Jordan Banks
Award-winning travel photographer Jordan Banks shares his tried-and-tested tips and tricks for shooting stunning shots of towns and cities
Reigning National Geographic Traveller City Photographer of the Year Jordan teaches how to photograph all things urban.
Cities are energetic, vibrant and ever-changing places that can provide photographers with a seemingly endless list of photo opportunities. From amazing skylines and unique architecture to the hustle and bustle of the streets, most cities provide enough opportunity to inspire any willing photographer.
While I love working in the wild, the majority of my assignments are actually undertaken in the fascinating concrete jungles that so many of us now call home. I have learnt to love the energy of a city and I believe that some of my strongest images have been taken in urban areas.
At first, cities can be a little intimidating and tough to shoot for even the most experienced photographers. Being thrown in to a congested city, full of life with distractions at every corner, can be overwhelming and it’s often hard to know where to start. Through my many years spent shooting cities across the globe; I have found that, when I approach my shots with a clear strategy, I am then better prepared to take full advantage of the countless photo opportunities that present themselves. This allows me to capture the true essence of any location that I happen to find myself in.
In this article, I will take you through some triedand-tested methods to guarantee that you get the most of your time on location and help you produce a
portfolio of photographs that, I hope, you will be proud to show off to anyone.
GET INTO GEAR
The gear you choose is vital to the outcome of your shoot but sacrifices will often need to be made as it isn’t always feasible to carry everything. Let’s take a look at some essential items that will allow you to shoot great images all day long.
The marvel of mirrorless
The introduction of Nikon’s mirrorless cameras has made photographing cities easier and enables you to produce a high standard of images quickly when compared with a DSLR. But the main reasons for this aren’t what you might think…
While the weight of camera bodies has decreased in mirrorless cameras, this doesn’t actually make a big difference to the overall weight I have to carry on a shoot. This is because the S-line of lenses are roughly the same size and weight as their F-mount equivalents. The smaller nature of the Z cameras does, however, make them more subtle, and when combined with the silent shutter option allows you to be less conspicuous.
More importantly, the introduction of an electronic viewfinder has made shooting decisive moments more efficient. Street scenes can have awkward lighting conditions that produce very high contrast, so being able to judge the correct exposure quickly via the viewfinder means more evenly exposed images every time.
This doesn’t mean that DSLRS are any less capable of capturing incredible photographs of cities though, after all, I managed pretty well with them for years!
Luggable lenses
There is quite literally a place in the kit bag for any number of lenses, but who wants to be lugging around heavy glassware all day if you don’t need it?
In general, I pack my 14-30mm f/4, 24-70mm f/2.8, and 70-200mm f/2,8, otherwise known as the holy trinity of lenses. Not only are the optics fantastic in all these lenses, but they also have me covered for my most frequently used focal lengths in just three lenses, which I know I can easily carry around all day.
On occasions when I may need that extra bit of reach I’ll take a longer lens, or if I want to keep my kit bag particularly light I’ll pack my 35mm and 85mm lenses. It’s really a matter of weighing up what you will be shooting on the day and only carrying what’s necessary, so that you won’t be restricted by the weight or size of your kit.
Bags of choice
A comfortable bag is essential for keeping you mobile. There are loads of good brands out there, so have a good look around to find the one that’s right for you. I really like the F-stop gear bags for their high-quality construction
The gear you choose is vital to the outcome of your shoot but sacrifices will often need to be made
and comfort. I also like the fact that they don’t look like your typical camera bag, which is useful when you want to avoid any unwanted attention!
Travel tripod
This is going to polarize opinion, but I feel a tripod is as essential to shooting in cities as it is for landscapes. Yes, it’s more weight and yes, you may not use your tripod for every shot, but it can really make the difference to those shots where you require a slower shutter speed or wish to add some motion to your imagery.
There are plenty of carbon fibre travel options available that offer lightweight yet sturdy support.
PLANNING YOUR SHOOT
In order to really get the most out of your time photographing in a city, it is imperative that you have a good plan in place for your shoot. I will often start researching a city months before I am due to arrive, meaning that my research will have actually started before I even book anything.
Before anything else, I will be looking at the best time of year to visit. I could settle on a time based on many factors, such as weather, festivals or crowds. For example, I may choose to visit New York in the autumn to capture the fall colours, or Tokyo during the annual Cherry Blossom festival.
