Photo 24 London - Day 1

For the third consecutive year, I (Chris) joined the London Photo 24 event (whilst Annie had a normal working day). The event is a 24 hour shoot with 250 photographers shooting whatever they want anywhere in the city. After a more leisurely start to a Friday than usual, I was into London on the train for an 11.30am registration and a 12pm kick off. I meant up with a friend I made on the event last year and off we went. The weather forecast all week has suggested "mixed" conditions but we actually had a great afternoon with periods of proper June sunshine, especially as we walked through Little Venice and the Paddington basin.

Late afternoon, I joined the first of several optional activities taking a tour of Tower Bridge, amazingly something I'd never done. It actually rained whilst we were in the upper section of the bridge so that was great timing. Just after the tour concluded and on the way down the North side of the Thames, were were treated to quite a display of late afternoon light. I won't apologise for another blip of The Shard because it looked fab. Yes compositionally it probably shouldn't have been in the middle but it dominates this view, especially when it looks as good as this so I've ignored that "rule".

Later in the evening I joined another activity where we had two of the pods booked out on the London Eye. It meant pods full of photographers but we were very considerate of each other. Sadly there was no sunset to speak of but quite nice light again.

Later in the evening, around 11pm, I joined a walking tour in the city but as we set off, the heavens opened. After 30 minutes sheltering in Leadenhall Market, I jumped on a bus back to the secure base of the Nikon School near Oxford Circus for a warm drink. The rest of the event will follow tomorrow.