More City towers

The skyline of London has altered dramatically in the past twent years or so. Tall towers have proliferated initially in two main areas - Canary Wharf and The City. In both cases what began in a modest and relatively unintrusive manner has gone mad and now towers rise next to each other with no apparent thought given to the appearance of the clustering of these glass and concrete monsters. The Shard seems to be the catalyst for more towers south of the river, and St George's Wharf and Battersea Power Station are magnets for towers in the west of central London. One of the South Bank viewpoints for The City is a specially constructed spot at New Globe Wharf by Bankside Pier. I took this photograph of some tourists enjoying (?) the view.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Gloomy city

This photograph was taken at the end of January when we had a few days in London. It was taken in the early evening as the daylight was fading and man-made lighting was starting to appear in the streets and offices of the city. Looking at it I'm reminded how hideous most of the new towers are at an individual level, and how they are even worse collectively. I chose to put this shot on the blog now because today, unlike the day I made the image, it seems to capture the gloom that is descending on the city and country as the spread of coronavirus quickens daily.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Shoreditch Park, London

A favourite subject of Victorian painters and photographers was the humanity on show in London's parks. It remains an attractive subject today. This shot of Shoreditch Park on a day when the temperature climbed to 35 Celsius contrasts the tree shade and messy humanity enjoying itself with the clear blue sky and the perfection of the recently completed Hoxton Press mid-rise hexagons, two towers offering 198 flats.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

The march of the towers

In London towers are proliferating. During the past few years I have particularly noticed the march northwards from the City. Three have been built in the past few years in the City Road/Old Street area, a location where Islington meets Shoreditch and Farringdon. The most recent is the rightmost building above - the Atlas Building - a structure that is over 400 feet tall and towers over its neighbours. None of these enhance their location, dwarfing as they do the earlier streetscape. And, by the look of them, none of the other nearly completed blocks do much for the area either.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100