London Photo/Travel Guide

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In this guide, I’ll be highlighting my favorite spots around London to shoot. Most photography guides for London tell you to “go to Parliament, the London Eye, etc.” While these are fantastic spots to see, I tend to veer off the path a bit, and over the years and a handful of visits to London, I think I’ve found a few spots worth sharing that you may not hear about in your standard “London Guide.”

  1. Grant’s Quay Wharf - 51.5085° N, 0.0846° W

- Short of being ON Tower Bridge, this is the best spot I’ve found to get shots of Tower Bridge during the day, or night.  It’s rarely crowded, as the path leading to is used primarily by runners.  

2. One New Change - 51.5139° N, 0.0955° W

- On top of being the absolute best spot to see St Paul’s, it’s also a really cool location with a lot of neon lights, glass, and architecture that provides a lot of shooting options.  The Formula 1 arcade is here as well, which is a great spot to get some food and drinks, and/or enjoy the F1 simulators.  The rooftop terrace is the best place to get a shot of St Paul’s and the city of London, but I have yet to be able to get up there. Every time I’ve been in London, the rooftop terrace has been closed.  Probably because I’m always here during the winter, but alas, if you can make it up there, do so.  


3. Soho - 51.5136° N, 0.1365° W

- Possibly my favorite and least favorite place to shoot in London, depending on the day.  Soho is full of neon lights, bars and restaurants, and interesting people: a street photographer’s dream.  But, it’s also chaotic and nightmarishly busy on weekends, full of party goers, drunk crowds, and occasionally protests/marches.  It’s always good to be aware of your surroundings, but that’s especially the case in Soho.  I’d recommend going on a week night when crowds are more thin. 


4. Piccadilly -  51.5101° N, 0.1342° W

- Piccadilly Circus is a great spot for people watching and street performers.  It’s a major meeting point for Soho, Buckingham Palace, Covent Gardens, and the National Gallery, so there’s a lot of traffic, foot and vehicle.  There’s a ton of great restaurants and pubs in every direction, along with quite a bit of shopping options as well.  


5. Bank - 51.51334° N, 0.08890° W

- Bank is the financial hub for downtown London, located just northwest of Tower Bridge.  It’s a great spot to wander and get shots of the architecture.  Winter provides the best lighting and potential low hanging fog, but you can get good shots here anytime.  The old Bank of London is a go to, along with the surrounding streets.  

6. Leadenhall Market -  51.5128° N, 0.0835° W

- This is more of a fun one than a “photo potential” spot, but for the Harry Potter fans, this is a solid stop while wandering London.   Located just east of Bank, and just north of Tower Bridge, this is the location where Diagon Alley/The Leaky Cauldron was filmed, and feels like you’re stepping into the movie.  

MY TRAVEL KIT(S) 2025

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I try to keep my travel kit fairly small and lightweight, but every year I fail miserably.  So for 2025, I’m embracing my lack of ability to pack light when it comes to cameras and gear.  Last year, I picked up a Pelican carry on case and Peter McKinnon Nomadic Backpack, so this year, we’re going to load them up with everything I might need on a trip.   

I will preface by saying my travel kit and my everyday carry kit on the road is very different.  I like taking more stuff with me than I need, but when I’m wandering a city or exploring a new place, I take a very minimal kit depending on the needs of the day.  I spend a lot of time on flights and in new places, so having a kit that I can minimize down to essentials only is key as well.  


  MY READY TO SHOOT KITS


- Kit #1: Fuji XH2 with battery grip and the Fuji 18-135mm.  This one is my do everything, photo/video setup.  Perfect for the day trips where I might be doing some hiking, exploring a city, etc.  The lens is a little bulky, along with the camera body, but it’s easy to carry with the battery grip on it, and the balance between body and lens is pretty solid. It’s also weather resistant, so I don’t have to worry about any weather conditions. I can hand carry this setup most of the day and not get too tired.  

- Kit #2: Fuji X-T50 with Fuji 27mm pancake lens.  This is my absolute go to, everyday carry setup.  It easily fits in my hoodie or jacket pocket, weighs next to nothing, and can handle anything I need with the new 40mp sensor.  The only downside is no weather sealing, but I have shot with this in the light rain a few times and had no issues.  

