It's the start of 2026, and it has been a fairly quiet start to the year, which I mostly like, as it’s catching up after taking a break. Taking stock of the previous year (review coming soon), then looking forward to 2026 to see what surprises are in store.
Only did three events in the first ten days of January, so have combined them into this review. The year started at the Grove Hotel, and it was a freezing night for the fireworks. During the day (New Year's Eve), I took a walk up to the hotel grounds and through the woods. Always a nice place to wander and see how winter is taking shape. It was quite frosty, so there was plenty to photograph.
The next day was the New Year's Day Parade, which you can read all about below, and the final event was Pierre Garroudi’s fashion flashmob.
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Happy New Year from The Grove Hotel - 1st January (149)
I was the only photographer at the Grove, and other cars kept stopping and shining their bright headlights, which was very annoying. I even had to approach one of them to ask them to turn off their headlights. I got some decent shots of the fireworks, but I probably wouldn’t do it there again. Next New Year’s Eve, hopefully, will be in Edinburgh.
Midnight arrived at The Grove Hotel as fireworks lit up the sky to celebrate the start of 2026. It was an intensely cold night, with frost covering the ground and the temperature dropping to -2 °C.
London New Year’s Day Parade 2026 - 1st January (872)
This was the first time I photographed the Parade in the West End on New Year’s Day. Over the past twenty years, I had often planned to do it, but often missed out because I was away, or I went out the night before, returned late, and chose not to go.
This year, I avoided jinxing it by not getting a press pass like in previous years. I arrived by 12 pm for the start and stayed until 8 pm, making it a long but rewarding day of shooting. I ran into many other photographers I know who were also attending. I began in the Green Park area in Mayfair and later moved to Westminster, capturing some twilight shots. These photos turned out to be my favourites of the day.
The streets of London were crowded for the 40th London New Year’s Day Parade. The parade started at midday in Piccadilly and travelled to Westminster. It featured over 10,000 participants, including marching bands, bike stunt performers, and models of prehistoric animals.
More Photos - Flickr | Facebook | Alamy
Pierre Garroudi Flashmob - 10th January (723)
I used to go to Pierre’s flash mob often, especially before COVID and during it, when there wasn’t much happening because of lockdowns. It used to be lots of fun. Now, fewer photographers go, mainly because they have to pay. This was the first time I had gone for a year. It was an early afternoon shoot with a couple of lovely models, Jurga and Ajoshna, in the Sloane Square area, which we photographed with three other photographers. Thanks to both the models, as it was freezing cold, and they braved it.
More Photos - Flickr | Facebook
That’s it for this week. The Substack membership is now open and includes a calendar of 2026 events; more guides will be added each month. These resources, coming soon, include a standard model release form for you to copy, a guide to my process for exporting and editing photos for News Agencies, and more. You can see a list of upcoming articles here.
Andrew’s Photography Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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