We planned to visit a couple of exhibitions in this visit. But first we walked up and down the Leake Street tunnel.
The first was the Sony Worldwide Photography Awards that was exhibiting at Somerset House before moving on. The second was the Joel Mayerowitz exhibition at Tate Modern.
Somerset House and the Sony Exhibition
The exhibition was split between two wings of Somerset House. We walked across the bottom of the square and showed our tickets to see the second half of the exhibition.
In the second half were prints from the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. Examples of his prints were on sale in the shop at the end of the exhibition – but was way out of our price range!
The roomes used for the exhibition had lots of light and coupled with the bright lights made looking at the prints difficult because of all the reflections. In one of the rooms three walls had projected images that rolled through all the winning images – again not easy to concentrate of one series… I’m not sure that I would visit future exhibitions at Somerset House.
The trio of bats
In the corridor of the first half of the exhibition was a challenge to take a picture of the large print of a trio of bats. Your picture was then to be posted on Instagram with the tag #SWPA2024
Lunch
Along the Strand we passed several very busy coffee shops until we came this location of the Soho Coffee Company.
The latte and toasted sandwich were excellent.
The South Bank
To get to Tate Modern we took the short Underground ride back to Waterloo.
This plaque is on the wall of of one of the pedestrian underpasses. A collection of clay pipes found along the Thames. These were some of the first “disposable” personal items ever sold – one smoke and they were discarded.
Under Blackfriars Bridge
We had the gift of a large puddle under Blackfriars Bridge. To avoid it everyone went up the steps and walked along the elevated path.
This reflection was inverted and then reversed.
This couple was looking across the Thames under the Bridge.
Along the elevated path I had a great view of the ‘beach’ under the bridge. Another photographer was exploring and had left his case.
This bag left on the wall by the station entrance was causing chaos as staff from the station cordoned the area off.
Tate Modern and the Joel Meyerowitz Exhibition
This was my first visit inside Tate Modern. It was not immediately obvious where to go to see the Joel Meyerowitz gallery. Luckily for us there were volunteer guides and we were directed up to the next level.
The gallery promised his innovative images in colour as he recorded the streets and landscapes of New York City and beyond.
It’s as if the symphony of the street is truly engaged in the mind of someone who is photographing in color.
-Joel Meyerowitz
As we left we passed this Piet Modrian painting.
And the South Bank again
We paused again by the water under Blackfriars Bridge.
After the bridge I took an image of a couple on a bench – here it is inverted and in mono.
The skate park had this street art …
