The street photography scene in London and across Britain has exploded in recent years, with photographers capturing the everyday moments on our streets. From the iconic red telephone boxes to the bustling markets and famous landmarks, there is a profusion of vibrant and dynamic subjects for street photographers to capture.
If visual arts bring you to Britain for your journey, street photography surely has a rich history in the country. During the 1930s and 1940s in London, the concept gained popularity thanks to the pioneering work of photographers such as Bill Brandt and Bert Hardy. Today, that legacy lives on through many contemporary and self-taught British street photographers, who continue to document the ever-changing landscape of our cities with their cameras and smartphones.
With the rise of social media, it is easier than ever for photographers to showcase their work and connect with audiences worldwide. This has created a vibrant and diverse community of street photographers passionate about capturing the magic of the street, especially in London and other major cities in the country.
We selected some talented and brilliant street photographers based in London and beyond who relentlessly capture the urban treasures of our cities.
London
Dougie Wallace
Originally from Scotland, Dougie Wallace is a British photographer known for his humourous approach to street photography. His images feature bold colours and busy street scenes and capture everyday life’s essence. His incredible work has been exhibited worldwide and included in several publications, and he wrote critically-acclaimed books like East Ended or Well Heeled.
Charlie Kwai
Based in London, Charlie Kwai is a street photographer whose images often capture the personalities and quirks of the city’s residents. His style is characterized by a raw, unfiltered quality that shows post-processing or staging. Instead, he prefers to capture his subjects naturally as they go about their daily life.
Niall McDiarmid
Niall McDiarmid focuses on capturing the rich diversity of the British Isles, particularly in fashion, personal style, and cultural heritage. From farmers and street vendors to fashion icons and performers, he likes to play with colourful and vibrant themes to reflect people’s joy and pride in their communities and cultural traditions.
Matt Stuart
Matt Stuart is a British street photographer who is known for his candid, funny images of daily life. His work often highlights the surprising and absurd moments that occur in everyday situations, capturing the humour of life on the street. His style is characterized by bold colours and strong compositions to accentuate the personalities of his subjects.
Dimpy Bhalotia
Sharing her time between Bombay and London, where she moved in 2005, Dimpy Bhalotia is an award-winning street photographer who graduated with a BA in Fashion Design Technology at UAL. She knows how to capture the beauty and chaos of life in Mumbai with striking black-and-white images featuring strong contrasts and highlighting the cultural complexity of the city. Her work is often stark and powerful, reflecting the harsh realities of life in one of India’s most vibrant and dynamic cities.
Alan Schaller
Alan Schaller is a London-based photographer known for his spectacular monochrome and diverse images of urban life. His work often features strong geometric shapes and surreal montages of people and their surroundings. Alan is particularly talented at capturing the energy of the urban environment, providing a unique perspective on city life.
Ana Tortosa
Ana Tortosa is a London-based Spanish photographer highlighting both the UK and her home country’s cultural roots and traditions. Her images aim to capture the beauty and intimacy of everyday life in London, Madrid and beyond. Her work often provides a detailed portrait of British and Spanish cultures.
Linda Wisdom
Specialising in fine art street, urban and lifestyle photography, Linda Wisdom is a British photographer who creatively captures the beauty of the city environment in her images. Her work is distinguished by an interest in the urban world and its impact on the human experience. Linda also teaches photography through workshops and photo tours in London and Europe ie. Airbnb as a photography tour host & tutor.
Mike from MKaptured.UK
Based outside London in Essex, Mike is a rising street photographer whose work focuses on colour and light, capturing the city’s vibrant energy with bold contrasts. His photos usually show the diversity and complexity of the urban environment, providing an inspiring portrait of everyday life.
Joshua K. Jackson
British photographer Joshua K. Jackson likes to explore the cultural and social complexity of the urban landscape. His work often features strong characters and bold compositions, providing a thought-provoking perspective on big city life. His visuals are powerful and empathetic for his subjects.
Michael Wayne Plant
Originally from New Zealand, Michael Wayne Plant has lived and worked in Australia, Greece, America, Italy, France and now the UK. His work has included advertising, fashion, documentary, portraiture and architecture, hugely influencing his style. Today he photographs key aspects of life using social documentary and street photography.
Abi Ismail
Indonesian photographer and videographer based in London, Abi Ismail has been a passionate photographer since 2007, creating imagery with enthusiasm and an extremely keen eye, sharing his time between London and his home country. He worked with many well-known photographers in Indonesia and likes to vlog and wander around the streets.
Gilbert Majek
Gilbert Majek is a self-taught street photographer who loves exploring London’s cultural complexity. He uses both analogue and digital with a Leica camera system and sometimes the DJI Mavic PRO drone series to create mostly black and white photographs, and occasionally bright and colourful series, to reflect the everyday life of Londoners and beyond.
