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As 2019 draws to a close, it's time for another recap of everything related to "Alex Wright Photography" from the year. It's been another busy year for me with international holidays to both Iceland & New York, along with many city trips with friends, allowing me to take over 4,400 personal photos and over 15,000 event photos throughout the year. |
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I'll be having a look at my most-liked photos of 2019 on both my Instagram and my website, and my personal favourite photos of the year as well as a quick look at my most popular photos from the decade! |
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Apart from my website, I use Instagram (@alexwrightphotos) to display my portfolio, get inspiration and scout out new photography locations. As I've been quite busy with studying this year, I've not posted as much and as frequently as I would have liked. However, over the year, I've received over 8,000 likes on Instagram - an average of 172 likes per post - and here I'll be counting down the 9 most-liked photos that I posted during 2019! |
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To create my Top 9 photos from 2019, I've combined data from Instagram's insights and 2019 Best Nine. |
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We're starting off this list with a shot I took during a visit to Bristol last year, where I came across this walkway durion my journey back to the station. |
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Coming in at Number 8 is this shot from my trip to Berlin in 2018. This simplistic facade is part of the Berlin Acadamy of Arts, which is located just outside the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. |
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Number 7 is the first photo from this list that I shot in 2019! After my January exams, I headed upto London for a day trip to explore some new locations. I wandered around the British Museum and ended up taking "that" photo of the Great Court. During editing, I painstakingly removed over 100 people from the image to focus on the stunning architecture of the building! |
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Next up is this shot of the SEC Armadillo in Glasgow. It was taken at an opportune moment, and I love how the child provides a sense of scale for the enormous structure! |
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We're heading back to Berlin for Number 5, with this shot of the concourse of the Potsdamer Platz shopping centre. I love how the yellow signs complement the blue escalaor lights, whilst the ghost-like figure descends it. |
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At Number 4 is this symmetrical photo of the pedestrian bridge that connects Glasgow to the SSE Arena Campus. |
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Coming in at Number 3 is this shot of the government buildings within the Tiergarten park in Berlin. These gigantic buildings, which were included in my list of favourite photos from last year, were modern, sleek and covered in concrete. What more could I ask for? As I was walking along a river separating me from the buildings, I saw a photographer set up a tripod on the stairs of the building and start to take some photos. I quickly moved into position and lined him up in the centre of my frame. The editing of the above photo was very light, as I wanted to preserve the true minimalism of these stunning buildings. |
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The second most liked-photo from my Instagram was taken in Nauener Platz Metro station in Berlin. At this station, I loved how the teal roof complemented the yellow trains perfectlly. |
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My most-liked photo on Instagram from 2019 was taken at my favourite location in Berlin. The U55 platform at U-Bahnhof Brandenburger Tor has a stunning simplistic and minimalistic design. Whilst I was at this station, I set up my tripod for some identical shots and long-exposures at the point where the crack in the floor, wall and roof all perfectly lined up. Then a train arrived, and - oh my god - the centre of the closed doors aligned perfectly with the joint in the floor and roof. Once the passengers were out of sight, I quickly took some photos before the train disappeared. |
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Continuing on with last years trends, here is my "Year of Colour", which displays the most dominant colours in my Instagram photos from the past year! It's no surprise really to see that my palette consits mainly of muted hues and blues, most likely taken from the sky, but it's nice to see the inclusion of some stronger colours, such as the yellow that covers the BVG metro trains (like in the photo above) |
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Away from Instagram, I used my website to display my full portfolio and to host my blog. Over the past year, photos on my website have been viewed by nearly 5,000 visitors. Statistics were taken from Google Analytics. |
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We're starting out the Website Top 10 in Berlin. This was one of my favourite shots taken at the simplistic Rosa Luxemburg Platz metro station on my trip to Berlin back in Easter 2018. When taking this photo, I loved how the roof disappeared above the train as it hurtled out of view and into the tunnel. |
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Coming in at Number 9 is a throwback photo from my time in Bucharest back in early 2018. It dipicts the graffiti-ridden University of Bucharest building in the centre of town. |
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For the next few photos, we're heading back to the U-Bahnhof Brandenburger Tor in Berlin, which is the same spot as my most-liked photo on Instagram. Number 8 was taken as a panorama. I love how simplistic the station is and how the train provides a strip of colour in between the monochrome. |
