Bored with the same old photography spots? Ask AI to plot you a photo walk!

Model posing in front of a sign reading Bricklane.

If I’m testing a gadget for Digital Camera World, then I usually head to the Barbican Centre in London, England. The Barbican’s sprawling maze of Brutalist architecture makes a great location for a model shoot, especially when I need to light them with an LED or test out a variety of fog machines in the location’s long, dark corridors.

When Apple lent me an iPhone 17 to review as a camera, I predictably shot at the Barbican. However, I also wanted to put the iPhone 17 through its paces in a new location, to break free of the Barbican’s familiar grey-and-brown color palette and stony textures.

I only had my model for two hours, so I decided to ask the machine mind of ChatGPT to conjure up a London-based two-hour photo walk that would give me a wide range of locations in which to shoot my model.

In a matter of minutes, we were shooting against the red brick backdrop of a Victorian council estate. Here, I used the iPhone Air’s Portrait mode to dial in a shallow depth of field to draw attention to the model. (Image credit: George Cairns)

I hadn't really used ChatGPT before for a project like this, but I was impressed by the speed at which the app created a location-based itinerary in part of London that I’d not visited since the last century: Shoreditch.

It struggled to give me a usable map with a detailed route inscribed on it, but it did give me the following route, complete with a timetable – and each location had some suggestions on what type of subjects and shots I could expect to capture!

I checked out ChatGPT’s suggested route on Google Maps and was able to use Street View to get a better preview of the locations that it suggested I visit. Here’s the photo walk timetable, route and some potential photo subject suggestions, and even a selection of shooting tips that it suggested:

Brick Lane’s cobbles and graffiti offered a vibrant palette and varied textures for Maddy’s shoot. This resulted in a distinct and different mood and aesthetic compared to my usual Barbican backdrops. (Image credit: George Cairns)

Route Summary:
Start at Boxpark Shoreditch → Walk along Redchurch Street → Head to Brick Lane → Turn into Chance & Whitby Streets → End at Arnold Circus.

Time 0:00 – 0:20
Location Boxpark Shoreditch
Style / Highlights Urban, modern lines, signage.
Photo Ideas Geometric backdrops, glass reflections

Time 0:20 – 0:45
Location Chance & Whitby.
Style / Highlights Streets Graffiti concentration, artistic vibe
Photo Ideas Edgy portraits, shade light tests, color contrast

Time 0:45 – 1:15
Location Redchurch Street
Style / Highlights Boutique storefronts, muted tones, cobblestones.
Photo Ideas Shopfront portraits, mirror reflections, lifestyle

Time 1:15 – 1:40
Location Arnold Circus
Style / Highlights Soft greenery, vintage London brick, calm atmosphere.
Photo Ideas Depth layering on staircases, natural skin tones

Time 1:40 – 2:00
Location Brick Lane
Style / Highlights Street art, graffiti, markets, lively texture.
Photo Ideas Murals as backdrops, walking shots, wide vs portrait

Shooting Tips:
Best time: Early morning or golden hour for softer light and fewer crowds. Bring a small reflector or white card for shaded shots. Test ultra-wide for murals, standard for portraits, and telephoto for compression shots. Each stop is 5–8 minutes apart — stay flexible for spontaneous moments.

Despite being in a busy London district, there was plenty of privacy in nearby Arnold Circus, so I could capture Maddy solo amongst the autumn leaves that complement the colours of the background red brick estate. As ChatGPT had promised, we had “soft greenery, vintage London brick, calm atmosphere.” (Image credit: George Cairns)

So, armed with my AI-powered itinerary, I headed to London. I planned to meet my model, Maddy (@Runway.voguish), at 14:00, so I arrived an hour early to do a quick recce of ChatGPT’s proposed route. I soon realized that there was a fair bit of zig-zagging, so I re-ordered the itinerary in my iPhone 17’s Notes app.

The recce was a good idea, as it showed me that ChatGPT had indeed provided me with some fantastic locations, from the autumnal leaf-strewn Arnold Circus, to a park surrounded by beautiful Victorian red-brick mansion blocks and tenements, to the shop fronts and graffiti-sprayed walls of Brick Lane.

I followed ChatGPT’s suggestion to start at Boxpark in Shoreditch, with its “urban modern lines, signage, geometric backdrops, and glass reflections.” This urban backdrop inspired me to use the iPhone 17’s Stark B&W Photographic Style. (Image credit: George Cairns)

When I met Maddy I was completely relaxed, as I knew where I was going and what backdrops I would be shooting her against. This gave us time to fit in a coffee break in a beautiful non-franchise coffee shop, which itself provided a lifestyle photo opportunity of Maddy drinking her coffee.

I enjoyed my ChatGPT-inspired photo walk, and it certainly provided me with a much wider range of subjects and backdrops than I usually get from my regular photo walk haunts. I used ChatGPT’s suggestions as a springboard for my shoot and was happy to tweak its timetable and location suggestions once I’d recce’d the location.

It’s certainly an experiment that I can highly recommend – and as you’ll hopefully see from my shots, I captured a wide range of colorful and varied images on the iPhone 17, using its Ultra Wide 13mm, 26mm Main, and 52mm Telephoto lenses.