Just Another Piccadilly Circus’ View

There’s a temptation, when standing in the middle of London’s Piccadilly Circus, to think that you’ve seen it all before. And in a way, you have. This is one of the most photographed corners of the city—neon-lit, traffic-heavy, forever brimming with tourists. Which is precisely why I wanted to make this frame. Not to reinvent the wheel, but to quietly acknowledge its inevitability.

I chose a slightly elevated position, letting the sweep of Regent Street’s curve pull the viewer’s eye into the frame. The red double-decker is exactly where it should be—almost a cliché—but here it works as a punctuation mark in the composition, tying in with the bold McDonald’s red on the giant LED screen. The convergence of these colours isn’t forced; it’s part of the street’s own visual rhythm.

Technically, the exposure demanded some care. The overcast sky acted like a giant softbox, flattening the light but also robbing the scene of contrast. I decided against pushing the saturation in post, preferring to keep the greys honest, which lets the billboard’s colours stand out naturally. There is visible noise in the shadow areas, especially on the building façades, the result of shooting at a higher ISO to freeze the bus and taxi movement without sacrificing depth of field.

The frame feels busy—deliberately so. London here is not portrayed as a calm, ordered place. It’s layered: pedestrians spilling out of Boots, street vendors tucked in the corner, police vans negotiating space with delivery trucks. It’s a visual hubbub, but then, Piccadilly Circus has never been anything else.

The photo doesn’t claim uniqueness. It’s an embrace of the ordinary spectacle, the kind of scene that, precisely because it’s so familiar, is worth taking the time to look at properly.