Shooting in the City: A Change of Scene

Munich by Night || Huawei P30 Pro

There’s a good reason why we live outside of the city and put up with a 60 min commute each way during the week; we need our green space! The 15 min bike track from the station to home really helps us decompress and we’ll often startle hares on our route in through the fields and forest in the early morning. I grew up in rural Wiltshire and the rolling countryside west of Munich bears more than just a passing resemblance to the chalk downs of my youth. Being a country lad, at least 95% of my images are taken in the countryside – either in the mountains or out-and-about locally, but every now and again I’m struck by something in the city of Munich where I work and have to whip out my P30 Pro – bought with exactly this in mind.

Munich Hackerbrücke || Huawei P30 Pro

Zentraler Omnibus Bahnhof  || Huawei P30 Pro

The Same, But Different

I work right next to the Hackerbrücke in Munich, a wrought iron bridge built in 1890 and crossing 26 separate rail tracks just west of the main station (leading lines galore!). The tracks run east-west, making sunrise and sunset shots a gimme, particularly in the winter months when my commute regularly takes place in the golden hour or the blue hour. Photography in the city has a very different feel to it to photography in nature. The combination of familiar ground (I follow the same route every day), the strong geometry provided by man-made structures, the combination of natural and artificial light, a different colour scheme and the interruption of people are all significant changes to my usual subjects and are a welcome change. The same rules of composition apply, the same positioning game – where do I stand so that the mast doesn’t stick out but blend into the background? It's the same but different. The standard perspective can sometimes even be exchanged for a bird’s-eye view.

Swooosh || F4, 2 s, ISO 200

One of the first ever images I took with my Olympus EM-1 Mk II was this shot of a tram at Karlsplatz. I didn’t believe at the time that the IBIS (in body image stabilisation) could be anything like as good as they said it was and set out to test for myself whether a 2 s hand-held shot was even possible. To my complete amazement, the sign bearing the road name came out sharp as a tack whilst the tram gave me this beautiful sweeping line of blue-white light. I don’t think I’ve ever had a camera before where there wasn’t at least a little bit of buyer’s remorse. Only the recent advent of the Mk III has led me to wistfully check the coffers to see whether I could justify shelling out the requisite Euros. Sadly I cannot.

At the Hackerbrücke 

There are so many angles around the Hackerbrücke, so many nooks and crannies I could probably take a different shot each day for a year (now there's an idea!). Depending on the time of day the sun lights up different aspects of the various buildings. One of the great things about shooting here are the contrasts between the various ages and styles of the buildings themselves, the colours, shapes and angles and the way they catch the light at different times, such as the ship's-bridge-like structure of the control tower at the Hackerbrücke with the bridge and modern offices in the background.

Control Tower at Hackerbrücke || Huawei P30 Pro

Kurt Haertel Passage || Huawei P30 Pro

Hackerbrücke S-Bahn || Huawei P30 Pro

Oktoberfest 

Anyone who has heard of Munich has heard of the Oktoberfest. Actually, it's probably the other way round - Oktoberfest is probably more famous than its host city. My office lies on the route between the main S-Bahn station that people use to get to the Oktoberfest and the site of the festival, meaning that we are always spoilt for choice for photos when walking between the buildings at lunchtime, whether the horse-drawn dreys that still ply the streets or the people in their local costumes - Tracht.

A Munich Drey || Huawei P30 Pro

I Wonder Where They're Headed || Huawei P30 Pro

Oktoberfest Drey || Huawei P30 Pro

Working about half a mile from the site where this annual festival gives me plenty of perspective on the comings and goings, especially when trying to stem the tide of evening visitors on my route home as you can see below. Getting down to the platform can sometimes be a challenge and colleagues of less stature than myself (I'm about 6'1" and am anything but slight) have been known to use my wake to cross the Hackerbrücke of an evening.

Chaos at the Hackerbrücke || Huawei P30 Pro

Offices

As the light changes through the year, leaving the office at more or less the same time every day I get to experience the same scenes in daylight, the golden- and blue-hours as well as full night in the dark days of December. Balancing the levels between natural and artificial light can lead to some powerfully graphic images. Combine this with the strong lines offered by the architecture and you get some image magic!

Office Block at Hackerbrücke  || Huawei P30 Pro

Office Block at Hackerbrücke  || Huawei P30 Pro

Office Block at Hackerbrücke  || Huawei P30 Pro

Sunsets

The real treat leaving work (well, apart from the obvious), is when it coincides with a cool sunset. Whether the burnt-out copper tones of a summer evening or the delicious orange to blues of a cool spring, the colour palette is seemingly infinite. Bouncing the light off the glass-fronted buildings seems to stretch the available light.

Hackerbrücke from the Hauptbahnhof || Huawei P30 Pro

Leading Lines Galore  || Huawei P30 Pro

Hackerbrücke Sunsets || Huawei P30 Pro

The astute reader will have noticed that many of the images here are taken with my P30 Pro instead of my trusty Olympus. Of course I could take my snazzy DSLR with me to work every day, but it's not really practical. The P30 goes with me practially everywhere and is also capable of producing top quality images, after all:

Sometimes, the best camera is simply the one you have with you at the time.