How to Photograph Urban and City Spaces

It isn’t hard to see why many photographers choose urban and city landscapes as the environment for their best work. A wealth of art, architecture, history, nature and humanity fills the corners of city and urban centres, creating an incredible juxtaposition of history and modernity, nature and technology, and daytime and nightlife.

A great example of this is the presence of historical landmarks in a modern setting. Photographing the two separately will produce stunning subject specific photos, so while photographing historical landmarks or modern architectural masterpieces it is important to focus on the detail of the buildings with a strong zoom. By focussing on certain aspects of the building, this will also give you a different perspective, which could lead to a rather interesting and original photo. However, in many major cities, there is also the opportunity to snap some of the most admired historical buildings in direct contrast with the modern landscape in which they now stand. Capturing this contrast takes a keen eye for light and shade to optimise the appearance of both structures.

If you are lucky enough, you might find yourself in a city or urban space that has access to a number of parks, zoos or nature reserves nearby. These are perfect spots for a bit of photography, as the presence of nature in the midst of a human environment can create interesting contrasts and startling diversity in your photos. Lakes and rivers running through the city can also provide the aspect of reflection to your work, which, if found must be utilised, paying particular attention to the time of day, the light, and the shade and how this alters the mirror effect of the water.

Crime scene in central London

It is also important to remember when visiting a major city or place of architectural beauty that the buildings are not the only things to photograph. Office workers, construction workers, school children, pensioners, teenagers and married couples are all wandering the streets where these buildings have stood for many years, and noting the contrast of history and modernity through photographing people is also an interesting angle.  

Photographing city and urban landscapes in the day creates a completely different quality to the one photographed at night. Workers turn into party goers, and teenagers and young people hang out on the city streets. The entire scene takes on a new quality, particularly when street and building lights create a haze across the city, an aspect which can be manipulated to incredible effect.

Different types of transport in the area offer a range of interesting city shots. Trams, buses, and underground trains are perfect spots to capture some interesting action and expression shots, and riding the bus can also be a great way to get to know an area and scope out the best places for capturing your ideal shot. Getting to know the city on public transport can also give photographers who are new to the city a general idea of its personality, which they could incorporate in their photography.

Finally, one of the best and simplest pieces of advice that I have received is to simply travel light. Many photographers, who might only have a day or two to shoot a city, often opt for a point and shoot camera, particularly if they intend to take shots in crowded areas, confined spots and on the move.

The seasons of change

A bonus of living in the UK (although it may not feel like it sometimes) is that our climate is subject to seasonal change. This brings a great variety to the range of images our shores can produce. Warmer countries may look beautiful is summery idyllic images but even in their winters they look pretty similar. This is fine if you want to holiday there but not so much if you want to capture different emotions which seasonal changes provide.

Recently, due to the number of snow flurries we've had, I've managed to capture a great number of images which reminisce of childhood memories. Children sleigh or snowmen melting – even businessmen hurrying around London with their coats drawn tight. The juxtaposition of a child’s enthusiasm compared to the cynical worker who sees the snow as an inconvenience rather than an opportunity.

In a way, that’s why I love photography. You see the same mundane things everyone else does but try and create something powerful or beautiful out of the experience. Imagining how an image looks from a different angle, through a different lens, using a different aperture or even how you can manipulate the shot through Photoshop, all these things teach you to view the world with the eyes of a child.

Snow isn't always peaceful

The seasons really allow the photographer to play with their surroundings. Golden and burgundy leaves falling in autumn, the hazy summer days spent on the grass. The location is the same but the use of the area and what it means to the people inhabiting it changes.

Even in terms of fashion, seasons dictate what imagery photographers can capture. Warm furs and long coats can create a wonderful contrast of textures from the constructed world around them. The typically pink sun-burnt skin of the average Brit, as funny as it looks, creates a positive emotional response to a photograph, which is the fundamental reason for photography isn't it?

To capture the best images, photographers may need to alter their camera’s white balance before taking their shots. In the UK, because we are further away from the equator, light is filtered through the atmosphere in such a way that it is mainly blue light which comes through. This is why our country feels so grey in winter. In summer, the light is more direct allowing warmer colours of light spectrum to penetrate. This allows for the golden, reds and yellow colours to become more vibrant. By altering your cameras settings, you can best capture the emotion in a scene.

Winter scenes also allow great images in terms of colour – or more accurately – the lack of it. Using Photoshop, you can take a fairly grey image and enhance one colour within the image in order to draw attention to it. It’s a simple technique but can be very effective.

Can the iPhone ever replace SLR?

In the past, photography was a skill; an art form. The composition within the frame, the lighting, the angles and then the skills used in developing your film was all vital in creating breath taking images. Now, with digital technology and Photoshop, it seems anyone with opposable thumbs and working eyes has the ability to take an image and make it look semi-interesting. 

