A flattened London...

Flat light for street photography is never ideal. Everything looks grim. Everything looks grey.

I hate it.

Even a city as vibrant and stimulating as London can quickly become dull and unexciting!

Those drab vibes seep into your soul and drain your creativity, like a contagious disease. Your eyes and mind just stop seeing! Inspiration and motivation can become extremely hard to find when the light is flat, especially on a freezing cold February day. And so it proved on Sunday...

I like to shoot high contrast images on the street, both in colour and monochrome.

Flat light makes this very difficult, so in those circumstances the challenge is very much on!

When daylight conditions are poor and hunting for good light isn't really an option, I use the opportunity to look for more artistic visuals, and moments that I may otherwise overlook when shooting in my primary street style.

Time is limited for me at the moment, and I'm lucky to get out and shoot in London more than once a month - I have to take the opportunities when I can and make the most of them, regardless of the conditions.

In all disciplines of art and design I love minimalism, and am a big fan of minimalist photography. I like negative space.

When the light is poor I practise shooting images that utilise shape and geometry, developing my skills in composition and framing.

I just try things out that ordinarily I might not. It's good to take risks...

I do enjoy the challenge, but it's not always pleasant or an easy one. There are of course benefits to forcing yourself to search out different aspects of inspiration and creativity, but it might not result in your best work.

Indeed, it probably wont!

But learning to see in different ways will undoubtedly benefit your photography in the long run, and I find any form of practise a valid one.

And of course, there are usually times when the sun does pop its head out for a short while!

I also got to catch up with Christian Cross and meet a couple of photographers I'd only communicated with on social media, James English and Simon Gradwell.

If nothing else, being around like-minded creatives when you're struggling for inspiration is always a positive!

I always try to follow the same motto - get out there and take risks. You might just discover something different in your photography.

Besides, everything changes when the sun goes down...

Thanks for reading,

Sonny

(All the photos in this blog are owned by me and were shot using a Fuji X100T during a few hours in London on Sunday.)