London Street Photography - Solar Eclipse on Primrose Hill

The best street photography images feel like they’re from once-a-year moments. For street photography in London, the city is filled with annual events every month that facilitate these moments, often feeling like you’re somewhere outside the city with how diverse it is.

London street photography on 12 August 2026, the evening of the solar eclipse on Primrose Hill.

However, there are quite literally once-in-a-lifetime moments that are worth marking the calendar for and counting down the days until. The solar eclipse in London on 12 August 2026 was no exception.

Thousands turned out on Primrose Hill to watch the solar eclipse together, most of them in the same cardboard glasses.

The Events

London is a city filled with events that you can never fully keep up with. That’s the appeal of the city, with the old adage of “to be tired of London is to be tired of life”.

I’m a photographer from Vancouver, Canada, and growing up there has given me an appreciation for diversity; to me, it feels weird without it. However, London brings it to another level.

Pure awe at the peak of the eclipse, the kind of reaction that makes street photography in London worth planning around.

London is home to cultural events that the city comes together for that are unlike anything I’ve experienced in Vancouver because of the cultural communities that call it home. Carnival and its J’Ouvert in Notting Hill is one I’ve looked forward to all year, and I shared a blog post about how my own calendar mismarking led me to a 4:00 am wake-up and a London event I will be sure not to miss next year.

J’Ouvert Street Photography | Dancing in the Paint

Revellers in goggles and paint dance with their arms in the air at J’Ouvert, the early morning start to Notting Hill Carnival.

Notting Hill Carnival | Paint-Splattered Poncho

A reveller in a pink plastic poncho covered in paint walks through the crowd, flags and phones held high around him.

J’Ouvert London | Saint Lucia Flag in the Crowd

A woman smiles through a dusting of paint beside a friend wrapped in the Saint Lucia flag.

Notting Hill Carnival Street Photography | Water Pistols at the Ready

Two friends with orange and yellow water pistols, one in a Jamaica bandana, the other in a paint-soaked balaclava.

J’Ouvert Street Photography | Paint-Covered Hands

A woman with paint on her hands and face moves with the crowd, a friend in devil horns beside her.

Notting Hill Carnival | A Bottle Raised High

A grinning reveller with a Jamaica flag over his shoulders holds up a bottle of cognac in the morning sun.

J’Ouvert London | Dancing Past the Parking Signs

Young men in goggles and bandanas dance down the road past boarded-up shopfronts and a parking suspension notice.

J’Ouvert Street Photography | Horns, Goggles and Black Paint

A reveller covered head to toe in black paint, in a horned helmet and goggles, in the thick of the crowd.

Notting Hill Carnival | The White Mask

A figure in a white mask and paint-spattered suit stands beside a man on a phone call as vape smoke drifts across the street.

J’Ouvert London | Dancing on a Paint-Covered Road

Women dance in sliders and flip-flops on a road coated in powder paint as the crowd moves on.

Meanwhile, Purim in Stamford Hill in the Hasidic Jewish community saw a street party I’d never experienced, but one candid photo I got led to me winning third place in the London Street Photography Festival’s “London Photo” category.

Purim in Stamford Hill | Rainbow Hat on a Bicycle

A young man in a black suit and rainbow fur hat cycles down a Stamford Hill street during Purim.

Purim Street Photography | Through the Bus Doors

A girl in a velvet costume gown and a clown behind the doors of a red London bus, the photo that placed third in the London Street Photography Festival’s London Photo category.

Sometimes, you only stumble upon them, like seeing Middlesbrough supporters in London’s Trafalgar Square before their playoff at Wembley. It was purely the right place at the right time, and only after I had originally planned to go home.

Trafalgar Square Street Photography | Middlesbrough Fans in Red

Middlesbrough fans take over Trafalgar Square, a teenager beaming through the flare smoke: London street photography at its loudest.

London Street Photography | Arm in Arm in Trafalgar Square

Four Middlesbrough supporters shout arm in arm, one in a white Boro bucket hat, as the square fills with red smoke.

Trafalgar Square | Flare Held High

A young fan in a pale blue polo raises a flare as supporters pack the plinth behind him.

Middlesbrough Fans in London | Red Smoke on the Plinth

A blond fan in sunglasses sits on the edge of the plinth, shouting through a cloud of red smoke.

Trafalgar Square Street Photography | Fist Pump for the Boro

A fan in a blue polo throws a fist pump towards the camera at the base of Nelson’s Column, red smoke still hanging in the air.

As someone who’s only recently made London their home, it either takes time to discover them and mark the calendar for the year following or someone to demystify them.

The Framelines community has been great for not only meeting like-minded street photographers in London, but also tapping into the knowledge of those who’ve been in London for decades and know its ins and outs like the back of their hand.

Photographer Simon King just put out a documentary, Everything Happens All The Time (I caught its release at the Photobook Café), that’s a love letter to this community, where some of those same events are shown within the film, along with the reflections of those who document them: each in their own distinct style. It’s long, so be sure to save it for later – but it captures the sentiment of the city and the people who document it best.

The Solar Eclipse

Meanwhile, there are events that bring all cultures, ages, and walks of life together. This year, it was the solar eclipse.

Having read about it in a Reddit comment months before, I put it in the calendar and marked the date.

I remembered street photography of New York’s eclipse leaving memorable images in my head of crowds wearing the cheap cardboard eclipse glasses, and I knew I wanted to be there to document it.

