Another beautiful day, but this time it was really pushing it. I had to cram myself into the alley heading riverwards from St Olaf’s car park, and just about managed to see the Sun in the Shard between the buildings, ceilings and railings.
Looking north from here, this is probably the last time I’ll get this shot in a long while. I’d thought from the outset there would be problems. Just north of St Olaf House is the Thames, and the shadow would spend a while crossing that, both in autumn and back again in spring. Short of launching a kayak and fighting the tide and the wakes I’d have no chance of repeating this shot, so I’d have to rely on sharp shadows and the vagaries of distant landmarks to estimate its location, along with a lot of peering at pixels on Google Maps.
And even after the river crossing, the shadow would creep north to the City. The Shard is tall alright, the tallest building for a long long way, but the rest of the City of London is hardly low-rise cottages with extensive views to the south. The shadow will fall on a lot of tall buildings. I’ll have to plan the winter half of it. I hope for chance alignments and gaps and alleys. It’s going a long way north of here.
Shard Analemma 