43 evocative photos of London from John Esslinger

Behind the lens

The photographer: 'I moved to London from Seattle six years ago with my wife and dogs. I've always liked photography, but wasn't serious about it until I wanted to document our time here. Now I'm working at it full time. My preference is taking landscape and architectural photos, but I don’t limit myself. I’ve done everything from head shots for business to photographing industry events to long exposure black and white art photos.'

The setup: 'I started out a long time ago with a Canon film camera then went through a few smaller digital Canon cameras. I guess I got locked into the brand and now I am using a Canon 5D II loaded with Magic Lantern. My lenses are 16-35mm, 50mm, 100mm and a 70-200mm and I normally only carry two of the four. I use a lot of different neutral density and graduated neutral density filters.'

The work: 'I have an affinity for the East of the city and spend a lot of time near Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf. Seeing what nature does to man-made structures is a favourite. I have a few different things I do to prepare for going to a new location. I use Google Maps as well as other apps that help with sun direction, time of sunset and sunrise. I think my best images are those that stay true to what I saw in the viewfinder.'

Love these photos? Find more from John (and book photography lessons) here and on Facebook here.