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Coming in at Number 7 is a photo taken in exactly the same spot, just after the train had left. You can really see how simplistic this station is without the train! |
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At Number 6 is this evening shot of the U-Bahnhof Olympia-Stadion's external building. This shot was originally taken during the day, but I loved how the light poured out of the station during this evening shot! |
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At Number 5 is my favourite photo from last year's countdown! It was also taken at the U-Bahnhof Rosa Luxemburg Platz, I used a ND filter and a two-second exposure to smooth out the moving trains and add a sense of movement to the scene. I'm extremely pleased with how well this photo came out, and especially like the grooved pattern which was created due to the corrugated side of the train. |
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Coming in at Number 4 is the exterior of the EY building from a trip to Canary Wharf last year. |
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At Number 3 is a shot from the amazing London Aquatics Centre, designed by Zaha Hadid for the London 2012 Olympics. It was taken over two years ago on one of my first architectural photo adventures; I loved how the arching roof separated the crisp winter sky from the blue painted glass. |
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For the runner up in my Website Top 10, we're back to Canary Wharf with another view of the EY office block. |
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And finally, we're off to San Francisco in the USA for the most popular photo on my website from the past year! It was taken on a family holiday to California in 2017, and it's no surprise that this photo is #1 as it sat on my homepage until early December. This was one of my favourite shots from the trip due to the building's very simplistic, yet unique design. Standing at 48 storeys high, the tower is an iconic landmark of the San Francisco skyline and held the record for the tallest building in the city until it was overtaken in 2017. |
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Now it's time to have a look at my personal favourite photos that I have taken in 2019. During the year, I've been focusing heavily on my studies, so I haven't had the opoertunity to get out and about for my photography as much as I would have liked. Because of this, most of these photos are from my trips to Iceland and New York over the summer months. |
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We're starting off my Top 10 Favourite Photos from the year from a short break to Cardiff I took at the beginning of the year. Just to the side of the Wales Millennium Centre lies this hotel which was under construction. I love how the minimal facade stands in contrast with the blue winter sky and how the futuristic windows add a pattern to this clean building. |
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For my 9th favourite photo from the year, we're heading to New York and the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, aka "the Oculus", where I shot many of my photos from the trip. Outside the building, I love how the design of each 'fin' creates this stunning, simplistic pattern which is contrasted against the blue glass. Whilst editing, I boosted the whites and contrast to give the photo a nice clean feel. |
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Coming in at Number 8 is a shot from the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland. There are two aspects of this photo that I love so much. The first is the tall pumice-based concrete walls that form the main structure of the building. The colour of the concrete looks remarkable and minimal within the building, whilst linking the building to the nature of the island. Secondly, the kaleidoscopic-like facade of multifaceted glass produces a striking pattern on the floor, where no two shapes are the same! |
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We're back to London for Number 7! This year, one of my aims in photography was to try to mix my architectural style with street photography. In January, whilst on a day trip to London, I came across this nice exterior at Centre Point London, that I knew would pair up nicely with someone walking by. After around an hour of waiting with traffic blocking the view, I finally managed to get a shot I was happy with! |
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Number 6 is a shot from my day exploring the British Museum back in January. As I was wandering around the great court, I saw someone sitting on the main stairs having a rest and I quickly moved into place to take this shot! Luckily, I chose the right moment, as seconds later they got up and walked away. |
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For Number 5, we're heading back to New York for this 34-image panorama inside the Oculus transportation hub in the World Trade Center. This enormous building is formed from two walls of "ribs" which create a 96ft atrium. I love the scale of the building, especially since it's a very wide-angle shot, as well as the symmetrical aspect of the main structure. |
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At Number 4 is one of my 'classic look up' photos of buildings, which I started doing in 2017. In this shot is the 432 Park Avenue apartment building, I love how the white facade contrasts with the deep blue windows and dark grey of the service and wind pass-through floors. |
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We're heading back to the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, for my 3rd favourite shot of the year. I love the mix of different shapes and materials used in this inside corridor, especially with the dark, pumice-filled concrete forming the walls. I'm also a fan of the roof pattern used within the building, which was formed from reflected panels with occasional black matte panels. |
