I lived in London for 16 years before heading north to Manchester. The first four years of this blog detailed places around the capital.
I found myself back in London recently on a very brief stopover. But long enough to ride the Elizabeth Line, the newest artery of London’s Tube network.
On the way I looked up and captured some new architecture above ground.
Have you been on the Elizabeth Line? Tell me what you thought in the comment section below.
If you wanted to visit London’s Soho district and the shopping thoroughfare of Oxford Street, you would stop off at Tottenham Court Road station. I’ve used it countless times. In recent years, the station and its neighbourhood have undergone radical change to prepare for the Crossrail scheme, designed to improve the city’s hard-pressed transport system.
The Central and Northern Line Tube station is now spruced up and more spacious than before. It has a modern and industrial feel, with bold, simple graphic designs. The entrance and exits are light, stark temples of glass, while you’ll find the newest Tube signs here.
But change comes at a price – the exits have been repositioned, and emerging from one I was seriously disorientated. The loss of a number of buildings and this new hub means that the familiar old station is no more than a vestige of the past.
This was also the first workout for my new Fuji XF 18-135mm zoom lens, which brought features closer and seemed to beef up my shooting power.
The London Underground is busy, frenetic, teeming with life, noisy and crowded.
But not this Tube station, which was one of a number which were closed down, forgotten by time, left to its own ghostly eeriness and wiped from the map.
Aldwych – once known as Strand station – was shut for good in 1994 after years of declining passenger numbers.
It was an offshoot of the Piccadilly line and didn’t go any further. Nearby stations including Temple and Covent Garden offered connections to other parts of the city.
The station now holds a tantalising glimpse into a subterranean world which is an empty vessel of tunnels, platforms, lift shafts and a 160-step descent beneath London.
Stringy stalactites hang from the roofs and a damp chill pervades the depths.
A Tube train from 1972 sits on one of the empty platforms, harking back to the days when there was a carriage where smoking was permitted – unimaginable today.
Explicit, vintage graffiti can be spotted on the tiles, while the walls are adorned with wartime posters, as Aldwych is used as a handy period film set.
It’s also an occasional tourist attraction for Londoners as well as visitors wanting a taste of the Tube which isn’t going to be modernised – not ever.
With around 30 people in each tour group, the sense of ghostliness is tempered by the sound of shuffling feet and knowledgeable guides who know the station’s story inside out.
Everyone is busy capturing the lost Underground on their cameras, but this isn’t an opportunity that comes around very often. You’ll wait a long time for a train at Aldwych station…
I use this London Underground station to traipse to and from my day job every day. It’s on the Hammersmith and City line so isn’t deep beneath the surface – but certainly feels that way.
Many stations on the Tube network have been spruced up in recent times, but not Great Portland Street. One end of the platform is a dank, sodden and seemingly long forgotten corner where water drips and lies in pools.
This brief snapshot was taken at the weekend. During the working week it’s heaving with passengers – sometimes I’ll wait for the next train rather than attempt to shoehorn myself into a non-existent space.
But it gets us Londoners around. And I love the atmosphere of these photographs which you don’t find on the bright, squeaky clean stations of the city network.
I was about to take the staircase to the District and Circle line Underground platform at Blackfriars station, in the heart of the City of London.
It was empty. This is a rare pleasure, creating space to take some shots. The stairs and the handrail on the descent are full of lines, shapes, curves, angles and symmetry. Some everyday magic that is a feast for the camera.
I edited the colour shot to emphasise its vibrancy. The stairs and walls were given a soft focus to draw the eye to the ordinary – yet ornate – handrails.
The goalposts shift in this other shot, as it captures two people at the bottom of the stairs. Its editing is a deep, moody monochrome. A case of the camera telling two stories from the same spot.
Which one gets your seal of approval?…