Emmanuel Cole
Raised in East London, Emmanuel Cole is a British photographer with an incredible eye for portrait and street life. His thought-provoking photos focus on identity, culture, and ethnicity. Emmanuel beautifully and boldly captures the streets and people via portrait photography, which sharpened his signature, always seeking “the fleeting moment”.
Paul Russell
Born in London in 1966, Paul Russell is a street and documentary photographer based in Weymouth whose candid photos mix light and shadow. He loves capturing the urban atmosphere and showing how human behaviour is affected by the environment by pausing a moment and observing people.
Ronya Galka
Talented street photographer Ronya Galka finds inspiration particularly in London, where she moved from Germany. Ronya sees street photography as an extremely honest and straightforward way to capture humanity’s everyday life moments, and her photos have an extraordinary level of attention to detail in a yet minimalistic manner. Named one of the ‘Top 10 British Street Photographers’ in 2015, her work has been exhibited at Liberty’s of London and the Pall Mall Gallery.
Joas Souza
With a strong focus on architecture and aerial photography, Brazilian photographer Joas Souza documents his home country’s vibrant and energetic culture with moments of joy, celebration and the struggles people in urban areas face. He is particularly talented in emphasizing the importance of community and the power of human connection.
Mike McIlvaney
Mike McIlvaney is a street photographer captivated by the city and expressing curiosity for people and the places where they live. He photographs diverse neighbourhoods by telling the stories of the people who live and work there. His visuals show bold colours and textures, creating visually striking and emotionally evocative images, “transforming mundane scenes into moments of theatre”.
Nick Turpin
Born in London in 1969, Nick Turpin started in 1990 as a staff photographer with The Independent and then pursued his career in Advertising and Design photography. In 2000 he founded the international street photographers group in-public and in 2010 he established Nick Turpin Publishing. Today based between London and Lyon, France, his images are characterized by their strong composition and use of light, capturing moments of beauty and chaos that occur within the city.
Ben Brewty
Ben Brewty is a self-taught street photographer residing in London who loves documenting events and storing memories. As he explains online, “living in London gave him the opportunity to explore and find his niche”. His images are poetic and nostalgic, displaying the beauty of everyday life in the city.
Michal Patora
Based in North London, Michal Patora is a Polish street photographer who uses his camera to explore the spontaneity of everyday life. His images showcase the unique colours, textures, and patterns that can be found within the urban environment. His work invites viewers to slow down and appreciate the simple moments of beauty, too often overlooked.
Kevin Lu
Another talented street photographer living in London is Kevin Lu, who loves working on landscapes in the city’s bustling streets. His images are characterized by their exceptional use of light and edits, capturing the mood and atmosphere of the urban environment.
Rob Bentley
Rob Bentley is a lifestyle and street photographer whose photos highlight the charm of traditional British buildings. He enjoys working on angles and perspectives, showcasing the intricate details and patterns of Liverpool’s most iconic buildings and public spaces.
Manchester
Simon Buckley
Street photographer Simon Buckley has lived in Salford near Manchester his all life and today photographs the city’s essence mostly at dawn and dusk. He currently explores transition within urban landscapes and, as a result, created the Not Quite Light project, which led him to publish his first book, Time will Tell.
Glasgow
John Farnan
Glasgow-based John Farnan is a street photographer whose portfolio is a mixture of film and digital images. His technique? A handcrafted darkroom set up for traditional silver gelatin prints, with 35mm mediums and a particular interest in bold panoramic images. His work explores the intersection of nature and buildings with monochrome and long-exposure techniques.
Liverpool
Steve Coleman
Steve Coleman is a dedicated broadcast journalist and photographer from Liverpool who focuses on all kinds of street photography. His statement: “Photography is photography, an image can be defined by its composition, beauty or style by the viewer, there’s no need to be told what it is”. Member of the F50 Collective, Steve has hosted many workshops to teach his passion for photography techniques.
Brighton
Ray Burn
Ray Burn is a street photographer based in Brighton who unlocks the city’s potential through street clichés and London’s. He plays with black and white pictures, capturing the energy and vibrancy of the cities. Burn’s images often feature dynamic motion and movement, showcasing the excitement and dynamism of life in the urban environment.
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With the talented street photographers mentioned above, the ones before and the next generations, street photography in London and across Britain has a rich history and a bright future. Through their lenses, we are able to rediscover the beauty and complexity of life on the street and celebrate the humanity that surrounds us every day.
If you’re into art and culture, you can continue your journey by trying one of our incredible London coach tours or day tours from London to key destinations such as Stonehenge, Bath or Canterbury, where there are plenty of photos to take!
