Date Published
Thu 11 Dec 2025
Last nights Zoom meeting was Peter Benson giving his talk entitled ‘The Darkside – London Nights’. Peter started with a potted history of photography, including his ancestors’ impressive role in the art as it developed from the earliest days. The first urban night photography, his particular interest, was 130 years ago. Peter explained what equipment he uses to get his amazing pictures and we then set off on a tour of London by night.
Starting off in the Pool of London and St Katherines Dock he showed us how night photography can be just as effective in colour or mono and that depending on the light level and colours mono can be a better choice on occasion. He also talked about not being too cautious about weather conditions. A foggy/misty image can be extremely effective. He explained how he achieves his images and that he often revisits the same place when 2nd and 3rd visits can produce very different effects to the original one. And that the seasons change how things look in an urban environment as they do in the countryside. His pictures took us through London with images of many places including The Scoop, City Hall and London Bridge. He talked about the reflections that can be photographed during the brief ‘slack water’ period when the tide is turning on the river and how easy it is to miss that very fleeting moment.
After the break we moved on to St Pauls and the Millenium Bridge. A useful tip he gave us was to sometimes turn around and look back to where you have come from when you are walking through an area with your camera. Sometimes a really good image may be just behind you. We saw images of Cannon Street Railway Bridge, Southwark Bridge and an image taken from the garden next to the Tate Modern which showed that cities do have their green areas. Peter discussed the pros and cons of taking pictures on public and private areas, he needed a permit to be able to take some of his pictures in certain areas of London, and be respectful of not taking pictures through shop/office windows. He also discussed taking care of yourself and your own equipment if you are wandering around an urban area in the small hours – stay away from dark alleyways etc.
We then headed West to Regents Street, Oxford Street, Argyle Street, Carnaby Street and Piccadilly Circus with images of the London Palladium and Liberty’s as well as Shaftesbury Avenue with the Lyric Theatre. From there we saw colourful images of Chinatown before moving on to images of Westminster and Big Ben. One of his most striking images was, one of his personal favourites, an image of Big Ben taken through an archway.
We moved on through London seeing places like Battersea Power Station, Canary Wharf, Greenwich and the Thames Barrier. Although it seemed as though we must have covered a vast area Peter pointed out to us just how close all these places actually were to each other. He also mentioned how return trips could document the development of some of the newer buildings. It was altogether a very interesting talk which included some amazing photographs and the evening seemed to be enjoyed by everyone.