Around 3.5 billion people live in cities worldwide and this number looks set forth to double by the year 2050. As the popularity of city living increases, as does the demand for images depicting cities and the people living there. Companies always want to ensure they stay in tune with their clients needs and if that means that the majority of them live in cities, then they will no doubt require associated images portraying this.

City landscapes and famous buildings and monuments in cities will always sell well however you shouldn’t just draw the line there when you are in a city looking for subjects to shoot.

There are for example much more than the Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, yellow cabs and Central Park to shoot in New York City. Couples of all ages sitting outside coffee shops in Soho, chess players in Washington Square Park, families and hipsters wondering around the brownstones in Brooklyn and the energy of the players on the basketball courts in Bronx for example. All these elements are aggregated to form the overall vibe, feelings and atmosphere of a city.

Even though it may not be a world-famous icon, places such as your local bar, hair salon, park and shopping mall are classic searches for clients looking for archetypical city locations. Not everyone is searching for the massive tourist destinations; some people will want ‘Midwest American bars’, ‘Welsh village pubs, ‘Bavarian streets’ for example as they are more generic, more subtle and project more of a sense of ‘knowing’ the area.

What is also extremely popular when photographing localized content is to include people in the photo. Images come alive when there is a human face populating it. You get a sense of the community and therefore a more introspective view of the place.

You can view some great examples of city images here to inspire you. We look forward to seeing your images showing where you live, your favourite city hang out spots and who you go there with!