Social and Economic Diversity

Yesterday I headed into Whitechapel, an old part of inner London to make my Diversity panorama in the street market, with the stalls on one side and regular shops on the other.

Shooting proved interesting. As I expected, some stall holders were a little edgy about having someone with a camera and tripod hanging around. Wearing my heavy-duty and well-worn leather biker jacket helped me look both unofficial and not a pushover, but even so two different people approached me directly to find out what I was doing. It wasn't a problem, but it was definitely a robust and self-protective environment. (You can see three stall holders in this panorama, all watching me.)

The lighting was a challenge; it was late afternoon, and the sun was shining along the street from the direction of the Gherkin building. With the combination of bright light and slight haze, that structure was all but lost from visibility. Bracketing was out of the question; there was far too much movement of people all around me. (My favourite challenge!) I ended up exposing for the main ground-level shaded light levels and letting the brightest parts of the sky bleach out. However, the cultural diversity of the people all around me more than made up for the loss of showing that financial diversity contrast.

Europe / UK-England

Lat: 51° 31' 9.24" N
Long: 1° 4' 36.59" W

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

Fuji S5 Pro, Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye, 360Precision Adjuste pano head, Calumet tripod.