London photo spots that actually work

We photograph London most weeks of the year, in every kind of weather, and the honest truth is that the famous list and the working list are not the same thing. Some of the postcard spots are ruined by crowds by nine in the morning. Some streets nobody writes about give you a better photograph in five minutes than an hour at a landmark.

This is the working list, roughly in the order of how early you have to get there. If you only have one morning, take the first four and stop reading.

1. Parliament Square and the red phone boxes

The phone boxes on Great George Street, at the corner of Parliament Square, with Big Ben behind them, are the single most recognisable London frame there is. They are also the most contested: by 9am there is a queue, and by 11am there is a queue with a tripod in it. The full route around the tower is on our Big Ben photoshoot page, and the other nine boxes worth walking to are in our guide to red phone boxes in London.

Get there for sunrise and you will have the boxes and the bridge almost to yourself. The light comes from behind the Houses of Parliament, so you are shooting into a bright sky — which is exactly what makes the silhouette of the tower read so cleanly.

Best time: Sunrise to 8am. After that, come back at dusk when the tower is lit.

2. The Victoria Embankment and the London Eye

Two minutes from the bridge, on the Westminster side of the river, and a completely different photograph: the river wall, the Eye across the water behind you, and enough width that you can move without people walking through the frame.

This is the stretch we use most, because it works in flat grey light. An overcast London sky is a giant softbox — no squinting, no hard shadows under the eyes.

Best time: Any time before 10am, or the last hour before sunset.

3. The arches under Westminster Bridge

Stone arches, repeating lines, and shelter. When it rains — and it will — this is where we go. The arches frame you, the light comes from one side, and the wet pavement doubles everything.

Almost nobody photographs here, which is the point.

Best time: Any time. Best in rain.

4. Millennium Bridge and St Paul’s

The walk up Millennium Bridge puts the dome dead centre behind you. Stand on the bridge for the symmetry, or go to the top floor of One New Change, where the roof terrace gives you the dome close enough to touch and it is free to walk in.

Best time: Early morning for the empty bridge; the terrace closes in the evening, so check before you go.

5. Notting Hill: Portobello Road, Lancaster Road, St Luke’s Mews

The pastel houses are on Lancaster Road and around Portobello, not on Portobello Road itself, which is where most people stand. St Luke’s Mews is the cobbled one with the pink house.

A request from the people who live there, which we pass on: these are homes. Do not sit on the steps, do not block the door, and keep your voice down. Saturday is market day and the street is unusable.

Best time: Weekday mornings. Never Saturday.

6. Little Venice

Canal boats, bridges and willow trees, ten minutes from Paddington and almost empty. It looks nothing like the rest of the list, which is why we use it when someone wants variety in one hour.

Best time: Morning, or golden hour in summer.

7. Primrose Hill

The skyline from the top, with the whole city laid out behind you. It is a real hill, so wear something you can walk up in and bring the heels in a bag.

Best time: Sunset, and it is worth the climb.

8. Covent Garden and Neal’s Yard

Covent Garden’s market building early, before the street performers set up. Neal’s Yard is the tiny courtyard of painted walls two minutes away — bright, colourful and about the size of a living room, so five minutes there is plenty.

Best time: Before 9am.

9. Tower Bridge from Shad Thames

Everyone shoots Tower Bridge from the north bank. Walk to the south side and along Shad Thames, and you get the bridge framed by Victorian warehouses and iron walkways.

Best time: Early morning or blue hour.

10. Kensington: Kynance Mews and the museums

Kynance Mews is the ivy arch — beautiful, narrow, and busy from mid-morning. Two streets away the Natural History Museum gives you that cathedral of a facade, and in winter there is a skating rink in front of it.

Best time: Before 9am for the mews.

11. Greenwich

The Old Royal Naval College colonnades, the Painted Hall, and the view over Canary Wharf from the Observatory. Far enough out that you need to commit to it, and worth a full session on its own.

Best time: Any time; the park is best in late afternoon.

12. Regent Street and Carnaby

The curve of Regent Street is the shot, and in November and December it is strung with Christmas lights that give you an entirely different photograph. Carnaby Street does the same with its own decorations.

Best time: November to early January, after dark.

13. Borough Market

Warm light, produce stalls, brick arches and steam. It is tight and busy, so this is for people who want movement in the frame rather than a posed portrait.

Best time: Weekday mornings, around 10am.

14. Hampstead Heath

Meadows, old trees and the swimming ponds, with the skyline in the distance from Parliament Hill. Green, quiet, and nothing like the postcard version of London.

Best time: Late afternoon in summer.

How to put four of these into one hour

You cannot cross London in an hour, so a session is built around one cluster. The three that work:

• Westminster cluster: phone boxes → the Embankment wall → the bridge → the arches. Everything is within a ten-minute walk and it holds up in rain.
• City cluster: Millennium Bridge → St Paul’s → One New Change terrace → Borough Market across the river.
• West cluster: Notting Hill streets → Kynance Mews → Little Venice.

When the light is good

London is far north, so the difference between summer and winter is dramatic. In June the sun is up before 5am and the golden hour lasts an age. In December the sun rises around 8am, sets before 4pm, and that low light all day is the best gift this city gives a photographer.

Grey days are not a problem. Flat light is even, kind to faces, and makes the brick and stone read properly. The only weather we genuinely work around is hard midday sun in July, which puts shadows under everyone’s eyes.

A note on rain

Rain is not a cancelled session. Umbrellas, reflections, wet stone, empty streets that are normally packed — some of our favourite London photographs happened in weather people would have stayed inside for. The arches, Borough Market and the museum entrances all shelter you, and we carry umbrellas.