Here’s a shot from my personal collection that I like to revisit often. It was taken in the Autumn of 2021 on a blue-sky morning. The air was fresh following the previous night’s rain. I was walking east on the south bank of the Thames through Battersea, just minding my own business, when I was stopped in my tracks by a brilliant reflection.
I just love the detail in this image and the curiosity it stirs, how the clock tower of St Mary’s Church is glowing and perfectly positioned in the patchy puddle. And the bubbles in the dirty rainwater, presumably formed from the bicycles rushing through it? There are signs of bike trails at the bottom. The dark-to-light gradient throughout the image attracts me too. But the most beautiful thing about this image is that this is not how I first saw it in real life. What you’re looking at is a full vertical flip of what I originally saw because I figured if I were to flip it, the murky water and the bubbles would create the sense of a dusky sky and stars.
I never tire of looking at it.
