London in rain and grey weather (your playing field)

Rain and street photography: it is a dream duo that is too often underestimated. Especially in a city like London, which changes scenery with every drop. It becomes a film set, a mirror palette, a world full of shine and rhythm. And yes, sometimes you think beforehand that you can do less with rain, but that idea lasts exactly until you take one good photo.

Because there you are. Just under a metal eaves at a metro station. The city is dripping light. A woman opens her umbrella and walks just under that one billboard where the blue and pink light meet. You follow, you wait, and hop - there it is. Something you might never see at home, because if it was raining you would have gone inside long ago.

With a bit of luck, we will have snow.

Cross London

In London, the street only gets really interesting when the weather gets a little thwarted. The tarmac is wet, the sky is soft and the reflections make compositions doubly delicious. Each light becomes twice as big. And you can play with that.

I'll show you the best way to stand, when exactly to take a step back to get the shine in the picture, and how your timing changes when people move faster. Many photographers suddenly switch to black and white in rain, but trust me: colour pops in this weather. Think of the red buses or the neon on Piccadilly. Everything becomes a canvas.

A participant in London Once said:
"I thought rain would make everything more difficult. But this actually makes it much more exciting."
And that's right. It's like getting an extra layer in your photography, without having to learn difficult things. Just looking, waiting, choosing.

Rain also has an advantage that few people realise: it brings calm. People walk on faster, they are less alert to cameras, and they don't linger as long. That gives you a certain freedom to get closer. It feels more natural. No one expects you to take a photo when it's drizzling.

But perhaps the best part is the atmosphere. A city in light chaos. People sheltering under canopies. Taxis splashing up. Someone laughing because his umbrella opened incorrectly. Little stories that would never happen on a sunny day.

And you know what's so nice? Rain is fair. It requires nothing from you except flexibility. You don't need to know studio technique. You don't have to come up with complicated settings. You just have to watch and trust that in this light, things will work out.

You're guaranteed to come home with a few photos you think: I would never have taken this without rain. And every time you look back at one of those photos later, you'll smell London again for a moment. Isn't that fantastic?

So when a drop falls during the workshop, I always smile.
It only gets better.