ARTINFO's team of international editors pick the most photographic neighborhoods across some of the world's most vibrant cities
A narrow chain of lakes once part of the Imperial Garden complex, Shichahai is composed of Xihai, Houhai, and Qianhai. It’s here that innumerable summers have been whiled away since the Qing Dynasty. During the sweltering months of July and August tourists arrive in flocks at the cool shores of the lakes, but the neighborhood has more to offer photographers than views of still water. Hop in a rickshaw or rent a bicycle to tour the surrounding hutongs, old houses yet to meet the wrecking balls that have flattened much of old Beijing, to capture timeless images. Tandem bicycles are especially popular with couples wanting to take in the well-preserved temples and palaces that sit peacefully by the lake, lending an air of romance to many a picture.
Come winter the tide of tourists recedes and locals instead come out to enjoy the scenery, when icicles hang around the railings and a hefty sheet of ice forms on the surface of the lake. Dogs chase dried leaves in circles while elderly people set up their stools and cut holes in the lake to go fishing. Opportunities for shots of daily life are in abundance as children play in small sleds while the more accomplished ice skaters glide around them. And if it gets too cold on the hands, warm them up while holding a mug at one of the many nearby teahouses – or capture the future at Great Leap Brewing, Beijing’s first local craft beer experience. — Belle Zhao
Cover image courtesy of Flickr/Dynom
Berlin’s Museumsinsel (Museum Island) is central, iconic and serene. German chancellor Angela Merkel still lives here, in an inconspicuous orange building, surrounded by some of the city’s most famous cultural institutions and architectures: the Bode Museum, the Pergamon Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie, and the Neues Museum (home to the bust of Nefertiti) that was recently renovated under the helm of British star architect David Chipperfield. Perhaps of most interest for photographers aiming to capture the scene of imposing grandeur, will be the Museum of Photography itself.
The Humboldt University– Berlin’s first – with its classicist façade, the I. M. Pei designed German Historical Museum, the Berlin Cathedral and the Maxim Gorki Theater are a stone’s throw away. Walk a little further and you’re on bustling Friedrichstraße or in the popular (and also very photogenic) Hackesche Höfe neighborhood, if you’ve any film left. Don’t be surprised if you spot beaten up facades among the mostly renovated architecture here; Museumsinsel channels Berlin’s history like perhaps no other spot in town, and original bullet holes from WWII still dot some of the walls.
Oh, and if you’d like an Instagram pic of Merkel’s spectacularly unspectacular front door: look out for the stationed policemen. If you’re lucky, they’ll even pose for you. – Lisa Contag
Sprawling Nizamuddin in the center of Delhi has an advantage over other historic areas in the city. Dating back to the 13th century, the area – one of Delhi’s oldest surviving postcodes – is now divided into East and West, with photo ops scattered throughout. Start in the East with the UNESCO-listed Humayun’s Tomb, one of Delhi’s most famous Mughal artifacts. Renovations recently finished here, so the domes are at their best, as are the adjoining gardens. Keep the early morning hours for these photos, and hop across to the famous Damdama Sahib gurudwara next door for pictures of its pristine high white temple walls and Sikhs “in service” (part of the faith is giving back to society) milling around. Time it correctly, and you could also be there for the daily langar prasad food handout, renowned as the best in the city.
Once you’re done with the East, cross the crazy main road carefully into the winding alley of Nizamuddin basti, or tightly-packed community. This is the best place for biryani and kebabs (try our personal favorites: Nasir Iqbal for biryani, and Ghalib’s Kebab Corner for beef tikkas), but also for people photographs, as the crowd moves around you. As well as the odd goat.
Move down the lane for the Nizamuddin dargah or Sufi shrine, where on Thursday evenings you can listen to Sufi singers who perform here for free, and capture great twilight-into-nighttime shots. Finally, for a look at middle-class Delhi in the 50s and 60s, walk around the neighborhood to shoot the remaining old squat buildings, built up in the bungalow style popular then, but vanishing into new construction now. – Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan
Nearest metro: Jangpura
Lavapies neighborhood in Madrid is a goldmine for photographers, being at once one of the most traditional, multicultural and modern locations of the capital. Known to locals as the Embajadores (“Ambassador’s”) district, despite having shifted its name years ago, the old main square gives context to one of the most emblematic areas of the city.
It’s the transformations throughout history that offer snap-happy travellers the wealth of sights: it was regarded as the Jewry of the city in the 14th century, then in combination with the counterculture Malasaña neighborhood it was subjected to a gradual abandonment – reflected in the ruins of the ancient Escuelas Pias in Agustín Lara square.
In the late 20th Century, the neighborhood was a receptacle for the illegal houses occupation, and its mixed character drew one of the highest rate of foreigners and immigrants in Madrid. Today, on streets like Calle del Doctor Fourquet and Calle del Argumosa, contemporary art galleries and cosmopolitan characters drink on terraces and create a colorful scene on the streets, awaiting capture by camera-wielding visitors.
With more than a dozen galleries such as Helga del Alvear, Espacio Mínimo, Nogueras Blanchard, and Maisterravalbuena, plus the forthcoming arrival of the ARCO Madrid Fair, Lavapies is set to cement itself as the hotbed of creativity for years to come. – Marcos Fernandez
Finding a spot where past and future meet perfectly isn’t an easy task in Italian cities – they are one or the other – but the new area of Porta Nuova in Milan is a certain exception, making itself ideal for photography addicts.
Three old neighborhoods combine in this one district famed for the sandstone Napoleonic gates that gave the area its name. Isola, Varesine, and Garibaldi converge here to create an unusual skyline that mixes traditional low brick buildings from the beginnings of 19th Century with gleaming glass high-rises, part of the “Porta Nuova Project” which began in the late 2000s to renew the decaying area. That means for the next few years, with new structures by architects including Stefano Boeri, Cesar Pelli and Nicholas Grimshaw, unique opportunities for capturing the change from old to new will be only temporary.
