BARRIER BLUES

The Thames Barrier at Woolwich is not one of my favourite landmarks. Essentially it’s a large grey, steely structure which too often disappears into similarly murky clouds and a muddy river. Back in July 2009, though, there were the perfect conditions for capturing the capitol’s saviour of the floods. Then, as for most of that month, the city was crowned by a virtual quilt of bilious and high-reaching clouds cumulus clouds, the glower of which were only occasionally relieved by fleeting shafts of sunlight.

The scene was set then for this series of shots with that dramatic background and very fleeting sunbursts which, with a little patience, briefly shot through the clouds to dance across the tops of the barrier’s seven piers. At times, it was like playing a one-armed bandit, sometimes a lemon here, or then a lemon there, until finally the light was bouncing off each of the stations and their metal coats were glinting like an advance guard of medieval knights.

In that moment of battle the barrier and this photographer were finally reconciled and now I look upon the this eight wonder of the world more kindly.