The most photographed cities of the world

Flickr stats says that the most photographed cities of the world are New York, London, San Francisco and Paris.

The most interesting thing for me is that in spite of so many pictures in the Internet of the same places there is always an opportunity to go and take a shot yourself and if you do it well the photo can become popular.

It’s nice that I don’t need to think about that many people that will stand of the same place with their cameras pointed in the same direction. That doesn’t matter. What matters is how I will compose my picture and in which light will I choose to shoot it.

And here is my input to the top of the most photographed cities.

Bridges at night

I love bridges and I love night. But bridges at night is such a big pleasure!

From the selection: bridges of the world

A little bit of b&w

I rarely take pictures in black and white because I see everything in color too clear. But sometimes when I come across such graphical shots in which color only disturbs I transfer them to monochrome while processing. Here are several b&w images which I like but don’t see them in color. The locations are: different Spanish towns, London and Amsterdam.

These and other bw images you can view here in higher resolution: black and white cities

City in the rain

It is difficult to take pictures in the rain:

- That is because I need to keep the camera from the raindrops falling from the sky and an umbrella in one hand makes the photography process much less convenient. For going shooting in the rain, especially at night when long exposures are necessary, I need to be absolutely sure that the resulting picture will be actually worth all the inconveniences.

- That is also because the lens anyway catch some raindrops even when it is hidden under an umbrella or shelter.  Raindrops usually appear on the picture as big blurred spots so I need to wipe the lens all the time and do it carefully so there won’t be many traces.

- That is also because in the rain the colors fade and the views become gray and sad. I need to find such a composition that in spite of all of that will look good.

But “difficult” and “interesting” very often walk in pair. So in the rain of any strength I take out my camera if I see any potential in the surrounding views.

I picked several photos from different times and different places that were shot in the rain and decided to remember how the photography process was going on.

Regensburg, Germany. My one day trip from Frankfurt airport to the Austrian city of Linz. On my way it started to rain so heavily that I couldn’t make the planned stop in Regensburg. I wanted to see the city so much because I have never seen it before so we just drove on it’s streets to give me some impression. I got captivated with the reflection of red stoplights and traffic lights in the raindrops of the windshield and I started to take pictures without going out of the car. At one moment I saw a man crossing the street far away in front of me and I managed to capture his small figure in my picture. So I got this nice rainy shot:

It actually rains often in Germany. Experimenting with different exposures I’ve captured the pouring rain as it is. The raindrops are visible but are not frozen with an exposure too fast and are not turned into fog with an exposure too long. Just the right amount of time to capture both visibility and fluidity. This kind of rains is possible to watch often from the window:

In Hong Kong there are days when it’s raining cats and dogs the whole day without stopping. The wall of rain appears like fog. It’s very interesting to watch the changing skyline of the city being drawn by rain. The skyline sometimes disappears completely and sometimes vaguely shows up on the horizon. I like to capture that intermediate state:

Paris, France. That was the time when I had to wipe the raindrops from my lens all the time. I had no umbrella and the rain was free to spoil my pictures. Gray-gray city, gray sky with the gleam of white clouds somewhere far away. I found the composition interesting and capturing well that condition. I look at this image and I immediately remember that smell of the Paris rain. I immediately feel myself a little cold and wet and I want to quickly warm up in some cozy French cafe.

On the night pictures the rain appears like mist. The view becomes not so sharp and bright as it could be in the good weather. But it’s possible ti make a full-fledged night image so I don’t give up when I see rain.

Salzburg, Austria. I was waiting for the night for so long to take this picture. But when is started to get dark it also started to rain and pretty heavily. My precious camera was mercilessly bitten by streams of water.  There was no shelter. I didn’t want to pack up and leave at the very moment that I was waiting for. So I let my camera to get wet for  several seconds while I was making the exposure. And I actually liked the resulting image:

Lucerne, Switzerland. At first I planned a completely different spot for taking night pictures. But a pouring rain interfered with my plans and I had to hide under the famous landmark of Lucerne – the Chapel Bridge. The bridge is covered so it was a good shelter. The streams of rain appeared on the photo as lines and that is very rare to capture on a night picture.

Top 10 of my favorite cities

Recently I added to my website a section best of the gallery and in connection with that I decided to make my own rating of favorite cities.

