Summer in the City
London in summer feels different. The City of London, in particular, the Square Mile, comes alive in a way that is hard to describe until you have wandered its streets with a camera in hand. Within a mile of Bank Station you are surrounded by an extraordinary mix of glass and steel towers, medieval alleyways, and grand stone facades. The contrasts are everywhere: the old and the new, the shadow and the light, the people rushing by and the quiet corners they leave behind.
For a street photographer, it is a gift!
City Workers framed in Shadows taken at One New Change in London in May 2025.
Nikon Z7. 38mm 1/1000 sec f/9 ISO 140
Light Between the Towers.
Summer brings with it a certain sharpness in the air, a clarity. The sun rises early, sets late, and its low angles stretch long shadows across pavements and against glass walls. Between the towers, light spills in unexpected ways. Turn a corner and you will find a beam illuminating a single doorway, or a shaft of light breaking through the canyon of skyscrapers and bouncing back from mirrored glass.
This is where the City rewards patience. The Financial District might feel like a rush of suits and bags, but pause for long enough and you will catch fleeting moments: reflections of people doubled in a glass wall, silhouettes moving through pools of brightness, or someone caught in a golden glow as they check their phone.
One New Change
Perhaps nowhere captures this play of light better than One New Change, the glass-fronted shopping centre across from St Paul’s. It is famous for two perspectives: the reflections of the cathedral on its polished walls, and the straight, symmetrical line that leads your eye directly to the dome. Both are essential, both worth taking, but spend more time there and you will discover something else.
Climb the stairs inside and wait until early evening. For about half an hour each day, light streams through at just the right angle. It slices across the stairwell, creating sharp contrasts between brightness and deep shadow. People walking through become almost abstract: dark silhouettes against a glowing backdrop, shapes in motion framed by architecture.
Looking down from the 1st floor of One New Change, if you time it right, the light, shadows and reflections are a gift, then you just have to wait for a person to add some interest!
NikonZ7 28mm f1/1000 f8. ISO 400.
In black and white it is even stronger. Stripped of colour, the geometry of the stairs and the intensity of light and shadow take over, turning everyday scenes into something cinematic. It is one of those rare places in the City where you can predict the light and work with it, knowing that for those thirty minutes something magical will happen.
Streets of the Square Mile
Still, the real heartbeat of summer in the City is in its streets. Narrow lanes suddenly open into grand squares; bankers in suits jostle with tourists, while delivery cyclists weave between them. On hot days, workers spill out of pubs and cafés, standing in clusters on the pavements with drinks in hand. At lunch and after hours, the City is full of movement, energy, and expression, perfect fuel for a street photographer’s eye.
What makes it special is the layering. The City is never just one thing. A Roman wall beneath a skyscraper. A medieval church dwarfed by glass towers. A moment of stillness framed by relentless movement. And in summer, the light ties it all together: sharp, golden, and sometimes unforgiving, but always offering a new way to see.