Trip to London - what to see?

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Disaster_Area

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This is for all the Brit's on RFF. I'm travelling to the UK, London specifically (and possibly Ireland and Scotland) and my question is... what to see? I'm talking mostly things of photographic interest: museums, camera stores, galleries as well as any places that would be interesting to shoot. Any ideas?

I'd also love info on places to avoid. I've heard the crown jewels are cool, but since you're whisked by on a conveyor belt after waiting in a potentially really long line it's not worth it. I'd like to avoid touristy type places that are going to be super packed, cordoned off, no cameras allowed etc. I know a bunch of places I've visited here in Canada are like that, I'm guessing some of the touristy hot spots in the UK are like that too.
 
I liked walking the streets in London. Try some walking tours - these a cheap and simple - you get a directory from your hotel to find out what's on offer and then when you have decided, you go to the nominated railway station at the nominated time, pay your money and off you go with a tour guide and a handful of other people. They give lots of photo opps because you are walking and they are pitched to the needs of the group. The Thames embankments give lots of opportunities for photos too. As do some of the less well known places - I like wandering around the Inns of Court, where barristers have their chambers. Very quaint. The imperial war museum is good. As is Greenwich. Also some of London's famous street markets. For classic cameras try the stores in and around Pied Bull Yard near the British museum. Its been a decade since I have been in London but there were a bunch of good camera stores there. Try Soho streets too forr fun and good coffee. I like the east end and the "city" but in reality Mr Hitler bombed the area pretty comprehensively in the 1939-45 nastiness and much of its history has now been lost apart from a few isolated streets that survived.

Like you I try to avoid most of the obvious tourist spots which are invariably crowded and cliched. I liked the idea of getting a flavour of the town through scenes on its streets. I also like photogrpahing details instead of using a wide angle to try to fit in a whole image of famous buildings. Its easier that way to get something interesting and memorable
 
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Hampton Court allows photography in all areas except the chapel, there is a train station 5 minutes away or you can get a boat trip up the Thames from Kingston.

+1 on the walking tours.

The British Museum is camera friendly, I'm going there tomorrow so I may be posting some pics in the w/nw threads.

Some more info here:

http://photo.net/uk/london
 
Depends what you want to shoot really, but Soho and Chinatown are great to shoot I think. For modern architecture, check out the Gherkin (Swiss Re building), and Canary Wharf.

Some of the tube stations are very nice and historic like Baker Street, or modern like Canary Wharf. For photo shops I like Aperture Photographic, The Classic Camera, and York, all near the British Museum. I also like the Lomo shop in Soho, even if you don't like the cameras, you can pick up film there, get film processed and just observe the phenomenon.

Red Dot Cameras is a nice *tiny* shop if you're after a true Leica dealer.
 
If it rains then a coach or train to Brighton to see the Royal Pavillion is worth doing and a trip up river to Kew Gardens is time well spent. Both missed by tourists and yet first class attractions. OK it's not quite what you asked for but London's a small place...

Regards, David

PS And cross London Bridge and look for a pub called The George and then recross by Blackfriars Bridge and look for a pub called The Blackfriars. You won't be disappointed.
 
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Avoiding touristy type places in London? Hmm... I would suggest East Ham, no tourist in their right mind would venture there.

It depends entirely on you and your priorities. You could easily tick all the tourist boxes in half a day, simply by sitting on a tour bus.

Spend the rest of your time elsewhere, go to the pub, spend the evening watching some stand-up, and certainly take advantage of free museums.

Camera stores? There are numerous in the Holborn area. You can buy your film from Silverprint in Southwark or Process Supplies, near Farringdon. There are lots of galleries to choose from, but it depends on when you're visiting.

Places interesting to shoot? London is a hugely interesting place to shoot, I would suggest putting on your walking shoes and simply wandering the meandering streets without a specified agenda.

Hope that helps.
 
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If you want to use a darkroom (b+w or colour) during your visit, or see a small exhibition space, or just talk to other photographers you could go down to Brixton tube station, head for the well known market area and visit PhotoFusion.
 
I agree with Peter M:

Do these London Walks tours. Very interesting and a lot of fun. I have done many of them. http://www.walks.com/


Avoid Madam Tussaud, the Planetarium, the London Zoo, the London Eye. But do the Tower of London - the Beefeater guides makes the visit both interesting and funny ('The earl of Marlborough was a tall and handsome man, - very much like myself...').

London is an amazing city. Unlike anything you have ever seen. Just go for walks on your own and do window shopping among the strangest of shops. London can offer anything. From a hand made guns for your African buffalo & elephant hunt to diamond studded dog collars, to the strangest of book stores and sex shops. They can clad you up to look like a brewery horse.

London got it all!
 
In addition to the many excellent suggestions on the thread so far, the following itinerary is one option for a day long dose of East London, with a few pints to round off the day:

Take the Thames Clipper river taxi from Embankment to Canary Wharf. You'll see many important London landmarks along the way (plus the more garish obelisks of the City and Docklands towards the end of the journey) and enjoy the expanse of the Thames as it widens after Tower Bridge through Wapping and Limehouse. Seeing London from the river, especially as you travel East, you can see vestiges of the city's former status as an important port - look out for the fine Georgian customs officers' houses at Pier Head, on the north bank near the river police station in Wapping. As many others have said, spend a lot of time pounding the pavement. But don't neglect the river. The Thames IS London.

