One of the main things that drew me to street photography was my fascination with the wonderful characters and personalities of London. There are plenty of location guides and guides to the best locations for street photography. But almost all of them are about the best streets to photograph not the best place to find people to photograph.
The best places to shoot street photography in London are based on the best places to find the people of London that you want to shoot.
As you know, street photography is about telling stories, spotting the small human things in life and photographing people. So I’ve dug back through the London photo walks I’ve done with David Gibson and others to find the best routes in London for visitors and locals.
Hipster’s big day out (East London)
This walk starts at Liverpool St Station and loops through the East End following a trail of independent cafes, market stalls and vintage stores. The natural habitat of the hipster. If you’re visiting London then you’ll be amazed at the density of vintage rangefinders and Lomo cameras you’ll see in use along this route. Half the time you’ll be photographing photographers.
- Petticoat Lane
- Spitalfields Market
- Brick Lane Market
- Columbia Rd Flower Market
Tourists in the wild (Central London)
This walk starts from Oxford Circus and lets you stalk the West End hunting tourists, crowds and street life in it’s densest form. You’ll see screaming kids in front of Topshop, lonely pensioners having a cup of tea in a street cafe and Middle Eastern billionaires taking in the sights.
- Oxford Circus
- Soho Square
- Tottenham Court Road
- Piccadilly Circus
- Trafalgar Square
What are your favourite locations to shoot the people of London?
London Street Photo 
Great post. I’d add this walk:
– Bankside which is always full of people
– Across the Millennium Bridge whose north end funnels people nicely
– Along the Strand to Trafalgar Square.
Kit
Great walk Kit! That would add in lots of ‘city’ characters that the other walks miss out. Shooting around the Thames is always a good idea because people are feeling a bit more chilled out.
Hi! Peter,
I have been following your posts since I have stayed in U.K. It’s really great to read your articles from time to time, and mindset is walking along your view sights to observe the walk of life in England.
I personally am fond of street photography as you are and your works do inspire me a lot. At the moment, my gears are GH2 with 25mm/1.4F, 45mm-175mm X lens, 14mm/2.5f +GWC1 and my “pocket camera” –Fuji X10.
I had dropped by in London couple times, I will plan to bend sometime to visit London again even though I have just traveled from Germany last month with family. So your “shooting guide” is very helpful. Thanks! keep in touch and please post more.
Best,
Jaw-wen
thank you so much for this post. I am always amazed at the generousity of my fellow street photographers. I haven’t been to London for 20 years but will be there soon for a day or so to do street and this is a HUGE HUGE help..thank you very much!!
just the information i need, coming to london in a week.