Unique views
I spend a lot of time looking for unique ways to shoot a city, so that I avoid having a load of cliché images that have been seen a thousand times over. This may include looking for new rooftop bars or viewing platforms, art installations, buildings or museums that will allow me to a get a fresh and current take on my location.
Cities are constantly changing environments, so there is always going to be something fresh to shoot and it pays to take the time to find out what’s new.
Route planning
Cities are big places and it can take longer than you think to get around, so I usually put a shoot plan together for each day I am in the city. This means that I waste as little time as possible travelling from one side of the city to the other. I will have my predetermined sunrise and sunset locations and, once I have these, I will look to group other sites close by that can make the most of the soft morning light or the late-afternoon sun.
When planning your route be realistic. Don’t cram in so many locations into one period that you only have a few minutes to shoot; it’s better to shoot one place really well than lots of places averagely, so give yourself enough time to explore the light, angles and compositions at your chosen locations.
Rainy day plan
It’s not often in the photography world that you will hear the words ‘rain’ and ‘good’ in the same sentence. With cities, however, there are still plenty of good shooting locations for those rainy days, such as markets, local attractions and museums.
If you are prepared to get a little wet then you can make some really powerful images when it’s raining, especially at night with the city lights reflecting in the rainwater. This can make for striking shots with a dreamy, mysterious feel.
Useful tools
I will use a range of outlets to research and
It’s better to shoot one place really well than lots of places averagely, so give yourself enough time to explore the light, angles and compositions
plan my shoot. In recent years, Google Earth has been my greatest tool in planning any city trip.
You can ‘virtually’ fly around the city looking for rooftop views or even eye up the hotel or Airbnb with the best views. The great thing about Google Earth is that you can, to some degree, compose your shot before you even arrive on location!
TELL A STORY
A photo essay, or photo story, is common practice in travel photography and you will no doubt have seen some great features in glossy magazines (as well as N-photo, of course) where the images of a location can really get under your skin. The aim of the photographer is to produce a single or set of images that connects the viewer to a certain place in time.
Setting yourself the goal of shooting a photo essay is great practice for achieving a set of strong, well-thought-out and cohesive pictures.
Be original
When planning your photo story try to be as original as possible. The aim is to produce fresh content that attracts and will engage viewers.
This is easier said than done, but that’s the challenge; to create something unique that stands alone from the millions of other photos of the location that can be seen anywhere at any time.
Have a narrative
Stories need to have a clearly defined beginning, middle and end, and this is true for photo essays. If your aim is to produce a chronological series of images, it is much easier to define these junctures.
If you want to tell a more personal or compact story, you have some wiggle room to experiment with, but it is still good practice to have a narrative structure to lead your viewers in and out of the story. Whichever option you choose, a clear and
The goal of shooting a photo essay is great practice for achieving a set of strong, well-thought-out and cohesive pictures
decisive conclusion is important to the impact the story has. Nobody likes to be left hanging…
Variety is the spice
You don’t want people to get bored, so you need to try and include a variety of different subjects to keep viewers’ imagination going. A set of very similar images won’t achieve this. You need to pay attention to the details that will provide not just the variety, but the emotion in your images as well. Be sure to experiment with shooting landscapes, portraits, action, detail and even abstract images to avoid the danger of repetition.
Layout
The layout of the images that make up your story is an important factor in good photo storytelling. When you are shooting, try and think where a certain image might fit in the context of the story and what might be missing from other areas that you will need to concentrate on.
Planning a final layout is often one of the most difficult factors of a good photo essay, as its means you can’t just take nice, pretty pictures. Instead, they will need some context to your overall story. A good layout allows the viewer to process each image on its independent merits then connect them into a clear and precise storyline. The first and last images
in any series are the most important as they have to be strong enough to attract the viewer and leave them with a clear memory of your photo essay.
Add emotion
All great stories contain a sense of emotion and your photo essay is no different. No matter how technically strong each image is this isn’t always enough, as they must also have a clear direction.
Another good tip for adding emotion and flow to your story is colour management. When editing your images try to keep the same tones, saturation and general edit throughout. If you can incorporate similar tones when shooting even better, but this just isn’t always possible.
