Street Photography in Belfast

The Cathedral Quarter, named after St Anne's Cathedral, is the city's pub and arts district. Velvet Escape picks Hill Street, with its pubs and street art, and the narrow Commercial Court, where the Duke of York faces the Dark Horse. A passage hung with umbrellas leads into a courtyard of murals. Come at dusk when pub light spills onto the cobbles and drinkers stand outside. Put a mural behind a passer-by rather than shooting it flat. Crowds get loud late on weekends.

St George's Market is a Victorian hall built in the 1890s, and the council says the Friday market dates back to 1604. It opens Friday to Sunday, from 8am on Fridays and a little later at weekends, and closes mid afternoon. Friday has the fish stalls and a more local crowd, while weekends lean towards food stalls and crafts. The first hour of each day is a quiet hour with the music off, which suits slower frames. Ask fishmongers before a close portrait; most are used to cameras.

City Hall sits in Donegall Square at the top of Donegall Place, the main shopping street. Shoppers stream up and down all day, and on dry days the lawns fill with office workers at lunch. Use the white stone of the hall as a clean background and wait for someone to cross it. Around Christmas a market usually takes over the grounds, with crowds and warm stall light after dark. The pavements are busy, so don't block the flow while you wait.

Custom House Square is an open space near the river, used for concerts in summer. Beside it stands the Albert Memorial Clock, which local photographer Caoimhe Clements calls one of her favourite places, noting it leans because of the reclaimed land it stands on. Get low, as she does, and use the tilt against a straight figure walking past. At night the square is lit and quiet, good for isolated silhouettes.

The Falls Road is the heart of nationalist West Belfast. The International Wall on Divis Street, at its foot, is a long run of murals that is repainted as causes change, and Turtle notes more Palestinian and Basque imagery here than Irish flags. Black taxi tours stop here regularly, so you get visitors reading the wall as your subject. Shoot along the wall to layer people and paint. Residents live here, so ask before photographing locals, and keep political opinions to yourself.

The peace wall on Cupar Way divides the Falls from the Shankill. Turtle describes walls up to six metres high with gates that are still locked at night. The wall is covered in murals and in messages written by visitors, and tour groups stop to sign it. That gives you people writing messages against a loaded background. Morning light is flat here, which suits the detail. Don't treat it as a selfie wall: it still protects people who live on both sides.

The Shankill Road is the loyalist side. Union flags hang from lamp posts, and murals remember the Troubles from the other point of view. It is also a real shopping street, with locals doing errands. Walk through one of the open gates from the Falls to see the contrast, and shoot the flags and murals with people passing, not posed. Be discreet and respectful, especially in July, when bonfire sites are built in some areas.

The Titanic Quarter is the old Harland and Wolff shipyard where the Titanic was built. The angular Titanic Belfast building and the two giant yellow cranes, Samson and Goliath, give you big graphic shapes. It is open and sparse, so this is a place for a single figure against architecture rather than crowds. Late afternoon light hits the building's metal skin. Wind off the lough can be strong, so hold your camera steady.