The result of this ease of use is that there is less artistic thought put into the images captured and the pebble-dash affect is often used (take enough photos and some of them should come out okay in editing.) It also means that the effect of decent photographs is lessened and therefore there is less demand for the craft. Yes, special occasions like weddings will always need the professional touch but for traditional roles such as Newspapers, a journalist with a smart phone might be enough to get the image for the story.

For me, this is a disturbing thought. Imagine a war photographer unable to shine a light on corruption through lack of finances. It seems that whenever controversial images make it to press now, the go-to excuse is Photoshop. Celebrities caught with drugs – Photoshop. Prisoners of war being tortured – Photoshop. It’s almost as if the ease in which we can edit our images has undermined the validity and trust in the medium.

The flipside side is that now we are able to capture our own history constantly. Very rarely does an event happen without it being caught in a lens. The first real example of this was the terrorist attacks on September 11^th. When you think of the imagery captured, more often than not, it is through the blurred camera of a phone rather than the high res image of an SLR camera.

Then, in more recent years, footage and images caught of the Arab Spring again were caught on handheld smart phones. In fact, News agencies regularly smuggle smart phones into countries where they feel it would be too dangerous to send reporters. The result is we now have an eye, albeit less quality, in areas under media lock downs and by broadcasting these images it puts international pressure on the governments of these countries who are suddenly unable to deny maltreating their citizens. Imagine what effect such exposure to corruption could have had on Apartheid South Africa?

The fact is there will always be a compromise between accessibility and image quality but only if you define image quality by clarity of the image and not the potential to affect change in others.

My Best Photography Reads

While taking inspiration from the world around me, I also love to delve into a good book about photography to get a sense of what else is out there, and discover what inspires other photographers to produce their individual work.

The benefits are obvious. The more widely read a person, the more likely they are to produce an interesting story. It’s often the case that I find myself wandering the streets just waiting for that Kodak moment, but in order to grow as a photographer it’s important to read about the work of others and find out how they obtain and express that all important picture.

Over the past few months I have been paying particular attention to a couple of authors who have really inspired my thought process as a photographer, as well as my technique in the field. I would like to share with you a few of my personal favourites in the hope that you, too, may enjoy these books and take from them a greater sense of understanding of your own photography.

The Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe McNally

Joe McNally is an authority when it comes to finding that perfect moment in photography. Having worked for National Geographic, Time, Life and Sports Illustrated, this man knows what he’s talking about. His book puts a lot of emphasis on the manipulation of light in photography, an element which eludes many searching to enter the realm of professional photographer.

With more than 30 years experience in the industry, McNally gives photographers an in-depth lesson on the importance of light, and more importantly, teaches the reader how to manipulate their medium in order to control, direct and even create light in their surroundings. Joe McNally goes into detail about his own experiences behind the lens using his unique voice to blend humour with sincerity while at all times being immensely enjoyable to read. 

The Moment It Clicks: Photography Tips from One of the World’s Top Shooters by Joe McNally

Another one from acclaimed photographer Joe McNally, this book is a completely different tone to the last. Combining the elements of his trade with help manual type instruction, readers get the best of both worlds in McNally’s ‘study book from a friend’ type approach to this photography book.

Joe guides reader through a comprehensive training process while at the same time offering an unrivalled insight into the top tips and tricks of the trade he learned throughout his intimidating career as a professional photographer for some of the world’s most popular publications.

The book provides beautifully glossy spreads from McNally’s top photography locations, and teaches readers about the technique and equipment needed for a specific shot, along with first class instruction on how to recreate the image yourself. This book is truly inspiring and great tuition all in one.

Within The Frame: A Journey of Photographic Vision by David DuChemin

What I really enjoyed about this particular book in comparison with the Joe McNally works is its journey back to the conception of an idea behind a photograph. Instead, David DuChemin’s book is largely concerned with how to express the initial though process behind the image and relate the emotions of the image to the onlooker.

DuChemin’s passion for photography is astonishing and evident in his book, which inspires readers with the same desire to produce images equally as conceptual by following the musings of the author.

DuChemin writes explicitly about his vision and the power with which he endeavours to capture and deliver a specific emotion, culture or environment. He inspires budding photographers with the same passion and instructs them on how to find their own style, as well as showing them how to best tell their own story through photography. 

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Mark Holyoake’s top five tips for beautiful photographs

1.     Look for contrasts

Things in their regular places are boring. Nobody wants to see a photograph of a boarded up house but put that boarded up house between two modern sky scrapers and you’ve got something interesting for the eye to analyse. There’s the sleekness and precision of the metal and glass structures against the shabby brick or wooden exterior of the house. There’s the effect of time and how it’s changed the buildings, there’s an untold story within the image and this is intriguing for the viewer.

Last year the image of a house in China, sat in the middle of a new constructed motorway, went viral. How do these people live in the middle of the motorway? What legal battles were fought and how did it escalate to this point? What types of people were involved in this struggle? The house isn’t interesting, the motorway isn’t interesting.  It’s the questions the image provokes and the contrast of image which is interesting.

