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The Park Plaza London general managers share their favourite views of the capital:

Greg Hegarty, Park Plaza Regional General Manager UK “This is was my first view of London before I went into the city, coming from Newcastle I had never seen a skyline like it before.  A truly amazing view with lots of nostalgia of when I first came down to work in the big smoke!”

Simon Mahon, General Manager Park Plaza County Hall “This penthouse provides my favourite view. You can see Westminster, the houses of Parliament, the River, the London Eye, Canary Wharf, the City, Waterloo. It’s fantastic. So much of London, its history mixed with modern life, business mixed with pleasure. It never fails to amaze me.”

Pascale Fioretti, General Manager Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes “Big Ben is London for me… I remember seeing pictures of the famous tower clock in my English school books and listening to stories about its “birth”!  I still remember how I felt the first time I walked out of Westminster tube station and found myself standing next to the massive edifice… It made such an impression on me and I still feels the same to this day, after 8 years in the capital!”

Andrew Swindells, General Manager Park Plaza Westminster Bridge “Londoners are really lucky to have so many wonderful parks. My wife and I enjoy walking through the city’s beautiful gardens and it’s difficult to choose a favourite, but we particularly enjoy Regent’s Park where this shot was taken.”

“This is a great view from the Long Room at Lord’s Cricket Ground. Cricket on a nice day – it’s a very happy place”

Ramesh Costa – General Manager, Park Plaza Victoria London

From 15 July 2011 the twelve shortlisted images for the My View of London 2011 photography competition will be on display in Park Plaza Victoria London. Don’t forget to submit your photo by midnight on Thursday 23 June for a chance to win some great prizes!

For me, the best thing about London is the culture, there’s so much to see and do. Everywhere you turn there is something to discover and it’s the little places that I love. Spots like Wardour Street or St Christopher’s Place where just a few short steps from shopping-crazy Oxford Street can lead to a fun taste of London life with bars, restaurants and most importantly… shops. These places are like treasure troves waiting to be explored and whether you fancy a cup of coffee or a big old cocktail there’s always some delight to be found.

The View of London which I like best though, is right in the middle of the Millennium Bridge.  From there you can turn 360 degrees and see an array of amazing London sights, as well as a great mixture of people – from city slickers in suits to tourists snapping away on their cameras.

The great thing about this spot is that whilst the river rushes below, you can look at two of the most wonderful buildings in London. In one direction is St Paul’s Cathedral, a stunning mixture of architecture and history that defines the London skyline. The other way is the Tate Modern, an imposing factory-like building that houses incredible art and some crazy installation pieces. The Tate Modern is free to walk around in and it only takes a little walk (often via some fun street performers) to enter an amazing building and experience some London culture. That’s the real beauty of this view. It’s a wonderful spot to see London, and a great jumping off point (not literally) to experience some of London’s sights.

Photo by Eric Hossinger (www.flickr.com/photos/hozinja)

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My view of London is a little different to most. Instead of the hustle and bustle of the shops, theatres, bars and clubs, skateboarders look a little further into the city to find their fun – a set of stairs along the bank of the Thames or a few benches in one of the many parks around the city are enough to amuse a skateboarder for hours.

Some of the best places to skate in London are within the city itself, using the streets and the architecture to our advantage. Whether it ‘s a bump in the pavement, a gap in the road, or even a set of railings – an object overlooked by most becomes a fascinating part of the capital to us.

One of the most famous places to skate within London is on the Southbank, under the Royal Festival Hall. This has been a second home for many skateboarders from London and the surrounding areas, getting the train into the city (come rain or shine) to skate. It is so well-known it has even attracted skateboarders from all over the world. Because of its location, right next to Embankment Bridge, you will find businessmen and tourists alike standing and watching the skateboarders do their thing.

On a warm summers day, with people from all walks of life passing by ,the view from the undercroft of the Royal Festival Hall has got to be my favourite view of London.

Of course, this is not the only place in the city that you will find skateboarders. With skate parks all around the city from Elephant and Castle to Mile End, and Stockwell to London Bridge, you might catch a glimpse of a skateboarder on your own travels around the city.

Photo by Jack Longman

www.flickr.com/photos/jacklongman

For me London is all about the people. No matter how spectacular the buildings or how breathtaking the views, it is the Londoners that really bring the city to life. Walking through Camden Market on a busy Saturday or sitting among the crowds at Hyde Park on a sunny afternoon, you can catch a glimpse of the huge diversity of the capital.

If you haven’t yet gone to watch the London Marathon in the spring, you should! It is a unique opportunity to see the familiar sights of the capital transform into something new and exciting. Pavements become lined with thousands of Londoners watching thousands more pace the city’s streets. Balloons and brightly coloured T-shirts fill the horizon, with people from all over joining together to cheer on the runners from start to finish. Here you will be spoilt for photo opportunities – from the historic Tower Bridge packed full of runners in fancy dress to the crowds of supporters waiting patiently at the finish line.

For me, the best sights appear once the race is over – marathon runners ready to drop and still in fancy dress making their way home… or to the pub! Giant bananas and fairies with beards sit on the tube as though they make the journey every day, and men and women dressed head to toe in neon Lycra join friends to wander through the narrow back streets in search of a watering hole. Walk five minutes from the finish at Horse Guards Parade in any direction and find yourself surrounded once again by the crowds celebrating, the London way, with a pint.

London is a photographer’s dream city, a truly multicultural place that has as much variety in the architecture as it does in the people who inhabit it. If you find yourself getting bored of the location that you’re photographing, simply head a few miles in any direction and you’ll find that you’re in an area with an entirely different feel. It takes something truly special to forgo all this in favour of taking pictures in dark and dingy spaces. Something that keeps me working as a photographer, and to an extent keeps me living in London – the music scene.
The level of diversity does not diminish when it comes to the bands performing in London, nor the venues they play in; and from hardcore punk shows in the back rooms of pubs to pop concerts in cavernous stadiums and arenas, every event offers different opportunities and challenges.

Large venues offer photo pits for photographers to shoot from but are likely to impose heavy restrictions on who can take pictures, as well as how they can go about it (the industry standard is only being allowed to photograph the first three songs, and with no flash). In fact it can be nigh on impossible to get into one of the larger venues armed with anything better than a compact point and shoot unless you have a photopass. Getting hold of one of these is not as daunting as it seems – try emailing the venue or band’s press person and expressing an interest in taking photographs, most people are very accommodating if you are polite and offer to buy a ticket to the concert (start taking photos for a magazine or a website and more often than not you’ll get guestlist entry into the show too).

Smaller venues will not have these restrictions but you will have to contend with crowdsurfers seemingly hellbent on landing on your camera as well as space restrictions that limit usage of telephoto lenses.

Some might love capturing shots using a zoom lens from the press pit at a large venue but give me a busy small venue, flash gun and wide angle lens any day of the week. My two images come from what will always be my favourite view in London, the side of the stage during a hardcore show at The Underworld in Camden.

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