This detailed view of Westminster Bridge is characteristic of Alvin Langdon Coburn's style. Art photographers of the period often included visual metaphors in their work based on pictorial devices such as patterns, shapes, reflections on water, smoke, steam and lighting effects. They created a painterly look by hand-working their images at the printing stage, often minimising detail in favour of atmosphere.
Coburn published 'London in 1909', a selection of his views of the capital, printed in photogravure.