What I knew I’d be thanking myself for then and there was ordering a pair of eclipse glasses off of Amazon at £4 for a pack of two. The day before the eclipse and the day of, some people paid well above ten times that.

Eclipse glasses were the hottest item on Primrose Hill that evening.

The Busy Season

Though I try to make time for street photography multiple days a week, it can sometimes find its way onto the backburner. Most recently, commercial clients have been commissioning street photography for advertising campaigns. With my IBM x Wimbledon campaign published over the summer, it’s given a new sense of purpose to documenting the streets.

“One for the wallet, one for the heart” is a phrase I try to keep in my mind as much as I can for doing a personal photography shoot (namely, street, editorial fashion, or street style photography). It’s easier said than done when you’re a freelancer, as it’s hard to say no to clients commissioning your work. It’s a good problem to have, but I’ve been in places like the start of the year where my photography services for lifestyle photography completely filled my calendar without breaks – or making work for me. And the work I make for me is what most often leads to these commissions.

In August especially, it’s my busiest time of year for editorial portraits with business professionals, like my personal branding services, as the corporate world slows down and the good weather makes it attractive for shoots – but it also does for street.

I was fortunate to have a client fly from Zurich to shoot for half the day, but it was the day of the eclipse and the day before I had to fly back to Canada. The conditions were set for me to feel exhausted and bail on it, especially as the shoot ran long and I had all of my studio equipment with me, but I pushed through and made a plan.

Primrose Hill Eclipse | Glasses On, Box in Hand

A man in a white shirt checks the eclipse through cardboard glasses, a box of spares in his hand and the City skyline behind.

London Street Photography | Arms Up for the Eclipse

Friends throw their arms in the air on Primrose Hill as the moon starts to cross the sun.

Primrose Hill Street Photography | Tinfoil Visor

A woman in a homemade tinfoil visor with ribbons watches the sky, while a young woman behind her holds her face in disbelief.

Solar Eclipse London | Primrose Hill to the BT Tower

The crowd on Primrose Hill stretches back towards the BT Tower and the City, the busiest event I’ve been to in London.

Primrose Hill

While stumbling upon the right spot for the eclipse and taking my best guess at where would’ve been good to shoot would have sufficed, its peak is only for a short period. I first thought the Royal Observatory in Greenwich would be great to watch it from, as Google had suggested, but in my lack-of-time panic when ensuring I had enough buffer after my shoot, I put my query into Claude.

This is by no means a plug for it, but it’s become a major supporter of me and my photography work as a whole. Compared to ChatGPT, Claude excels at research. No, I don’t use it to write my blog posts for me – I like to write and it isn’t something I’d change, nor do I find its copywriting from scratch readable, nor does it capture the tone I seek to convey.

That said, Claude shot down my Greenwich idea, given how far it was – and that it was a sold-out ticketed event (didn’t know that), but suggested that Primrose Hill would be my best bet, and it absolutely did not disappoint.

Having put my studio kit housed in a suitcase in storage before making the journey, I had momentum and I felt ready.

Street Photography London | Row of Eclipse Watchers

A row of women in eclipse glasses, one with her hand over her mouth, as the sun narrows to a crescent.

Primrose Hill | Eyes to the Sun

Two friends look up through silver eclipse glasses, one with a plaster on her elbow.

London Street Photography | Pink Cap and Paper Glasses

A woman in a pink cap smiles as she swaps her sunglasses for eclipse glasses.

The Crowds

The eclipse viewing was the busiest event I had been to in London. It nearly became a crowd crush at the peak of the hill. When getting from A to B, London’s crowds are always a frustration; however, with a camera and a purpose, I thrive in them.

That said, in the ocean of Lime bikes, my trip wouldn’t end. I let the charges run until it automatically ended as I felt I would waste time (and energy) hiking back up and down the hill.

The ocean of Lime bikes beside Primrose Hill, where my own ride refused to end.

I found my perfect areas with enough room to get folks in frame, have the light illuminate them, and capture the frenzy of faces wearing their eclipse glasses – or the homemade alternatives.

The homemade alternative: a kitchen colander projecting dozens of tiny crescent suns.

Having the one I ordered in the weeks before, which I later gave away to someone as I’d rather document the crowds observing the peak than feel I needed to see it myself, I learned that when wearing those glasses, you can see absolutely nothing else other than the eclipse. It is pure black.

Those unique images from New York with crowds wearing the glasses immediately made sense. You’re able to get up right close without ruining the moment or blocking the view.

Primrose Hill Eclipse | Braids and Paper Glasses

A young woman with long braids pushes her eclipse glasses up onto her forehead.

London Street Photography | A Drink at the Peak

A man in clear plastic glasses tips back a drink, his face turned to the sky.

Primrose Hill Street Photography | Glasses Over the Lens

A hand holds eclipse glasses over a phone camera while a young couple stand close behind.

London Solar Eclipse | One Pair Between Two

Two women press their heads together to share one pair of eclipse glasses.

Primrose Hill Eclipse | The Crowd Settles In

Picnickers sit shoulder to shoulder on the hillside in eclipse glasses, a woman in sunglasses smiling in the foreground.

The results were every range of emotion, reaction, and a sense of community for this moment that could be appreciated by everyone. The city came together, and it reminded me why I call London home.

Moreover, it’s given a feeling of momentum to fill my calendar with the events for the years to come.

Left on a bin as the crowd headed home down the hill.

Me at the top of Primrose Hill in the glasses I later gave away, so I could keep photographing the crowd.