2.     More is more

A good way to describe a photograph is as a moment frozen in time. Life is a collection of billions of moments and every photograph captures that moment forever. Unfortunately, viewfinders on cameras aren’t great for analysing whether you are doing that moment justice. What appears great on a small screen might not look good in edit.

The subjects in our images are unpredictable, even photographing portraits can be a challenge. People’s faces change angle and expression in so many random and uncontrollable ways that the only way to capture the right one is by taking lots of images. Unless you’re shooting with film, which literally costs you money, there’s no excuse for not taking as many photos as you can and hoping the right moment presents itself.

3.     Emotional portraits

Unless the purpose of the photograph is to contrast a lack of emotion against an emotional environment, more often than not emotions are more interesting. The reason people look strange in portraits is because they are usually trying to recreate what they think an emotion looks like.

Emotional responses like crying or laughing occur because we unable to control them. As human’s we are intrigued by what other people are thinking. Research into newspapers shows that people’s eyes spend most time focused on the face on the person in an image rather than reading the article.

For example, sports photographers at a football match attempt to tell the story of the game through imagery. The way they do this is by capturing the player’s emotions. If someone is smiling it shows their team has won, whereas, heads down and hands on hips show the disappointment of a loss. Your imagery should also tell a story – although maybe a little more subtly.

4.     Use movement

While still life imagery and landscapes can be great images, few shots look as dramatic as action. The eye draws imaginary lines across the image to process and understand what is happening. A shot of a busy street is interesting because of all the different directions in which objects and people are travelling. Some photographers prefer to colour these lines in using long exposure images to create blurs of colour cutting through the image as the stationary objects remain in focus.

Framing the photograph around movement can also create great images. Showing a person walking into the frame or just leaving it creates the feeling of a journey. The fact you can’t see where they have been or where they are going makes for engaging image than just putting the subject in the middle of the frame.

5.     Spend time in the editing room

It’s sad but true, you need to spend time editing your shots. Programmes like Instagram might have turned Facebook into a blur of sepia burgers and brown landscapes but if you’re not willing to put the hours in on Photoshop, other people will. Of course, you need to be careful not to over work your image otherwise you’ll be left with the equivalent of Shane Warne’s face. The old adage, if something looks too good to be true it usually is, still rings true.

Generally speaking, good editing is like good cosmetic surgery - it should enhance the subject, without ever being noticeable. Unless you’re really proud of your Photoshop skills, then by all means go crazy and create as many surreal images as you want! 

Famous Photos of the World

There are numerous photos I would love to include in this list but to give readers a snapshot of my favourites; I have chosen just four works of art to illustrate four different reasons why these photos captured my imagination. Here I will share with you my thoughts on the genius behind these inspired photographs, which continue to rock the world decades later.

1878: Sallie Gardner at a Gallop by Eadweard Muybridge

In my mind, this photo is not so much an image of outstanding beauty, but more of a trophy for the success of an experiment issued by Professor Leland Stanford, who set photographer Eadweard Muybridge the task of discovering whether, at any time during the full speed gallop of a horse; all four of the horse’s legs are lifted off the ground.

In order to display the images correctly, Muybridge used a spinning wheel, which was widely regarded to be the first ever usage of motion picture.

It is the challenge and intrigue of Professor Stanford and Mr Muybridge behind the photo, as well as the advent of the spinning wheel display, that, for me, this photo remains one of my all time favourites.

1932: Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper by Charles C Ebbets

With stunning imagery, the staggering feat of taking lunch while suspended in the New York skyline, and a beautiful display of camaraderie between workers, this photo by Charles C Ebbets was destined for success.

However, the photographer, who took the photo while on the 69^th floor of the GE building in New York, was unknown as the artist behind the image until 2003.

The reason I have chosen to include this well known photo in my list is for a very different reason however. Despite the incredible image so deftly caught on camera, I can’t help but feel a little sick every time I look at the photo and consider the potential consequences of such a situation! That in itself is no mean feat for a photographer.

1945: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal

Taken on the island of Iwo Jima near to the end of the Second World War, this Pulitzer Prize winning photo is an iconic symbol of the struggle of war, and particularly poignant as only some of the men in the photo survived the battlefield that day.

The effort, teamwork and ultimate sacrifice of some of the soldiers in the photo is a symbol of ultimate patriotism, and has thus been rewarded with a proud place in the annals of history.

Surprisingly, the photographer was preparing to take another shot with the marines below the flag, but quickly saw the opportunity and snapped the photo without even looking through the view finder. It’s groundbreaking but fleeting moments like these, that as a photographer, I have always dreamed of capturing.

1968: Earthrise by William Anders

This incredible image was taken on the Apollo 8 mission and broke a world record for being the first photo of the whole earth from space. More than this, it is said that this photo inspired a generation of environmentalists who, thanks to William Anders, witnessed the sheer beauty of the world and were driven to maintain it.

It really is an awe-inspiring photo, and while I don’t envision capturing a photo of that magnitude in my own career, the power of one photo to motivate a community towards a good cause is definitely a noble aspiration.