Photographing East London - Spitalfield Market

Jeff and I have gone back to school! Well, not really. We are taking a two day photography class at City Lit called Photographing East London. Jeff is an excellent photographer so he has come along as a refresher course with me. Last year, we bought a really nice Nikon digital camera to take on our trip to Tanzania and I never use it because it baffles me with all these menus and dials!

This class is on two consecutive Sundays. Yesterday was day one. I have to tell you, it was one of the worst days in London to be outside doing photography. It was a dark and rainy day. As they say here, it was tipping it down…………….. another words- pouring!

After a short classroom lecture, the whole class (about 8 of us!) headed to the Old Spitalfields Market, a covered market in East London (as you would suspect from the name of the course!). The existing buildings were built in 1887 on the site of a public market founded in 1682 by Charles II . The former wholesale fruit and veg market moved way in the early 1990’s. Spitalfields now sells clothes, stuff and a bit of everything really. There are many restaurants as well as fresh food market stalls.

The market was very crowded and it was hard to photograph. Later when Jeff and I were discussing the class we talked about the difficulties of taking good pictures of people. I learned a lot about film speed, shutter speed and apertures in getting to grips with this camera. One of the lessons I learned yesterday is that I should have gotten closer to the subjects. I felt very shy and intrusive about it. I relied more on a longer lens and photo- editing to get the pictures I wanted. Class mates had quite a few run-ins with security while taking photographs yesterday. I will never make it the paparazzi business! Next week, we are going to the uncovered Columbia Road Flower Market. Hopefully the weather will be better.