The Shard, London

With the construction of Europe’s tallest building now finished, it was announced that The Shard in London would be ‘inaugurated’ and that the owners would be putting on a light and laser show that would be ‘world class’ and ‘jaw dropping’ to celebrate its completion.

Thousands of people lined the embankment of the river Thames to get a good vantage point for the evening, photographers jostled for position trying to get the best angles and a clear view and commuters cursed the crowds as they struggled to get to London Bridge station for their evening trains home.

I started off at Tower Bridge when the show kicked-off and over the space of an hour wandered back along the river towards London Bridge where I ended up directly in front of The Shard. I got some great shots of the glass building all lit up, but left there a little disappointed as I was expecting much more of a show than we were given, leaving me with four words made famous by Public Enemy running through my mind ….”Don’t believe the hype!”

It was nice to see so many people turn out for the event, enabling me to meet some great people throughout the evening, including two Dutch guys that had come over from Holland for the show in honour of their Uncle who was involved in the initial part of the steel erecting but had since then passed away.