Have you ever wondered what could happen on a UPC Photo Walk? By David Rathbone
“My big takeaways from the day, was how much fun it was walking and talking with people who have the same interest in photography, and how diverse the group is, and everyone is super helpful and friendly, we are all just trying to get a little better at this thing they call photography.”
© David Rathbone - Taken on the UPC Photo Walk 29th April 2023
I have belonged to the UPC Group for some time now, but today I am going to reveal the true story of my debut at a recent UPC photo walk.
My recollections of UPC London photo walk 29th April 2023 2 pm till 6 pm.
I’ve been sitting on the fence for some time as to whether to get more involved in the photographic community, as my natural shyness has always held me back. Still, I decided to take the plunge and go along to the Urban Photographers photo walk as I feel it will help my photography to get to know other photography enthusiasts; what could possibly go wrong?
I arrived by train at Moorgate station early and walked out into the brilliant London Sunshine; how often have we been able to say that this year?
© David Rathbone - Taken on the UPC Photo Walk 29th April 2023
© David Rathbone - Taken on the UPC Photo Walk 29th April 2023
I had arranged to meet Dai to pass him a copy of my Colourwalk Zine, So with some time on my hands I thought I would go and wander around the Barbican. There was a particular curved walkway I wanted to photograph again, and here I had an early encounter with Urban Photographer Club members where I first spotted Andy in the distance, but was not sure it was him. The temperature was 19 degrees, and he had the most enormous warmest coat around his waist, the result I can only assume of a schoolboy error of not consulting a weather app before setting off, rather than call out I followed and caught up with Andy who was with Brian and Damon.
After warm greetings and comments on the weather, they were also getting some shots before going to the photo walk. I explained what I was looking for, and they gave me directions, unfortunately, not to the one I was looking for, the time was not wasted as fortuitously it sent me into some new places, and I made a couple of half-decent shots.
Time was against me, so I abandoned the search for the fabled curved Barbican walkway and set off for a meeting with Dai, now I’d never met Dai before, but he had requested my zine and was going to collect it from me at the steps of St Paul’s, and they say romance is dead. Then I received a couple of messages from Dai; he said that he was waiting by the statue of Queen Victoria and was wearing a blue t-shirt with a print of Devine on it as if I knew who Divine was. I spotted the Queen first, and Dai was standing nearby resplendent in a blue t-shirt. Anyway, what should have been a brief transaction turned into a 45-minute coffee and chat with an interesting Chef about Italian Cities, his appearance at the Alternative Miss World and famous or infamous places he had worked in London. It was a marvellous and enlightening coffee stop. (Divine, I have since discovered, is a deceased drag queen).
© David Rathbone - Taken on the UPC Photo Walk 29th April 2023
Time was now against me, and I didn’t want to be the newbie and late for the photo walk, so I bade farewell to Dai and sped off for Trinity Gardens. Dodging day-trippers, tourists and general rabble as I rushed along Cannon Street to Bank and further on to Trinity Gardens, I arrived in the nick of time bang on at 2 pm.
Assembled was a large group of happy snappers with an extensive array of cameras, old and new, Digital, Film, Mirrorless, DSLR’s, there were cameras everywhere, iPhones, rangefinders, big lenses small lenses, basically anything you could shake a stick at.
Jovis was quickly in full swing with photographers lined up and listening to the wonders of the new chat platform Discord (it actually is very good once you get into it) details of the walk, contact information, meeting points, and maps;- it was all covered with aplomb, and we were to rendezvous at 3 pm by the Chimpanzee on the south bank. Off we set with Jovis leading a large group of photographers and I immediately slipped into a renegade group who set off in a different direction from our leader.
Being a hot day, the conversation immediately turned to ice cream and the possibility of some good shots of a melting 99 Flake; Adam immediately spotted a dropped ice cream on a waste bin and immediately captured the fallen ice cream for posterity and Dan Baker. Onto Tower bridge, the conversation turned to gear and the latest technology Fujifilm had to offer, but I and my 6-year-old camera decided that we would go to St Katherine’s Dock but only after reassuring my over sensitive Fujifilm sensor that I still loved her Pixels and that she wasn’t going to be ditched for a 40mb Floozy.
The Dock was busy. It was wedding Central. I counted 4 wedding photographers, 4 brides, 3 grooms and 12 bridesmaids. It must be the place to go for wedding shots.
I went back to Tower Bridge and caught up with the group. We chatted about photography and took lots of photos.
A few shots in hand and then over the river to find the chimpanzee, up and down I walked seeking the elusive ape, but he was nowhere to be seen, so I asked a helpful security guard who explained that the Chimp had been moved on by the management, fortunately just for a wash and brush up in Norfolk, and directed me to where he once hung out, whereupon I found a troop of UPC photographers.
© David Rathbone - Taken on the UPC Photo Walk 29th April 2023
A quick group picture and off we set again camera in hand checking the scene, checking the light, and clicking the shutter button.
I quickly lost Adam in Borough market, I was focused on a man dressed as a Bride, I'm pretty sure he wasn’t part of the St Katherine's dock wedding set, and he may even have been a little drunk, I broke away from this bride and Adam was still nowhere to be seen, lost in the crowd. He later revealed he was beset by an urge to take lots of photos of people pointing.
© David Rathbone - Taken on the UPC Photo Walk 29th April 2023
I decided to hotfoot my way to rendezvous at the Founders Arms, the next meeting point which is at a pub and I thought that I’m bound to be alright with this one; I always find my way to a pub, finding my way home afterwards can be a problem though, so meeting point two should be a cinch, but oh no I wasn’t listening when Jovis announced the meet time, I think I may have been coveting someone’s Fujifilm XT5. I arrived at 4.10 pm thinking I would be fashionably late but to my surprise, no one was there, unknown to me the meeting time was 4.30 pm, mistakenly I thought the group had marched on without me.
I spotted a photographer hot-footing it off along the south bank, I decided that I should pursue him as he would be a fellow UPC straggler, alas I soon decided this sprightly photographer was just someone out for the day, and if I kept chasing him he might ask for a restraining order to be put on me, so I slowed down and made a new plan: walk to rendezvous point three, Ping Pong restaurant, take some shots there and wait for the troop to catch me up.
I can’t tell you how long it took me to find this huge restaurant, but I’m going to blame Google maps and too much sun for my stupidity, after all my exertions I became very tired and thirsty so decided it would be best to sit by the festival hall and quench my thirst with a cold beer, put my feet up, and enjoy the sun for an hour, and wait for the others to arrive.
Jovis arrived and then rounded up the troop at Ping Pong, and directed to us a bar where we had a beer and a chat about all things photography.
My big takeaways from the day, was how much fun it was walking and talking with people who have the same interest in photography, and how diverse the group is but everyone is super helpful and friendly, we are all just trying to get a little better at this thing they call photography.
© David Rathbone - Taken on the UPC Photo Walk 29th April 2023
I bade my farewells and went home with nearly 200 shots, tired but happy; some of the hardier members of the group went onto a bar to see some Drag Queens, I wonder if they bumped into Dai?