GET CREATIVE
Cities offer a multitude of ways a photographer can be creative, so don’t be afraid to experiment to find what works; it’s not as though you can’t just delete anything that really didn’t pay off…
Adding that spark of creativity to your work is a great way to make your images stand out. We have all seen the classic view of the Eiffel Tower or
Brooklyn Bridge, so adding a fresh take to these – and other landmarks – will draw people’s interest.
Play with angles
Make sure that you try to experiment with angles. This could mean getting down on the ground or jumping on a bench or small wall to get a slightly different perspective. It could be looking up at those skyscrapers or tilting your camera to add another dynamic to your photograph.
Have a play around and you might be surprised at what you can achieve once you break the mould of shooting just around eye level.
Scenes can be overlooked and you may even have walked past them. Be aware of your surroundings and be prepared for the unexpected
Find the fun
Cities are full of quirky elements from performance art to murals. We all like a laugh, so try to include funny interactions in your images. This could be a crowd reaction to an event or the clever placement of features that capture unexpected results.
These scenes can be easily overlooked and you may even have walked past them many times before. Make sure you don’t miss these by always looking around – be aware of your surroundings and be prepared for the unexpected.
Negative space
Playing with negative space when shooting in cities can inject a really effective and creative angle into your images and is easily achieved. Think of your main subject as positive space, while negative space is the area around your subject. The negative space should generally add context to the subject without detracting attention from it.
Too busy a negative area and the image loses its impact, with too many areas of the frame competing for the viewers’ attention. Having a generous area of negative space can add mystique and allows the viewer to make up the story.
Shoot at night
Don’t make the mistake of calling it a day after sunset, as this can be when the cities truly erupt with life and vibrance. Lights come on and people are on the street, making it a great time to shoot.
You can easily visit the same street in the day and night and find a completely different scene. Tokyo is a good example of this. In the daytime the
busy and fairly monotone streets come alive with colour after dark, when the thousands of neon lights come out to play.
STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
Any photographic trip to a city is almost certainly going to contain some elements of street photography. It is a common misconception that street photography is easy and it’s enough to simply capture a few fleeting street life images to have it classed as street photography. I’m here to tell you that this just isn’t true!
Good street photography is often incredibly well thought out and perfectly executed by the photographer who approaches the scene in a very unique manner. You need to be present, obviously, but at the same time you need to be invisible to not interfere with the scene in any way. On top of this, photographers must learn to use their surroundings to shoot everyday activities in a profound way.
Both of these factors coming together is hard enough before you even consider all the unknown factors that could come in to play.
Time it right
No one can predict the future but it’s helpful to at least try, especially when it comes to street photography… This is where timing comes in to play. I can often find a really fantastic backdrop, but all the elements required to make a nice image a great image just haven’t arrived on the scene.
I may spend anywhere from a few minutes to an hour – possibly more – at a spot waiting and trying to tie in all the elements I require for exactly the right areas of the frame. Sometimes this can be just one person or action, but at other times it may be a combination of two or more factors, making the timing of my shot even more crucial.
Often this doesn’t pay off for me, but if I can
I may return a second – or third – time to try again. However, even then there are no guarantees; that’s just the nature of photography and it’s especially the nature of street photography. What matters is that you try and that you’re patient.
Get closer
There is a tendency, when you start shooting street photography, to stand back and zoom in, but this technique very seldom works as there is usually a clear separation between the viewer and the action, which can detach the viewer from the scene.
It’s important to get close and bring the action to the forefront of your image. Some of the best street photographs ever taken were only a matter of feet from the action or subject. The aim of good street photography is to have the viewer transported into the frame with the feeling of being
The first time you stick a camera in a stranger’s face can be more than a little unnerving. There is a perceived risk of people being angry…
surrounded by the scene, and this is only really achieved by getting in close and getting the shot.
Don’t be shy!
Street photography requires a certain level of confidence… The first time you stick a camera in a stranger’s face can be more than a little unnerving. There is a perceived risk of people being angry or even aggressive towards you – despite this very rarely being the case. But there are a couple of techniques that can ease you into things.
The first is to ‘shoot from the hip’, and the flip-up screens that the many Nikon cameras have makes shooting from the hip a lot easier than in the past. However it’s still not the ideal method, as it’s hard to compose and focus. Providing you feel comfortable, you should always raise the camera to your eye.
The second method is to simply travel light. The reason so many street photographers prefer to use more compact gear – such as a 35mm lens – is the lack of attention they attract, which allows them to be less conspicuous and appear less threatening.