The City Grows Up

There’s something endlessly amusing about the City of London a place where 18th-century facades are constantly being photobombed by 21st-century ambition.

This was taken one quiet morning, the kind where even the traffic lights seem to be waiting for someone more important to arrive. The street was still half asleep, but the buildings… they were wide awake. Those glass towers don’t so much reflect the old city as they loom over it, like overconfident interns standing behind their seasoned boss in a meeting.

The geometry of it all drew me in the way lines clash and bend, how stone tries to hold its ground while steel stretches upward, desperate to be noticed. There’s drama here, sure, but also a sort of weary politeness between materials. They’ve learned to coexist just about.

I like shooting the city when it’s empty. You notice the tension between time periods more clearly the quiet competition of styles. You can almost hear the conversation:

“Nice brickwork.”

“Thanks. You’re a bit see-through though, aren’t you?”

London doesn’t stop evolving; it just stacks the centuries on top of each other and hopes for the best.

Shot on the Fujifilm X100F, early light, somewhere between nostalgia and a construction site.