Early April, 2021: I was out shooting along the Thames a couple of nights ago on a wonderfully clear evening, hoping to capture the evanescent hues of the “blue hour” after sunset. These crepuscular skies in the weeks around the equinoxes can be fantastic, especially when set as a backdrop to the twinkling lights lining the river Thames and the illuminations of the insides of the buildings and skyscrapers in The City with the warm tones of the indoor lights.

As evening fell and the colours in the sky faded and merged from oranges and yellows to pink, purple then blue, I knew I was capturing a captivating panorama. This end result is a blend of two separate set of exposures – a double row sweep of 10 images of the buildings and the sky with 5 second exposures, and then a sweep with 20 second exposure shots for the river so as to smooth out the surface of the water which was slightly choppy. The river needed some further light editing in photoshop to smooth it out even more in order to achieve that tranquil, timeless moment I was after, matching the still sky. The juxtaposition and balance of the natural and artificial lights I find eminently evocative, not least with London’s wonderful skyline and the buildings along Rotherhithe at left and Limehouse at right.