Skip to main content

Best photo shoot locations in Houston

Series sponsored by Sony

Sony Style
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The backyard and living room work fine for testing out new lenses and techniques, but when you really want to capture everything Houston has to offer, it’s time to lace up some shoes and hit the streets. From the city’s most popular fire-spinning hangout to a literal wall of water, here are some of our favorite Houston locales to break out the DSLR and go crazy.

Recommended Videos

Buffalo Bayou

Buffalo Bayou flows all the way across Houston, but the best place to shoot it is downtown. It is one of my favorite places to shoot due to its versatility. Whether you want to shoot more green or more gray, Buffalo Bayou has it. Its proximity to downtown Houston and the industrial parks allows the photographer to capture the juxtaposition of the urban and the natural, which is very characteristic of the city.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Why It’s Unique: There are always new perspectives to be found along the bayou. The many paths that run alongside it will keep the hobby photographer from ever getting bored.

Location: The best places to start shooting are along Memorial drive near Sawyer St., and behind Spaghetti Warehouse at the corner of Main and Commerce.

Timing: While Buffalo Bayou is beautiful at sunset, you won’t want to stay too much longer after the sun goes down, as it is not the safest area of town. Also, avoid rainy days! The bayou is there to fill up when it rains.

Equipment: No special equipment required.

Last Concert Café

Last Concert Café is a restaurant and concert venue located in Houston’s warehouse district, just north of downtown. The building itself has quite a checkered past. It was a speakeasy during the prohibition era, then converted into a brothel after the legalization of alcohol. Today, it is a venue where you can find true hippies and a group of fire spinners ready to light up a few nights a week.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Why It’s Unique: Last Concert Café is one of the few places in town where fire spinners perform regularly. They are a friendly bunch, welcoming spectators and performing their stunts while the band plays.

Location: 1403 Nance street, 77002. Just west of McKee street.

Timing: The fire spinners perform year round, usually a few nights a week. Thursday and Friday nights are a good bet, but Sunday night you can usually catch them practicing from 8 to 10 p.m.

Equipment: Bring a tripod for long exposure shots. If you plan on using a flash, it usually washes out the full effect of the fire.

Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark

The Lee and Joe Jamail skatepark is one of the nation’s best public skateparks. This 30,000 square foot facility located just west of downtown is an ideal spot to shoot action photography framed by Houston’s Buffalo Bayou, and capture a great view of the skyline. The park is open to the public, so photographers have no problem getting in — just make sure to stick to the grass or the edges of the park to avoid any collisions.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Why It’s Unique: Due to its size and architecture, it possesses many features that can’t be found in many cities, which attracts professional skaters from all over.

Location: The park is located on Sabine street, just west of I-45 between Memorial drive and Allen Parkway.

The best time of year to shoot is in the spring, before it gets too hot. Go as close to dusk as possible, while still maintaining a high shutter speed.

Timing: People do not skate in the rain. If it is raining or it has rained in the last few hours, chances are no one will be there.

Equipment: Bring a sports zoom lens. Sony offers a really nice 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.

The Heights

The Heights is an old neighborhood near the center of Houston. We enjoy shooting here because many of the houses in the neighborhood have not changed in the last fifty years, save the necessary upkeep. To compliment the houses, the Heights boasts an abundance of beautiful oak trees that, on some streets, create natural tunnels.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Why It’s Unique: The Heights’ appeal is largely due to the neighborhood’s artistic presence. It is a serene location where residents feel free to showcase their artistic tastes on their front lawns, with no criticism expected.

Location: The Heights is located north of I-10 and west of I-45. The intersection of Heights Boulevard and 11th street makes a good starting place for a tour.

Timing: The best time of year to shoot the Heights is in the fall, and dusk is always a good choice. It rains quite a bit in Houston. If you are able to, pick a day that is mildly cloudy.

Equipment: No special equipment required, but the neighborhood has some great HDR (High Dynamic Range) potential, so a tripod is suggested.

Williams Water Wall

Williams Water Wall is a manmade waterfall the shape of an amphitheater, sporting a high wall with archways on one side, and a half-circle waterfall about fifty feet high on the other. It is not the most versatile location to shoot, but it makes an ideal spot for portraits, or a fun shoot with the kids.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Why It’s Unique: What makes this location unique is the rush you get standing at the base of the wall. If you are into architectural photography, this is a must. It is very unique and special to Houston.

Location: The Water Wall is located at the corner of Hidalgo and Post Oak Boulevard, right next to the Transco Tower, a skyscraper off of the 610 West loop.

Timing: If you are able to, definitely shoot the Water Wall at night. The whole wall lights up from inside, giving it a very surreal look.

Equipment: Bring a wide-angle lens and cleaning material. Mist will be an issue, so if you do not have a lens filter, we highly recommend one, along with a rag.

Jump to other parts of this series:

Houston photography guide: Tips, locations, and stores

Best events in Houston to photograph

Best camera stores in Houston

Andy Hemingway
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Best GoPro Prime Big Deal Days deals: Every model is on sale!
Best Prime Day Deals

Update 10/9/24: Day one of Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days festivities has closed out, but we've still got one more day of sales to go. Prime Day GoPro deals are still ripe for the picking, so check back here regularly if you haven't already made an action camera purchase this Prime Day.

In case you didn't know, it is now time for Prime Big Deal Day deals to heat up. Prime Day deals officialy lasts through October 9, and among them are plenty of Prime Big Deal Day camera deals that include good prices on action cameras. And, yet again, within these deals you'll find deals on what is probably the biggest name in action cameras, GoPro. The best GoPro Prime Day deals remaining offer some impressive savings on a number of camera models, as well as some accessories. Below you'll find all of the best GoPro Prime Big Deal Day deals available, so read onward for the details.
GoPro Hero 9 Black — $200 $350 43% off

Read more
An ace photographer is about to leave the ISS. Here are his best shots
The moon and Earth as seen from the ISS.

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick is preparing to return to Earth after spending seven months living and working aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

After arriving at the orbital outpost, Dominick -- who is on his first mission to space -- quickly earned a reputation for being an ace photographer. He's been using the facility’s plethora of high-end cameras and lenses to capture amazing shots from his unique vantage point some 250 miles above Earth. Sharing his content on social media, the American astronaut has always been happy to reveal how he captured the imagery and offer extra insight for folks interested to know more.

Read more
The best camera phones in 2025: our top 9 photography picks
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Xiaomi 15 Ultra.

Modern smartphones have almost entirely eliminated the market for point-and-shoot cameras, and many of today's flagships can even rival the best DSLRs for all but the most demanding professional photography projects. It's not just the old adage that the best camera is the one you always have with you; most of the best smartphones now count their camera systems among their most important selling points.

Much of the magic in today's smartphone cameras goes beyond the lenses. Powerful chips with advanced AI-powered image signal processing and computational photography in software allows even the most run-of-the-mill camera sensors to produce great results. That's something that most standalone cameras can't compete with, so it's small wonder that smartphones now dominate the photographic landscape.

Read more