- Kit #3: Fuji GFX50Sii with Fuji 35-70mm lens. This kit is #3 mainly because of it’s size and weight, but may be getting bumped up to #1 here shortly. After spending a weekend shooting in London, I’m strongly considering a change in the kit priority. The images I can get out of this combo far outweigh the cons, which are the weight and just general bulk of the camera / lens combo.

Fuji GFX50sii & 35-70mm


LENSES


- Viltrox 23mm: Viltrox is making some of the absolute best 3rd party autofocus lenses for Fuji right now. They also make lenses for the other brands too, so not Fuji exclusive. This 23mm is fantastic for everyday carry type photography. It’s small, coming in at just 260 grams, it’s super easy to carry. Build quality is exceptional, comes in a nice metal casing that feels durable. It’s also super sharp, even at night.

Shot on Viltrox 23mm 1.4 | London, UK


- Viltrox 75mm 1.2 Pro: This lens is a bit on the bulky side coming in at 670 grams. It fits very comfortably on the XH2 but it’s a bit much for the XT50 for a daily carry around combo. It’s sharp as a tack though, and has some really interesting character. Only downside i’ve found is some minor flaring when shooting at sundown, as seen below. I personally like it for a shot like this one, but if I was doing a portrait session, I might feel differently.

Shot on Viltrox 75mm 1.2 | San Diego, California


-Sigma 16mm 1.4: This lens, for the price, is incredible. Bang for your buck, this might be the best lens you can buy for the Fuji X system. It’s fast, great build quality that’d you’d expect from a high end Sigma lens, and fairly easy to carry despite its 405 gram weight. The images can be a little bit soft when shooting wide open, but I personally like that look, so this lens works well for me. If you’re a sharp as a tack type shooter, this lens might aggravate you from time to time.

Shot on Sigma 16mm 1.4 | Washington, DC


- Zeiss Touit Planar 32mm 2.8: This lens, simply rules. If i’m not carrying the Fuji 27mm pancake on my X-T50, this is the lens that’s on in it’s place. It’s 210 grams, so it’s lightweight and small. It’s built well, with a combo of metal framing and has a kind of rubber-esque grippy-ness to it that is really nice. As for image quality, it’s sharpest when it’s wide open, and the colors producted are nice and warm. This is the only lens I’ve used in the Fuji X mount line that can even come close to replicating that medium format subject separation. It’s got a specific character that feels like an older, vintage medium format lens. If you can find one of these, buy it, thank me later.

Shot on Zeiss Touit Planar 32mm 2.8 | Fuji X-H2

- Sirui 24mm Nightwalker T1.2: The Sirui 24mm Nightwalker is one of my favorite lenses I own, but probably gets the least amount of use.  It’s a pretty niche lens, designed for video and low light but it does really excel at photography as well.  It’s a manual focus lens, so it takes some more time and process than the autofocus alternatives, but I really enjoy shooting with it. I need to work that one into the rotation more often.  

BAGS

- The Pelican 1510 case with dividers is my main carry on for travel.  I can fit my work laptop and iPad into the laptop sleeve in the top of the case, along with all my gear listed above minus the X-T50 and 27mm.   

- The Peter McKinnon 25L backpack is my other carry on.  It houses my battery packs, backup headphones for long flights, chargers, etc.   In the top portion, there’s a small area where I fit my Bellroy 6L sling.  In the sling is my X-T50 and 27mm, gum, Bose Ultra Earbuds, usb-c cable, and chapstick, a travel staple.  It’s super handy when boarding, I can just throw my pelican case in the overhead, take the sling out of the top part of the backpack, throw the backpack up top as well, and I’ve got everything I’ll need for the flight with me so I don’t have to get up during the flight if I don’t want to.  The Bellroy 6L Sling is my preferred bag for cities as well.  It’s a very small, light weight over the shoulder sling that can comfortably house the things I’ll need while exploring.  It draws far less attention than a backpack as well, which is a major factor.  

            - Bellroy 6L Sling is my favorite of the collection.  As mentioned above, I can fit all my necessary items in this for any day trip or wander around a city.  Cannot recommend this sling enough.