Our top tip for Instagram addicts and pro-photographers alike is a stroll around the old streets of Garibaldi and Isola, behind the construction sites of future skyscraper, from where an attentive eye will be able to catch breathtaking shots of change in motion, far from the tourist traps of central Milan. – Sara Schifano.
The area of Moscow around the Kurskaya railway station is a true magnet for photographers of every stripe and color. It is here that the two art-clusters – Winzavod and Artplay– are located, drawing daily hordes of visitors who flock to appreciate their creative cultural programming and the eclectic urban scenery. Every second visitor comes equipped with a professional camera, every first one either taking smart-phone pictures of the brick buildings or (even more eagerly) making selfies against the red-brick backdrop.
Launched in 2007 on the grounds of a former brewery Winzavod is one of Moscow’s first centers for contemporary art that today houses several galleries (XL, Regina, Grinberg, pop/off/art) artists' studios (Aidan Salakhova, Valery Chtak, Oleg Kulik), book stores and cafes. Over time several local fashion designers opened their showrooms here as well, among them Daria Razumikhina and Svetlana Tegin with Tegin Fashion House.
Located just around the corner, the ARTPLAY Design Center has carefully reconstructed the former factory buildings it had come to occupy and converted them into a business and trade center for designers, architects and engineers. Besides the many shops and boutiques, ARTPLAY now hosts a number of young galleries, and in late 2011 it held the Main Project of the IV Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, confirming its status as a center of creativity.
Our top tip is the famed and oh-so-romantic roof of the Design Center, a hot-spot for summer concerts and parties that is transformed every winter into a popular ice-rink. From the roof photographers can capture the trains from the nearby Kurskaya railway station, which adds to the hip industrial charm of the images taken here. – Anastasia Barysheva
Located near Daehakro (a.k.a. Daehangno), a college town that has long been the country’s hotspot for theater and dance, Ihwa-dong is one of Seoul’s last remaining daldongnae — so-called slum “moon villages” located on steep mountain slopes, and thus closer to the moon.
In 2006, however, a public art project invited artists and local residents to give the area a makeover, and as a result more than 60 works have brightened up the neighborhood.
Ihwa-dong has since emerged as a rite of passage for Instagrammers with a mission to locate all the artwork, which is comprised mostly of colorful murals that decorate crooked walls, steep staircases, and old store facades. Moreover, the meandering alleyways lined with mom-and-pop stores and retro barbershops provide a unique experience for both local and visitor photographers.
Don’t forget to turn around once in a while to get a panoramic view of Seoul’s cityscape extending from Mt. Namsan in the south to Mt. Bukhan in the north — you can “reach for the moon” after all! — Lee Hyo-won
How to get there: Take exit 2 of Hyehwa Station on subway line 4. Walk straight, passing by Marronier Park until you reach Ihwa Sageori (Intersection). Turn left and then left again to reach Yulgok-ro 19-gil (street). Walk uphill until you see Mihwa Barbershop, which is decorated in bright red and blue. This leads into the alleyways of Ihwa-dong.
Katong is one of the oldest neighborhoods on Singapore’s East Coast and it has retained much of its period architectural charm, offering plenty of opportunities to capture Singapore “through the years.”
The area is closely associated with the Peranakans— the Chinese immigrants who settled in the Straits of Malacca in the 19th century who adopted and adapted the local Malay culture. The Peranakans weren’t shy of displaying their success, and rows of old shophouses still stand with their colorful façades, decorative glazed tiles, and pintu pagar (a decorative entrance).
Away from the main streets, more Peranakan houses can be found with their welcoming courtyard to the front. Though many have been modernized internally, the exteriors remain unchanged, giving a true impression of times gone by. Fast-forward half a century, and you will also find buildings from the 1930s with their Art Deco feel, and bungalows from the 1950s – though many are disappearing, often replaced by three or four storied ultra-modern homes.
The neighborhood is fast developing with chi-chi cafés replacing the coffee shops of old, but Katong is still said by locals to offer some of the most authentic Peranakan cuisine and best laksa in Singapore. Watching people go about their daily lives as you sit and sample the variety of food is of course a great way to unwind after taking in the sights. – Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop
Japan’s reputation for contrasting ultra-modernity with an old samurai culture is rarely seen in the nation’s capital, which boasts plenty of the former, but due mostly to earthquakes and safety requirements, has left the latter to be maintained in former capital cities and mountain towns.
There is one area of Tokyo though that offers photographers a different perspective of the megalopolis. Yanaka is a shitamachi (town below a castle) district to the south of Nippori station, centered around a cemetary. Rustic and near-silent, the area feels a world away from central Tokyo thanks to the quiet ambience, and the fact that is survived fire bombing in World War II leaving plenty of the neighborhood intact. 7,000 gravestones tell their own tales of bygone Tokyo, beautifully maintained and often ornate. Capture them in April draped by the pink of blooming cherry blossom trees.
Yanaka Ginza, the shopping street here, offers a true alternative to the malls of Shibuya where butchers, barbers and candy-makers sit side by side, offering colorful opportunities to cameramen, as well as timeless treats.
In the last few years Yanaka has attracted the art scene too, with galleries SCAI the Bathhouse and HIGURE 17-15 cas opening their doors. Then last year, Hagiso, the “smallest possible integrated cultural facility” set up with a gallery, café, art studio, hair salon and design office, all in a two-storey structure on a quiet backstreet wood-framed building. Even today, the old alleys of Yanaka seem to turn up unexpected surprises, all of which give photographers a little something different to discover. – Robert Michael Poole
