London Through My Camera Lens

One thing I miss, living in a summer-all-year-round climate, is seasons. Don’t get me wrong; I hate bad weather. A gray sky makes me feel melancholic after a day or two, the cold causes my teeth to chatter even on a chilly summer night, and I don’t want to remember my grieving all the pairs of delicate shoes that were damaged by the rain. I love good weather and the simplicity of life when the sun is shining in the blue sky, but I adore seasons at their best as well. My longing to experience the autumn this year started to grow at the same speed as of photos of leaves perfectly colored by the cold in all shades of yellows and browns started to pop on the web.

Last week, four of us flew to London, searching for perfect autumn. Considering the fact that it rains between 11 and 15 days every month throughout the year in London, I can admit we were fortunate as we had four perfect, sunny October days and we could see autumn in its glory.

London was busy as usual, with thousands of people running on the streets. Once, during our dinner time in one of the restaurants in front of the busy office, my kids started to laugh. “Look, they all run out of the office like it is on fire.” Indeed, everyone was running. We giggled, thinking that maybe, even Big Ben ran faster than other clocks. Though we were not in a hurry and had a relaxed holiday schedule, we were also caught by the Londoners’ mood—to run instead of walk—which made photographing almost impossible. From the first day of our trip, I was always behind my family, and I felt guilty, as instead of using the opportunity to be present with “my gang,” I was having an affair with my camera, trying to capture all the beauty London had to offer. I had to rethink my values and change my attitude. I decided to experience and share with my family rather than lock my memory in a photo. In other words, there would be more walks and talks at the cost of fewer pictures.

I am sharing my autumnal London view, the one I managed to see during short episodes of looking through my camera lens while running through the streets of this conservative yet modern and very British yet cosmopolitan city. I hope you will enjoy it.