As a follow up to yesterday’s post London Underground July 2013—Part 1, I’ve assembled some of my favorite images from last week’s exploration in London.
The Underground cleverly blends transport and style. In my experience it is one of the world’s most popular public transportation systems. Phrases like ‘Mind the Gap’ appear on mugs and T-shirts, while many shops sell stylized maps of the Underground network.
London is among the world’s great cities. Last week I made my second visit to the British capital this year. While exploring the city and meeting with friends I traveled using London Transport, including the famous Underground.
This year London’s Underground celebrates its 150th anniversary. It is not only the world’s oldest ‘subway,’ but also certainly one of the most interesting and most photogenic.
Using my Lumix LX3 I made a variety of images of the Underground. The camera’s compact size and relative ease of use makes it an ideal tool for photographing in a subway.
For outdoor images I set the camera’s ISO at 80. When underground, I set the ISO at 200, and use the aperture priority (‘A’ on the top dial) while dialing in 1/3 stop overexposure. I generally use the auto white balance, which seems to work reasonably well.
I’ve found that the digital camera is vastly superior to my old film cameras for making photos of London’s Underground. However, I have plenty of color slides of the Tube and Underground lines from earlier trips.
Check upcoming posts for more views of London Transport.
During 2013, London’s Underground network has been celebrating 150 years of service. This milestone is marked by posters and artwork around the network. For me the Underground is both a convenience and a subject for photography.
The Underground is one of the world’s most complex and extensive railway rapid transit networks, and is well integrated with the rest of London transport.
Photographing on the Underground has its challenges. Space is often constrained, it tends to be dimly lit underground, and trains and platforms are nearly always crowded. The system boasts that it carries more than 1 Billion passengers annually! At times it seems that each and every one of these billion are in the way. Yet, the passengers are the reason for the system and often make for the most interesting images.
I’ve included a small selection of photos of the London Underground that I exposed over the last week. Most were made with my Lumix LX-3, which owing to its compact size and ease of use makes it my choice camera for making Underground images. Use of flash is prohibited; a tripod is impractical, so all of my images were made handheld with existing light.