Thermographic Images Show Londoners Venturing Out in Lockdown

(Bloomberg Markets) -- As London emerged from lockdown and took its first steps toward an uncertain future, a pale glimmer of hope competed with frustration and confusion—frustration that the U.K. had racked up the highest death toll in Europe, confusion over what a return to work would look like. The bells of St. Paul’s mingled again with the din of construction machinery in the City. The one constant was the occasional doleful wail of ambulances heading to hospitals across the metropolis.

In June, the lockdown is expected to be eased further, and in stages. On June 1, primary schools that want to will be allowed to begin bringing pupils back into the classroom. From June 15, “non-essential” retail shops, which have been closed since late March, will be reopening.

In mid-May, when the photographer Giles Price captured these images, little changed at first as the government’s instruction shifted from “Stay at Home” to “Stay Alert.” Trundling into the financial district from affluent boroughs to the east and west, the District Line remained almost empty. With time, the ranks of lower-paid workers would swell as more of them returned to work—part of the same cohort who’ve been among those worst hit by Covid-19 fatalities. Slowly, embankments along the Thames stirred to life, as shown here in the shadow of City Hall by Price’s thermographic camera, which detects infrared light—radiant energy that’s invisible to human eyes—and displays different levels of heat in various colors. —Neil Callanan

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