Chicago. An unbelievable city, very beautiful. And very harmonious. When I came to the USA for the first time I didn’t get rapturous emotions from New York. That city is too fussy for me, there are too much people, too much of everything,  sort of a mess. I got the emotions that I was expecting from New York from a different city – from Chicago. I absolutely fell in love with it, at first sight, just starting from the airport and subway when I didn’t even think about the most interesting things. There was order everywhere, everything was understandable and easy. Everything what I needed I could instantly find. And instead of loosing time in long searches I could go out in the center of the city and start enjoying it’s beauty and order.  I adore Chicago. I have been there several times. Once I specially came in winter because my friends were asserting that my impression of the city would significantly spoil when I experience it at such an unpleasant weather. But in winter I loved Chicago even more. I adore walking on it’s streets, strolling on embankments of canals, reaching the lake Michigan and watching the waves slowly covering the shore of the big city, dropping at a bar on the last floor of a skyscraper and enjoying the lights little by little switching on and the city plunging in a beautiful night.

London. There was a time when I was flying there almost every week. Going out of the tube and seeing the statues of lions, beautiful houses, clean streets and red double-deckers sailing on them I was just getting dizzy from happiness. Very cool city. It’s pleasant to walk there, it’s interesting to take pictures, it’s cool to get in a pub and warm up with a glass of whiskey, regale myself with with such a simple and such a tasty food as fish&chips, nice to go to a store and buy myself something beautiful… Walk all the way to the embankment and see that Big Ben and those Houses of Parliament, that before existed only on my textbooks of English,  and smile “I am in London!”.

Madrid. Very beautiful city. It’s like a hometown to me. Very easy to orient, easy to comprehend. Having learned Spanish I became there almost a local and sometimes even explained some Spaniards how to get from one place to another. The only thing that is not easy is to take pictures. Madrid is standing on more or less flat terrain, there is no river downtown and I have to capture interesting views from the streets and that is pretty difficult. I love Madrid in winter, early spring and late fall, all the other time it’s too hot there. But even then there are places to hide from the heat and enjoy the city, for example in the nice park of Retiro.

Luxembourg. I have never seen a city as photogenic as Luxembourg. The terrain of the city is all cliffs and steeps. Houses, cathedrals, river, bridges are comfortably situated in the valley and other houses, cathedrals are standing on the cliffs and watching the life of the city from above. And in those cliffs there are caves. It’s possible to construct interesting compositions endlessly. And at the end of a photo session restaurants of Luxembourg will please with French cuisine.

Wurzburg. I have already written about that city. In my opinion it’s the most beautiful in Germany. A lot of spires coming out from everywhere, fortress, river, old bridge… I like to come back to Wurzburg, there is always something to take a picture of. And it’s possible to do that from all kinds of angles.

Salzburg. Wonderful town: I can hike the local mountains, ski, walk in the pretty streets, ride a bike, take pictures… It’s nice there in every season and in every kind of weather. Salzburg is always charming.

Hong Kong. Special region of China, city-country with it’s own laws, money, government, language. There everything is unique. Huge skyscrapers from both sides are moving into Victoria Harbor. More and more soil is poured into the harbor for constructing more and more buildings and the harbor is becoming more and more narrow.  There are so many things on such a small peace of earth! That city is breathing, growing, developing. There is so much life and it’s rhythm is so fast. It is always warm there, even hot, and the locals made a cool system of foot bridges so it’s possible to pass from building to building without going out on the street. Life is everywhere: in offices, on the streets, in bars. Big scale of the city and the existence of hills, harbors and islands give a wonderful possibility for beautiful pictures.

Tokyo. Huge megalopolis. Coming to Tokyo for the first time there is a feeling that you found yourself if the future. Skyscrapers of different shapes and sizes, whimsical interweavings of train tracks and automobile roads, cleanness,  a lot of lights, hieroglyphs and incomprehensible speech are everywhere. Tokyo, like a huge octopus, is always moving, stirring, growing. I’ve spent in that city a very short period of time but a firework of emotions brought it to the first place in the list of the places I want to come back to.

San Francisco. That is an absolutely fantastic place. Warm air meets with a cold stream of the Pacific ocean so the city  is very often shrouded with mist. While on the one side of  San Francisco the sun will shine and sky will be blue on the other side it will be difficult to see things in the distance of 100 meters. Very interesting climate. The streets of the city go sharply up and down, there are so many hills around decorated with nice white houses… And there is the most fantastic bridge in the world – the Golden Gate Bridge! I don’t know if I should say anything about the opportunities for taking pictures – they are infinite!

Ulm. Not as famous city as the previous ones. And that is one of the reasons why it is on the list. I like to come to Ulm. It is a nice cozy town standing on the shores of Danube river. There are no tourist crowds, it is quiet and calm. There are pretty houses, it’s own small Venice with canals and islands and the highest cathedral in Germany from the height of which it’s possible to enjoy the charm of the town, it’s modern buildings and convenient streets. I like Ulm for it’s unpretentious and calm beauty.

The best photos selected by me from my gallery you can view here: the most beautiful cities of the world