There is great joy in tourist photos. Joy in visitors traipsing around, documenting their presence by clicking a button, creating images that proclaim “I was there.” These sorts of snapshots provide both record and souvenir and are infinitely special to their creators. They are to be posted on Facebook or into a photo book, storing experiences long after they are over. The sites depicted in these images follow a formula: places of note are ferreted out like items in a scavenger hunt.

I’ve never been very good at taking tourist photos. I (rightly or wrongly) feel that major sites have been documented by photographers far more talented than I, so I don’t see what my snapshots could add to the mix. Instead, I tend to photograph smaller, often overlooked elements of locations, as those are the records that feel special to me. Below are a few of my snaps from a recent trip to London and Bath:

 

Very old graffiti on the Palladian Bridge in Prior Park, Bath.

The front window of the Chelsea Cake Shop, near Sloane Square.

A stately looking feline coming out of an Earl’s Court basement apartment.

A funerary monument in Old Brompton Cemetery.

 

An old Banksy stencil in Notting Hill.

Liquorice Allsorts, as commemorated by a Heathrow airport display.