Photographing the landmarks, street food and everyday life of the city
In June 2022, I photographed Naples for TUI, covering landmarks, markets, street food and city scenes for its tourism imagery. The local team supplied a list of places to photograph, and I explored on foot with one of my colleagues, working through the locations and shooting as we went.
I was TUI’s Global Photography Manager at the time. This was part of a wider Italy travel & tourism photography assignment that began around Naples before continuing to Rome and Milan.
Our city coverage included Piazza del Plebiscito, Galleria Umberto I, Teatro di San Carlo, Pignasecca Market, street art and Toledo Metro station. We also bought, photographed and enjoyed some of the food along the way. There are worse things to fit into a working day than coffee and pastries.
The challenge was bringing those different subjects together into a useful collection, within the time available. We could plan our route, but we couldn’t arrange every stop around perfect light.
The assignment at a glance
Photographed for: TUI
Location: Naples, Italy
Date: June 2022
My role: Global Photography Manager, photographing the assignment
Who accompanied me: One member of my TUI team
Approach: Independent photography on foot, following a location list supplied by the local team
Coverage: Landmarks, architecture, markets, street art, food and a colleague exploring
One of the experiences this work supported was the Naples highlights bus and walking tour with coffee and pastry.
We weren’t travelling with that tour or accompanied by a guide. The two of us covered the locations independently, creating photographs to help show the destination and its appeal.
That distinction matters: these are photographs from a commercial assignment, rather than a review of taking the excursion as a customer.
Working through a city brief on foot
The local team had already identified the places they needed. Our job was to work out a route, get around them and come back with useful photographs.
A location list gives a shoot direction, but it doesn’t decide the pictures for you. Arriving at a landmark still leaves plenty of choices: how much of the setting to include, which details deserve attention and whether a person adds anything to the photograph.
With several places to cover, I also needed to think about what each stop contributed to the collection. A large square, a covered arcade and a market street each offered something different.
That is an important part of my travel and tourism photography. The individual photographs need to work, but so does the selection a client receives. A marketing team needs enough variety to introduce the destination, illustrate particular stops and show something of the experience between them.
For Naples, that meant keeping the wider city in mind while working through the individual locations.
Giving the landmarks their own space
Piazza del Plebiscito provided the broad views: open space, large façades and the relationship between the buildings around the square.
Those photographs give the collection a clear sense of place. They also serve a different purpose from a close detail or a person enjoying a coffee. Sometimes the most useful image is simply a strong view of the location someone is considering visiting.
At Galleria Umberto I, the photographs became more about looking upwards. The glass roof, dome and surrounding architecture offered several compositions, from views along the arcade to frames concentrating on the structure overhead.
I photographed the architecture on its own and included my colleague looking up through her camera. The first shows the space; the second adds the familiar response of arriving somewhere and wanting to photograph it.
The Teatro di San Carlo images concentrate on the exterior, including a view framed through an arch. That framing gives the building some surrounding context and provides an alternative to a straightforward façade photograph.
Across these locations, the aim was to make each place recognisable while finding enough variation to keep the collection interesting. There was no need to force a person into every frame.
My Royal Palace of Caserta photography case study looks at a similar decision within one attraction, where the scale of the rooms influenced how I included people.
Finding the city’s character in markets and streets
The market and street photographs bring a different side of Naples into the collection.
At Pignasecca Market, the images include produce displayed outside shops, fish counters and views along the street. There is plenty to look at within a relatively small space: colour, signs, stacked crates and the way the stalls sit against the surrounding buildings.
A wider market view helps place those details. A closer photograph lets the food or display take centre stage. Used together, they give a fuller impression of the street.
The murals add another visual layer. Some photographs show the artwork within the surrounding buildings, with flags and street decorations crossing the scene. Others move closer to individual painted surfaces.
These subjects help a destination collection extend beyond its major landmarks. They give the viewer an impression of what they might notice while walking between the better-known stops.
For a tourism business, that can be useful when describing the character of a visit. The landmark establishes where you are; the market, street and food photographs help show what exploring might feel like.
Buying, photographing and enjoying the food
We bought the food ourselves, photographed it and enjoyed it along the way.
Without a guide to accompany us, explaining a more involved commercial setup to individual businesses would have been difficult. Buying what we wanted to try kept this part of the shoot simple.
The collection includes sfogliatelle, coffee and a cone of fried food. The collection includes photographs of the pastries on display, closer views on a plate, and a hand reaching in to pick one up.
Those small changes give the food photographs different uses. A close view shows texture and detail. Including the coffee gives the pastries a little more context. A hand entering the frame introduces the moment of choosing one.
The cuoppo photographs do something similar. One concentrates on the food itself; another shows the paper cone held up against the street. That second view connects what we were eating with where we were exploring.
And yes, we enjoyed the food as we shot it. It was part of experiencing the city, and part of the brief.
This was a simpler setup than my food and wine photography at Cantina del Vesuvio, where I photographed a hosted vineyard experience and arranged food separately within a working restaurant. Here, the food fitted into our walk around Naples.
A change of scene at Toledo Metro station
Toledo Metro station gave the collection a very different colour palette and sense of space.