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Coming in 2nd place is this very simplistic shot of the "ribs" at the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, aka the "Oculus". I like how this shot highlights the simplicity and scale of this technically complex structure. Hint: click on the photo to view a person in the bottom right for scale! |
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Finally, my personal favourite shot of the year was "that" view of the great court in the British Museum. I love how the modern, minimal court and glass roof (which contains over 3,100 unique panes of glass) contrast with the old Greek-style exterior of the court. I spent many hours editing this shot to clean up the building and painstakingly removing over 100 people from the image to allow the stunning architecture of the building to take centre stage. |
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And finally, the last countdown we have for this recap is the most-liked photos of the decade! Since I started photography as a hobby in 2015, I've taken over 90,000 photos for a mixture of personal projects and event photography. Here, we'll count down the 5 most-liked photos that I've taken on Instagram from the past five years. |
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Starting off the list of my most-liked photos from the decade is this view of the London Eye and Parliament from the Golden Jubilee Bridge. I had originally taken this photo during the summer of 2017 and forgotten about it, but eventually stumbled upon it and decided to upload it! To achieve the smooth effect of the water and London Eye, this was taken as a long exposure with a ND filter, as well as a panorama to capture the wide field of view. |
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At Number 4, we have the spaceship-like bridge from Crossrail Place! I ended up taking a 104-second-long exposure to remove all the passers-by. I also used a short tripod position because I didn't want to get kicked out by security and I also liked the perspective it created. This photo was one of my favourite shots from 2017, and I'm extremely happy to see it become one of my most popular photos of the decade! |
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Coming in at Number 3, we have this natural stack off the coast of Étretat, Normandy. This photo was taken as a panorama and long-exposure to smooth out the water whilst also increasing the field of view. Because of this, it took around 10 minutes to capture, so I'm very happy to see that many other people like it too! |
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Runner up for most popular photo of the decade goes to the central stairwell in the New Mountbatten Building on Highfield Campus in Southampton. It's no surprise that this photo is high up on this list, as it was the most-liked photo on my Instagram last year. |
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And finally, with 898 likes on my Instagam, this shot of an atrium in More London Place was my most-liked photo of the decade! |
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Alongside photography, I've kept up with my other hobby of coding by continually tinkering and updating my website. Back in February, I launched my Print Store that offers a selection of my photos available for purchase. More recently, I've updated my home portfolio to include more recent photos that have been taken this year. |
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I've also continued improving my blog platform, Stories, under the hood. I've not written as many stories as I wanted to, but back in July I published the first in a series of stories focusing on my days out in London! I've got some more planned for the new year so look out for them soon. |
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Whilst it's not really a website (but kind of is!), the biggest launch on my web presence this year was the introduction of the AWP App in May. The app displays my photos and my blog "Stories" in a mobile-friendly design that puts the photos in centre place. If you want to check it out, you can download it here. |
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If you'd like to see more behind the scenes snippets of how I make my website, build my app or for some behind the scenes of my photo editing, follow my Twitter account
@MakingAWPhotos. |
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So that ends my recap of 2019 and the decade! I'd like to say a huge thank you to all my followers, new and old, for your continued support over the past year and encouragement of my photography! |
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Whilst I have no photographic expeditions planned for 2020, I'm looking forward to some spontaneous trips with friends and exploring new places. I'll also be releasing new Stories for my recent trips to New York and Iceland, as well as heading into my archive of UK photos! If you have any recommendations for places that I should visit or explore, please do leave a message in the comments below. |
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| BY ALEXANDER WRIGHT |
| Alexander Wright is a London and Southampton based photographer focusing on architectural and minimalist photography. In his spare time, he enjoys roaming around the streets of London looking for new photo opportunities with his friends. Alexander frequently presents photography lectures and runs workshops at the University of Southampton. |
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| BY ALEXANDER WRIGHT |
| Alexander Wright is a London and Southampton based photographer focusing on architectural and minimalist photography. In his spare time, he enjoys roaming around the streets of London looking for new photo opportunities with his friends. Alexander frequently presents photography lectures and runs workshops at the University of Southampton. |
| More about Alexander |
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