Rebecca Elliott

Rebecca on her image

“I made a rare visit to London and decided to visit Leadenhall Market, where I had never been before, to try some street photography. It was midday, and City workers were enjoying a ‘liquid lunch’. The beautiful reds and golds created an atmospheric setting, but I was also drawn to the juxtaposition of the shoe-shine man and the shiny, well-polished shoes of the two men engaged in conversation. I loved the apparent Victorian nature of the scene, punctuated by obvious signs of modernity. It’s an image that could only have been taken in London and is one of the reasons I love photographing in the city. There are so many layers of history, and I like it when I can capture a sense of that in an image. 

I spent a while taking various images from different angles, but I really wanted to capture the shoe-shine man with the beautifully golden-lit window behind him. I had to wait for a clear shot, but it was only during editing that I noticed the shadowy figure in the window with their hand outstretched.   

Due to the low light level at Leadenhall Market I used a wide aperture and a slower shutter speed than I would ordinarily use for street photography. Although my Nikon Z8 is good at shooting at high ISOs, I still prefer to keep to a maximum of 3200. I took the image with my Z 24-120mm f4 lens, which I’d chosen for my day in London as an all-rounder lens, but it’s quite a hefty set-up for street photography. I’m hoping to be able to afford a much lighter set-up at some point!”

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