It's been a while since I was last down from the North East of England to London, which was mostly a short family break around Greenwich and a few cityscape sunsets, but I had a good motivation to return this Summer.

One of my Wall Space North catalogue images (Redcar Wind Turbines) was included in Arrival Gallery's July art exhibition in Fulham, as a digital entry.  Despite living in central London in an earlier period of my life, Fulham and Chelsea were districts I hadn't really explored, so attending my first exhibition as a contributing artist was enough of an excuse to coordinate train and hotel reservations. A three-day solo trip would be planned to take street/documentary and fine art photography opportunities, whilst absorbing the opening night atmosphere of the exhibition in the middle of it.

With train and hotel room booked, I set to work on meticulously planning an itinerary that scoped local galleries to introduce myself to whilst pursuing urban exploration objectives. Fulham and SW6 would be mostly street photography, and I had it in my mind to capture Battersea Power Station at sunset and Albert Bridge at sunrise. A great plan that looked good on the screen and paper.

However, as July approached, I wondered if my ageing body was up to the task, since one of the reasons I decided to switch career path from IT Security consultancy to fine art photography, was to enjoy a more sedate way of earning a living.

With a heavy backpack loaded with the bare minimum spare clothes, my camera, lenses, and my fine-art sampler book and leaflets, I arrived in London KX on the Thursday lunchtime in the middle of an intense heatwave.

I began the first stage of my grand plan and hit the underground for Fulham Broadway, which was 10mins walk away from my hotel. The hotel had a 3pm-or-later check-in time, so I wandered the streets with camera around my neck and still fully-laden backpack in 32°c+ temperatures.

Sometime after 3:30pm I unpacked everything except camera paraphernalia, and was back out into the searing heat, with Pimlico as my next target. This meant a little jiggery pokery on the District and Victoria lines, as there were some problems on the transport system. Once at Pimlico I took a few cityscape shots along the river and of the SIS building across the Thames. I walked my way back along the riverside to see where best to capture the power station.  I loitered near Chelsea Bridge until the warmer light of “Golden Hour” arrived at 8:15pm and headed back to my desired shooting angle. I took most of my images before the sky darkened, but a combination of a long train journey, oppressive heat and already 5+ hours of walking with camera, took its toll on my poor aching feet.  I wasn't really looking forward to a 4am wake-up for a sunrise photoshoot that may be limited in wider appeal, so instead decided to continue walking back towards SW6 and take shots of the Albert Bridge in the “Blue Hour” after sunset. Apart from extra strain on the body by extending the day's photography until after 11pm by the time I had returned to my room, at least there were some guaranteed attractive images that I looked forward to post-processing at home in the weeks to come.

Friday, the day of the opening night at the exhibition, and tired legs were evident whilst looking for somewhere to have breakfast.  I was intent on trying to fulfil other parts of my itinerary, so began walking the Fulham Road and dropped in to King's Court Galleries ( 949-953 Fulham Road), where I had a pleasant conversation with the proprietor, listening to his experiences regarding the selling of contemporary fine art photography.  This was certainly good advice taken onboard, especially the part about care needed around not poisoning the "limited edition" well by flooding the market with much cheaper open edition versions. This is why I will try to maintain my Wall Space North catalogue images as limited editions of 50 (max) each in A3+ art prints.

Onwards from the gallery conversation, I explored Fulham Palace, Craven Cottage (football ground) and pier.  My itinerary had pencilled-in Hammersmith for the following day's photography, but, through gritted teeth, helped by beer/cider stops to maintain hydration, Hammersmith Bridge beckoned on the horizon.  With Hammersmith waterfront images taken, I returned to the hotel via the nearby District Line station, to recuperate and be ready for the Arrival Gallery exhibition opening night.

The exhibition itself was just around the corner, and I had my photo taken alongside my digital image. After enjoying the other artists’ work, I didn't linger too long, leaving some business cards on the table and popping into the Fulham Mitre pub down the road to watch some World Cup football, and then to bed.

Saturday's itinerary was set aside, and I referred to Claude AI on whether or not it was worth investigating Chelsea Harbour. I ignored the advice and headed in that direction anyway. I am glad I did, because there were plenty of interesting objects and architecture to capture. From there, I walked along to Battersea Bridge and then Battersea Park.  With only a few hours to kill before my train home, I found a secluded, shady and cool spot under an oak tree and relaxed for most of the rest of the afternoon, with my feet grateful for the longer rest.

I arrived at Kings Cross Station in good time, via the Northern Line from the Power Station underground station, enjoying the new architectural development around the power station itself one last time.

So, overall, a challenging, but rewarding trip generally. In future, I will be less ambitious in my forward planning for future location shoots and maybe have a checklist of potential objectives (and their map locations) than plan too deeply before the local weather conditions have a greater part to play. 

With so many images recorded around Fulham, Chelsea and Battersea, there is certainly enough source material to create a multi-volume SW6 zine series at some point in the future. For now, the priority is to focus on the official launching of Wall Space North's Art-as-a-Service corporate subscription offering, and one way or another, to publish my almost-complete "Shades of Darlington" documentary photography book.

AndrewP - July 2026

Blog- London-2026

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