streets as before, this time it was going to be different but didn't start out that way.
I had two cameras loaded with film that I wanted to finish off, my trusty Holga and the Olympus Pen EE3 half-frame camera, which is on loan from Andrew Bartram.
The Pen was lent after Andrew read my piece on the Kodak/RETO H35, I will be doing a more detailed post about it soon.
Arriving at London Bridge railway station, I had a decision to make, either walk along the Southbank or walk into the City of London, I have walked both 100s of time but today I didn't really fancy the Southbank, so the City it was.
Walking across London bridge gives good views to Tower bridge, so I stopped to take a picture with the Pen.
From there I wandered up to St. Paul's cathedral, there wasn't to much of interest there, so I wandered down some of the old lanes between the cathedral and the river.
These lanes still have some old traditional pubs around them.
There are also some hidden courtyards.
Using the Pen meant that could experiment with the way I was shooting images and these scene, called to be shot as triptychs.
From here I wandered up to the Old Smithfield meat market, it's now closed and being transformed into the new Museum of London and of course luxury flats.
One place here, I can't help photographing every time I pass, is St Bartholomew's gatehouse which stands in front of St. Bartholomew's church. The gatehouse is a rare survivor of Tudor London.
This part of the City of London was just far enough away from the Great fire of London (1666) that some of the buildings from that time survive today.
The area has, like most places in London has a lot of history attached to it.
I think I will need to spend some more time around here.
I also stumbled into a group of people playing street chess and shoot a roll of the new Kentmere 400 in 120 with the Holga.
Enjoyed the words and especially the images. The Pen rocks!