ALMOST BLACK & WHITE

[LONDONER]

This was taken in 2009 on a day when London closed down. I left my house at about 6am and stepped in to a deep fall of snow. The silence was eerie since there was absolutely no traffic at all. This shot was taken very shortly afterwards when people started to emerge from their homes. It might appear to be in B&W but it isn't.

It really was a most extraordinary day for London. The Mayor had stopped all public transport as most of the roads and streets were impassable (London is never prepared for snow), but more than anything else is was the eerie silence that was so surprising. For a spontaneous snap I thought that the composition works very well. I might be stretching things a bit but for me it has an almost Bruegelesque quality about it.

   

[InbetweenDreams]

Isn't it crazy how quiet it is when it snows? It just absorbs all the sound, plus nobody is driving on the roads (except the salt trucks)...

[CellarDweller]

First of all, love the pic!

I love it when it snows, and I'll just stand by the windows and watch it fall.

How much snow had fallen that day? Doesn't look like a lot. If you were to have public transport stopped for the amount of snow that is in the pic, here in New Jersey, everyone would be screaming, "are you kidding?"

lol

[LONDONER]

First of all, love the pic!

I love it when it snows, and I'll just stand by the windows and watch it fall.

How much snow had fallen that day?  Doesn't look like a lot.  If you were to have public transport stopped for the amount of snow that is in the pic, here in New Jersey, everyone would be screaming, "are you kidding?"

lol

I agree with you @CellarDweller, it only takes a small snowfall for London to grind to a halt.  When I first published this photo on a different forum there was a lot of similar reactions and I remember some from Canada with photos that showed 2 and 3 metre snowdrifts.  As I said in my original post, London is never prepared for snow.