The photographs look along the escalators towards the blue and turquoise surfaces overhead. Strong lines draw the eye through the image, while the closer views focus on the shapes and colour above.
It is a useful reminder that destination photography can include the places people pass through as well as the attractions they deliberately set out to see.
Within this collection, the station also provides a clear visual change. After sunlit squares, stone façades, market stalls and food, the blue interior introduces something quite different.
The photographs needed to show why this stop was visually interesting. The escalators, surrounding surfaces and overhead opening were enough to do that without adding a staged group scene.
How do you work when the light and crowds won’t wait?
We had limited time, so we focused most of our planning on the route. We didn’t have the luxury of scheduling every building for its ideal light or returning repeatedly until the conditions changed.
I photographed the locations as we reached them.
That makes on-the-spot decisions more important. Where is the strongest available viewpoint? Is a broad view working, or would a closer composition make more sense? What needs to be included for the photograph to explain the location?
Crowds were something we could manage with a little patience. Where a scene was busy, we could wait for a lull and take the photograph when people had moved through.
That doesn’t mean pretending the city was empty. It means choosing a moment when the main subject is easier to read and someone passing close to the camera isn’t blocking it.
For a commercial assignment, you always have to balance improving an individual photograph with leaving enough time to complete the brief. Spending too long at one stop can leave the rest of the collection short.
This shoot involved making those choices as we went, working with the available conditions and keeping the required coverage in mind.
Bringing a colleague into the photographs
The colleague with me was the same member of my team who accompanied me at Herculaneum. No other staff or models joined us for the city coverage.
Having her there gave me opportunities to include someone exploring, particularly in the Galleria photographs. She focused on the architecture, and her camera helped explain what caught her eye.
That is a simple way of connecting a person with a place. The building remains important, while the photograph also shows an activity a visitor might recognise.
It suited the scale of this visit. We moved around the city together, and the people photographs could sit alongside the architecture, street scenes, and food.
My Herculaneum photography for TUI shows how that same small-team approach worked within an individual attraction.
Where is the Naples photography being used?
When I checked the Naples highlights excursion listing on Musement in November 2026, one of my wider views of Piazza del Plebiscito was its lead photograph.
That is a concrete example of imagery from this June 2022 assignment still being used more than four years later.
The current listing brings together city sightseeing, architecture, coffee and a pastry stop. Those subjects help explain why a varied collection was useful: one image can introduce the destination, while others illustrate particular parts of the experience.
The listing describes the excursion currently offered. Our independent photography visit was not a record of its complete itinerary, and the wider archive should not be read as a promise that every photographed location or food item is included.
What would I plan for a similar destination shoot?
For a city photography brief, I would start with the places that must be covered and the purpose of the images.
A useful plan would establish:
- The priorities: which locations are essential, and which would be useful if time allows.
- The route: how to move between stops without losing unnecessary time travelling back and forth.
- The people: whether the brief needs a guide, participating visitors, staff or professional models.
- The arrangements: any venue access, food stops or business involvement that needs organising.
- The intended use: where the photographs will appear and which formats the client needs.
This assignment shows what a small team can cover with a clear location list. A more involved brief, particularly one featuring guided interactions or arranged food experiences, needs time and support to match.
My guide to planning tour and excursion photography explains how to turn those requirements into a practical photography brief.
Explore the example client gallery
You can browse more photographs in my Naples tourism photography example gallery.
The work is organised by location, showing how individual subjects sit within the wider assignment. It also gives you an example of how a finished collection can be presented to a client.
Downloads, favouriting and the store are disabled in this public example. The features in your own gallery would be set up to suit your project.
More from the Naples photography assignment
This article completes the location series from my June 2022 Naples assignment for TUI. Each post covers a different part of the work and the decisions behind the photographs.
City and destination photography FAQs
Can you photograph several locations within one assignment?
Yes. Share the location list, priorities and any fixed appointments so I can assess the coverage and travel time. Several nearby stops may fit together well, but the schedule also needs to allow for access, walking, food photography and any planned scenes with people.
Do we need a local guide or coordinator?
Not for every shoot. For straightforward location coverage, a clear brief and agreed arrangements may be enough. A local coordinator becomes particularly useful when working with several businesses, arranging participants or needing introductions and language support.
Can we use the photographs across different campaigns?
We can agree usage for the channels and campaigns you need when preparing the quote. Tell me if the images will also be shared with partner businesses, tourism organisations or other teams, so that intended use is covered from the start.
Do you photograph UK destinations and city tours?
Yes. I work across the UK and internationally. I photograph destinations, visitor attractions, tours and activities for operators, tourism boards and destination marketing teams.
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Planning new photography for a city tour, visitor experience or destination campaign?
I create travel and tourism photography covering places, people, food and the experiences that bring them together.
Send me the destination, the locations or activities you want covered, any dates or deadlines and where you expect to use the photographs. I can help shape the coverage and provide a tailored quote.
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About the author
Lee Charlton is a commercial travel and tourism photographer with more than 16 years of professional experience. As TUI’s Global Photography Manager, he photographed destinations, excursions, activities and marketing assignments internationally.
Based in the UK, he now works with tourism businesses, visitor attractions and destination marketing teams across the UK and overseas.