Cab from Canary Wharf to E.Pellicci's famous cafe on Bethnal Green Road for a legendary fry up. Then have a wander round Bethnal Green. If you have time, stroll up to London Fields in Hackney too and take a look at Broadway Market. You can walk to London Fields by heading north on Cambridge Heath Road from Bethnal Green Tube. If you're walking up there straight from Pellicci's though go north along Squirries St, Warner Place and Goldsmiths Row.

Cab back down to Limehouse and sink a pint at the Grapes on Narrow Street. If the weather's half decent you can sit on the small deck out back, right by the water. From Narrow Street you'll see the clock tower of St Mary's at Limehouse - one of several important Hawksmoor churches in the area. The stretch of the river at Limehouse is inextricably linked to the Chesapeake. Captain Christopher Newport called Limehouse home and learned to sail here before crossing the pond with the Jamestown settlers. As the Thames links Limehouse with Virginia, so it also links Rotherhithe with Massachusetts. From the deck of the Grapes you can look across the river to Rotherhithe, where, some years after Newport sailed up the Chesapeake, the Pilgrim Fathers boarded the Mayflower to begin their Transatlantic voyage via the Thames estuary and the English channel.

If you're feeling in the mood for more than one drink, you could wander back to Tower Bridge walking west from the Grapes towards Wapping, calling in at the Prospect of Whitby, the Captain Kidd and the Town of Ramsgate en route. You'll end up - hopefully not too worse for wear - at St Katharine's Dock near the Tower from where you can jump back on a tube to head wherever.
 
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Everyone has a camera - I mean everyone. All of Central and West London has camera toting tourists and that is good cover for you.

Just be careful at train stations, on private property and taking photos of police or even traffic wardens. I have never been stopped on the street in England and I take a lot, but some people have. Travel light and don't even think about placing a tripod.

Most museums and public art galleries are ok with photos and they are free to enter.

Check this out http://www.sirimo.co.uk/2009/05/14/uk-photographers-rights-v2/

Don't forget The Tube (London Underground) - no flash allowed but otherwise very fertile ground.

Start your walk for a couple miles across the main parks - Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park, St. James's Park - end up at Birdcage Walk and Buckingham Palace, back up The Mall, through Admiralty Arch into Trafalgar Square, right along The Strand to Picadilly Circus, then Leicester Square, nip up into Soho, then down again and on to Covent Garden.

That is one of my recommended tourists walk which will take a good few hours but plenty of sights and photo opps. Then again I was a West End boy ;-)

Another popular destination is Notting Hill for Portobello market on Saturdays or the market at Camden Lock on Sundays I think. Both are worth a visit and there is always the East End, the Embankment, Kings Road and Highgate Cemetery.

Hope this is of some help.

p.s. don't forget all the pubs and try few pints of London Pride.
p.p.s. keep a close eye on your valuables, wallet etc, around Oxford Street and main tube stations. Otherwise, I can't think of anywhere to avoid unless you have some compelling reasons to go to Walthamstow, Brixton or Kensal Rise late in the evening, for example? Avoid paying to go into anywhere - except maybe London Zoo, The Tower of London and a boat ride. The rest suck. Just walk, take the tube or a bus and look around you. One of the absolute best cities for just wandering around.

Tate Modern
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The Tube
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British Museum
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Go up The Monument. Piccadilly Circus at night. Take a river trip. Visit Greenwich; good pictures to be had of the naval college as well as the observatory (and you can test your GPS on the prime meridian).
 
And when it comes to food, walk along the main streets and look down the side streets. Usually there will be a sandwich bar and - also usually - a small public park beyond it where everyone will be eating their sandwiches...

And try and walk along both sides of the river from the City towards Westminster and back again on the other side. London's a small place and it's easier to walk everywhere.

Regards, David
 
Crown jewels are almost deserted if you get there midweek as they open. We had plenty of time - nobody behind us on the moving walkway, so we just walked backwards as much as we wanted.

Bletchley park (WWII codebreaking) just outside Milton Keynes (short train ride day trip from Euston Station)

Greenwich observatory for the Harrison clocks and the old instruments, naval museum right down the hill from the Observatory.

Inns of court, British Museum (look for the Rosetta stone and the Elgin Marbles).

I heartily agree about walking...it's my favorite way to see a city. Get an Underground pass for when you get tired or want to see a different part of the city. London is so full of history that there's always something to see.
 
Highgate Cemetery. But I have to admit, the last couple of times I've been to London I got out as soon as possible. I lost my heart to Brighton 🙂
 
And try and get a journey upstairs on a red London bus, no the tourist ones but a normal working one.

As for the crown jewels; the tourists are bussed there, whipped through and then bussed to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard which takes place at the same time each day. So you have a choice when it comes to strolling around and looking at the crown jewels.

BTW, the main ceremony of changing the guard at BP is followed by a minor one*. The guard picket marches to St James Palace afterwards and about 3 or 4 tourists follow. Join them for a better photo op. Wait until the end of the action and you'll sometimes see the OIC walk back across the park to the barracks, and there might be a band concert in the park but check the days first.

Get free tourist maps from the bus and underground train people...

Regards, David

* Or used to be; I spent almost my entire working life in the City but things may have changed since I retired, 20 years ago.
 
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