London’s festive lights from above – in pictures

Jason Hawkes has been taking aerial photographs of central London since the area switched on its Christmas lights, showing us a view of landmarks, shopping streets, markets and a fairground

A view over Covent Garden in the West End

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

The Christmas lights along Oxford Street

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

The Royal Opera House in the foreground, with Covent Garden market and its purple Christmas tree behind

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

Festive lighting at the top of the Shard in London Bridge

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

Seven Dials, Covent Garden

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

Skyscrapers in the Square Mile, London’s historic financial district, with Tower Bridge and the Tower of London visible beyond

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

The Christmas market in Leicester Square

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

The lights along Regent Street, with Oxford Circus in the foreground and the half-timbered front of Liberty department store peeping out near the centre

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

The London Eye on the South Bank, with St Paul’s Cathedral standing out amid a sea of office buildings farther up the Thames

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

The Christmas market in Trafalgar Square

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

The Winter Wonderland fairground, set amid the darkness of Hyde Park

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

Tower Bridge, with the Shard rising to the left and the skyscrapers of the City of London to the right

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

A crowd gathered to watch a street performer near the Christmas tree in Covent Garden market

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

Harrods department store in Knightsbridge

Photograph: Jason Hawkes

Battersea power station, decorated with projections of Wallace and Gromit

Photograph: Jason Hawkes