Best & Rory: a Couples Shoot Through Central London

Best and Rory wanted photographs of the two of them in the city they were living in, before anything else changed. So we met on a June afternoon at the top of Whitehall and walked. This is where we went and what came out of it.

Whitehall, and the bit where nobody knows what to do

The first ten minutes of any couples shoot are the awkward ones. Everybody knows it, including me, so I don't pretend otherwise. We started walking down Whitehall with the London Eye sitting at the end of the road like a full stop, and I asked them about how they met rather than asking them to pose. Rory talked. Best laughed at him. That's all I need.

Couple hugging beside a red London bus in central London — The bus was luck. It pulled in, stopped, and stayed long enough.

The red bus was luck rather than planning. It pulled in beside us and sat there long enough for two frames, and one of them is now the picture they have printed. You can't arrange that. You can only be ready when the city hands you something.

Embankment station, where the lifting happened

Couple in front of the Embankment Underground roundel — Embankment station. The roundel does a lot of work.

Embankment is a gift for this. The station front is symmetrical, the Underground roundel tells you exactly where you are without anybody having to explain it, and the columns give you shade on a bright day. I asked Rory to pick her up, mostly to see what would happen. What happened was the two of them laughing so hard they had to stop, which is the frame I sent first.

The gardens behind the station

Almost nobody thinks of Victoria Embankment Gardens, and it's thirty seconds from the station. Plane trees, benches, a bandstand and the noise of the Embankment somewhere behind you. We spent a good twenty minutes in there doing very little.

Couple sitting together on a bench in Victoria Embankment Gardens — Victoria Embankment Gardens, half a minute from the tube and nearly empty.

This is usually where a shoot turns. Once people have sat down and talked to each other for a bit, the shoulders drop. Everything after the gardens was easier than everything before them.

Along the river, and a fish and chips van

Couple by a blue fish and chips van on the South Bank — A blue fish and chips van, which beat every landmark we passed that day.

We crossed to the South Bank and found a blue fish and chips van parked up near the Eye. It's not on anybody's list of London photo spots, and it gave us some of my favourite pictures of the afternoon. Painted metal, a bit of colour, and two people not taking it seriously.

Couple against the yellow wall of the Southbank Centre — The Southbank Centre yellow. Worth crossing the river for.

The yellow at the Southbank Centre is the other one I always look for. It throws warm light back up into faces and it dates the photographs to nothing in particular, which matters more than people think. A picture full of this year's shopfronts looks old in five years.

Westminster Bridge

You can't really photograph a couple in central London and skip this one. The trick is not to make it the whole point. We did a handful with Big Ben behind them, some in colour and a few in black and white, and then we moved on before it started to feel like a postcard.

The walk back

Man twirling his partner under the plane trees along the Embankment — The plane trees on the way back, when everybody had stopped thinking about the camera.

The last stretch was the plane trees along the Embankment and then a rose bed where we sat down and finished. By then they had forgotten about me entirely, which is when I get the ones people keep. Rory spun her round under the trees because he felt like it, not because I asked.

Couple sitting on the grass beside a rose bed at the end of the shoot — And then we sat down.

What it costs, if you fancy one

This was The Love Story, which is £299 for about ninety minutes and the whole collection afterwards. Not a handful I picked out, all of it, colour-corrected and finished in my style. Best and Rory had their gallery inside the week.

I shoot couples and families across central London and Surrey, and if the city isn't your thing, the North Downs are twenty minutes from my door and look like nowhere near London at all.

Questions people ask about London couples shoots

How long is a couples shoot in London?

About ninety minutes, which sounds short until you walk it. Best and Rory covered Whitehall to Westminster Bridge in that time and never felt rushed. Any longer and people start to flag, and you can see it in the pictures.

Do you need permission to photograph in central London?

Not for what we do. Walking around with one camera and no lighting kit counts as ordinary public photography, so the streets, the bridges and the public gardens are all fine. Some private estates and a few interiors want a permit, and I check before we go rather than turning up and hoping.

When is the best time of day?

Early morning if you want the South Bank to yourselves, or the last two hours of daylight if you want the light. We went midweek in June and the river path was busy, which I quite like. Crowds move, and a blurred crowd around two still people says London better than an empty pavement does.

What should we wear for a London shoot?

Something you'd leave the house in anyway. Best wore a long white dress and Rory a pink shirt and jeans, which is why they look like themselves in every frame. Shoes matter more than people expect, because you'll be walking a couple of miles. If you want a second look, bring a jacket that changes the outfit rather than a whole spare kit.

Best & Rory, and an afternoon in central London