Bustling Bloomsbury Street Photography Tour

(2 reviews)

London audio tour: Bustling Bloomsbury Street Photography Tour

This is a 1.2mi walking tour

It takes an average of 120 mins to complete.

London

The United Kingdom

$7.99

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About the Tour

A street photography tutorial tour of the unexplored back streets of the West End by a professional photography guide. Listen to time-honoured photography tips and commentary while being guided about the old, grand and not-so-grand architecture, famous highlights, tiny details and fascinating crowds of people. Explore the area between the historic St Giles in the Field Church near Tottenham Court Road to Holborn, via Covent Garden, at your own pace while absorbing the stories of the streets and learning how to take better photos.

Recommended equipment:
Wide angle lens
Lens within the ranges of 18 - 100mm
A tripod is NOT required, but advised for long exposures if doing the route towards the early evening

Tour Producer

Legless Lizard

5 tours

Legless Lizard www.leglesslizard.net is the sister company of Hairy Goat www.hairygoat.net which is London's top rated photography tour company on Trip Advisor. We have been providing photography tours & workshops and personal photography tuition since 2009. And now we're running personal tuition & photography courses in South Australia.
Purchase your tour on Voicemap, and visit the Legless Lizard website where we share more photography tips and information and sample photos from each tour.

Preview Location

Location 14

Tam O'Shanter Pub and Moorish Building

Stop here and look across the street. If you're interested in unusual architecture, it's worth taking a few snaps of the three buildings I'm going to show you. The rule of thumb for good building shots? Look up!

Face the two-storey building across the street. It has a curve... Stop here and look across the street. If you're interested in unusual architecture, it's worth taking a few snaps of the three buildings I'm going to show you. The rule of thumb for good building shots? Look up!

Face the two-storey building across the street. It has a curved centre piece on top of the façade. Look carefully. You'll see the title embossed at the top. It's called 'Tam o' Shanter', which is a title taken from a 1790 poem by Scottish poet Robbie Burns.

It tells the story of Tam who drank a few times too often at his local pub. One night, riding his horse on the way home to his angry wife, he sees a group witches and warlocks dancing at a local haunted church. He manages to give himself away and they chase after him. They can’t cross a running stream, so they try to grab him as he’s crossing. They just grab the tail of his horse and pull it off.

There's loads of detail on the buildings like this all around you, so don't forget to look up. There's a story to all of them and luckily, in the UK, there is also loads of history online.

Take a few more steps down the street and stop opposite the green and grey building which is on the right hand side.

[5 SECOND PAUSE IN AUDIO]

As you can see, this is a highly ornate piece of work. Almost Moorish-looking, or even something out of a Tim Burton film. Very decorative and rather unusual. It's a fantastic subject because of the high contrast between beige and green. Definitely factor that into your shot.

Directly across from it, on our side of the street, there's a red and white building rising six stories into the air. Turn to look at it now. It has a frieze at the first storey level. For those new to the term, a frieze is what you'd call that beautiful decorative band around the top of the windows. Now, for shooting these things, zoom into an element of the detail that appeals. There will be shadow, and maybe dirt in the cracks and folds of the sculpting. You can use this to emphasise the contrast in the design. When you're post processing your image, even a small amount of contrast tweaking can make detailed shadows like this look stunning.

So, stop and take a few snaps if you like, otherwise keep going down on this side of the street to the corner. That's where I am next. Read More

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Major Landmarks

St Giles in the Field Church
Freemasons Hall

Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
Oxford St, London WC1A 1DG, UK
Total distance

2km
Final location
Aviation House, London, UK
Distance back to start location

724.87m

Directions to Starting Point

Tottenham Court Road tube station - Oxford St exit

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

Any other places that interest you. Turn around and look behind you as you may see a better view.

Best time of day

Any time of day is fine, but no later than two hours before sunset, in order to avoid losing all daylight before finishing. The route is roughly 90 minutes when spending 10 minutes at each prescribed photography spot, but you might see things along the way that add another 30 minutes.

Precautions

Be aware of your surroundings and belongings, especially around tube stations.

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App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”

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Questions and Reviews

4 / 5

2 Ratings

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