London then and now

Brian G

Brian G

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Brian
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When he passed away I inherited all my fathers photographs and I've gradually been going through and scanning some of the more interesting ones.
He had a sequence taken in London at night, sometime in the 1960's, and when I've located the place, I've tried to revisit and take the similar shot as it is today.
Unfortunately some of the 35mm negatives appear to have been attacked by fungus, which makes getting a good scan more difficult.

This is the Anchor Inn on the bank of the River Thames at Southwark taken in the 1960's:
The Anchor Inn by briangibson427, on Flickr

I've returned to the location several times, but due to building works last week was the first chance I got of taking a similar shot.
I couldn't set the tripod up in exactly the same location as the original so the angle is a little different, but here is the similar scene as it is today:
I wasn't sure if I wanted it in B&W so this is the colour version.
The Anchor by briangibson427, on Flickr

Whatever happened to Courage breweries?
 
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What a wonderful project idea, I've read about people recreating old photos in the past but the personal connection to this makes it really interesting.
 
What a fascinating idea , to see the change or not of subject in a photo, and yes the personal reason makes it even more worthwhile.
 
Hope you don't mind but I wanted to see what SilverEfex Pro 2 would do to it in a quick and dirty comparison to the original 1960s shot?

9gfz8l.jpg
 
Thanks for that Ian.
I don't mind at all, and I think the monochrome rendering helps to capture the atmosphere of the original.
I have Silver Efex Pro 2 but I hadn't got around to giving it the "treatment."
If I do it myself I'll probably lift the shadow areas in the right foreground a little.

In some respects I like the simplicity of the original.
The modern day has a lot of clutter, with cctv camera, burglar alarms and random wires all over the place.
There's also a new lamp-post that's been added on the corner.

I have a few more of these old B&W images from the 1960's and I'll try and sort out a couple and post them here, and maybe convert the "now" to B&W myself before posting.
 
Brian,

Yes, please post some more.

It is interesting to see how the scene has changed and stayed the same over the years.

It caught my eye as I was on the South Bank on Saturday and my wife had remarked upon the pub, although I didn't shoot it at the time. I also resisted (but looked at) some further PP in DXO Film Pack 5 / Photoshop, but decided that you already had a 'time worn' original and wasn't trying to replicate that, just place the scene today alongside that from the 1960s.
 
I realise this is the "Night Photography" forum, but I thought I'd just add what I meant by "building works" in the original post.
12403755225_9fb7b0527a_c.jpg
Anchor Tavern[/url] by briangibson427, on Flickr
This was from a few weeks ago.
One of the really frustrating things about shooting around London is the amount of construction work constantly being carried out.
Not the first time it's spoiled my attempts at getting a shot.
 
To continue the theme, here is another old night view along the Thames.

Old Blackfriars Bridge by briangibson427, on Flickr
This is from the south bank of the Thames near what is now the Tate Modern, formerly Bankside power station, looking towards Blackfriars bridge.
The brightly floodlit building towards the left is Unilever House.

Here's my recent attempt at capturing it.
New Blackfriars Bridge_02 by briangibson427, on Flickr
I can't seem to get the same angle of view with this one, partly because of current building work along the river side near the Tate Modern which meant I couldn't get next to the railings.
I also think the original may have been taken from around the place that the Millennium Footbridge is now located, so it's necessary to move upstream slightly from where the old one was taken.
I think that's the Telecom tower immediately to the left of Unilever house in the original, whereas in my recent attempt it's much further to the left.
If it is the Telecom Tower, formerly the Post Office Tower, it helps to date the photo, since the Tower was opened in October 1965.
Obviously Blackfriars Railway Bridge has changed considerably, due to the extensive recent reconstruction work, which has moved the entire station onto the bridge itself.

I need to revisit when the building work is finished and have another go.
 
In these views apart from the obvious changes such as Blackfriars station (which is simply stunning to stand and watch the River from), it typifies for me how the quality of images has changed in the ensuing years.

The IQ of today's pictures sets them apart from their 1960's counterparts on film. Not to mention the ease of sharing and distribution!
 
shreds said:
In these views apart from the obvious changes such as Blackfriars station (which is simply stunning to stand and watch the River from), it typifies for me how the quality of images has changed in the ensuing years.

The IQ of today's pictures sets them apart from their 1960's counterparts on film. Not to mention the ease of sharing and distribution!
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Yes I agree - The difference in IQ is the thing that struck me the most.
I cannot recall what type of film the original was taken with, but there's no disputing my modern digital image has much better dynamic range and detail, although there have probably been changes in the lighting of many of the buildings in the mean time. To be fair, the original was also taken with a fairly modest camera.
Plus, of course, there are the PP options, like raising shadows and reducing highlights, offered by modern processing software.
When doing night shots I tend to dial in about minus 1 - 2 stops of exposure compensation, to try and avoid completely "blowing" all the highlights.
The downside is needing to raise the shadows, with the attendant risk of increasing the noise, although I find this not to be a problem with the 6D.
There has been no additional noise reduction applied to either of my "now" digital shots.

Your remark about Blackfriars station is interesting - I'd never thought of using it as a viewing platform (pardon the pun!) to look over the river.
Are there any photographic possibilities from the station, or is there too much glass in the way?
 
Regrettably yes, too much glass and no way to avoid it without being a contractor allowed to 'go outside' on the walkway. They might also get irked by tripods etc, but it is still a location that I see as having interesting possibilities.
 
Could be interesting to layer the 60's image with the 2015 image ;)
 
Norkie said:
Could be interesting to layer the 60's image with the 2015 image ;)
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Interesting as that may be, it would really be a test of finding exactly the same viewpoint and the identical lens focal length!

I was looking at some photos I had taken from the top of the Shard, and it looks like, in order to get the Telecom Tower to line up with the end of Unilever House, the shot would have to be taken from the embankment near Southwark Bridge. Nowadays the Millennium Footbridge is in the way, so it's impossible to exactly replicate the Blackfriars bridge shot today.
 
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