London locations
St Paul's photoshoot
Permits, light and what to expect on the day.
London locations
Permits, light and what to expect on the day.
The dome, the steps, One New Change and the surrounding lanes. That is what brings people to St Paul's with a camera.
Before the shoot there are two questions. Who controls the ground you will stand on, and whether they want a permit.
| St Paul's | |
|---|---|
| Who controls it | The City of London Corporation asks for permission to film or photograph on its property whatever the crew size. |
| Good for | The dome, the steps, One New Change and the surrounding lanes. |
| Light | The lanes around the cathedral are in shade most of the day, which is useful in summer. |
| Busiest | Inside the cathedral is a separate permission from the cathedral itself, not the Corporation. |
The City of London Corporation asks for permission to film or photograph on its property whatever the crew size. An application fee is charged once the application is approved.
Checked on 25 September 2026. Rules and fees change, so confirm with the authority before the shoot.
The lanes around the cathedral are in shade most of the day, which is useful in summer.
Inside the cathedral is a separate permission from the cathedral itself, not the Corporation. The rooftop at One New Change is private property with its own rules.
Mariya's verdict. Scout the exact spot before the day. A location is a specific corner at a specific hour, not a postcode.
Apply early. Most London film offices want notice measured in days, not hours.
Carry the permission with you. Whoever asks will want to see it, not hear about it.
Keep the group small. Permits are written around numbers of people, and a large group changes the answer.
Have a second location within walking distance. Weather and crowds ruin a plan more often than permits do.
Insurance matters. The Royal Parks ask for five million pounds of public liability cover, and other landowners ask for the same thing in different words.
St Paul's, with Mansion House and Blackfriars a short walk away.
A wide lens for the dome and something long for the lanes.
Treating the cathedral steps as public space. They are not.
None of that is a reason to avoid the place. It is a reason to arrive knowing the answer before somebody asks you for it.
| Who controls it | City of London Corporation |
| Permit needed | Yes, whatever the crew size |
| Notice to allow | Allow more than a week |
| Insurance | Ask the film team |
| Worth knowing | Application fee once approved |
| Nearest stations | St Paul's, with Mansion House and Blackfriars a short walk away. |
| What to carry | A wide lens for the dome and something long for the lanes. |
Rules and fees change. Confirm with the authority named above before the shoot, and treat this table as a starting point rather than a permission.
| Where | What it gives you | When it works |
|---|---|---|
| One New Change terrace | The dome framed by modern glass | Evening |
| Paternoster Square | Open paving and columns | Morning |
| The lanes off Cheapside | Shade and old stone | Midday in summer |
A location is a corner at an hour, not a postcode. Pick one of these and build the session around it.
An hour in St Paul's is three stops, not one.
We start at One New Change terrace, because it is the frame most people came for and it is quietest first.
Then Paternoster Square, which changes the background without changing the light.
We finish at The lanes off Cheapside, which gives a different scale and a different mood.
Walking between them is part of the session rather than lost time. Most of the unposed frames happen on the way.
If the permit covers one hour, that is the whole plan. Adding a fourth stop means rushing all four.
Carry what you can walk with. Every location in this city involves more walking than the map suggests.
A tripod changes the permission you need in most of these places, so plan handheld unless the permit says otherwise.
Bring water and a bag you can keep on your shoulder. Nothing gets put down on a London pavement twice.
Any season. The cathedral is stone, and stone works in every light.
Winter afternoons give long shadows across the square.
Weekday lunchtimes are busy with office workers, weekends less so.
Formal shapes suit the setting.
Deep colours against pale stone.
Flat shoes for the cobbled lanes.
One New Change is a covered centre with the terrace above it.
The lanes stay usable in light rain because they are narrow.
The City of London Corporation asks for permission to film or photograph on its property whatever the size of the crew.
You contact the film team with the location, date, times, number of people and the equipment you will bring.
An application fee is charged once the application has been reviewed and approved, and payment is due before the shoot.
Give yourself more than a week, and more than that in summer when demand is high.
Nearby, with different rules and a different look: Camden, Sky Garden and South Bank.
The full list of occasions is on event photography in London.
Tell me the date and I will tell you which permission applies and how long it takes to get.
If the date is fixed and the permit cannot arrive in time, there is almost always a nearby alternative with a lighter process.
Sessions are priced by time rather than by location, and the rates are on the services page.
This page is written by Mariya Harley, a fashion, portrait and hotel photographer working from a studio in west London.
The tools described here are the ones that reach a working photographer's desk, and the failures described are the ones that reach a client's screen.
Prices and features are read from vendor pages rather than repeated from other articles. The date of that check is printed above each table.
Nothing here is sponsored, and there are no affiliate links. A tool appears because it does the job, or because people ask about it.
What is deliberately absent: benchmark scores copied from press releases, rankings that change with the season, and any claim that software can replace direction, light or responsibility for the result.
If a price here is out of date, the vendor page wins. Tell me and I will correct it.