Top photography exhibitions in London

If the name Cecil Beaton means anything to you, it might well be from a Claire Foy-era episode of ‘The Crown’. ‘Dear Cecil’, as they lovingly refer to him, is a favourite for his frou-frou portraits of the young monarch, his sugar plum conservatism contrasting with the sexy modernity of Lord Snowdon, husband to Princess Margaret and a very different type of society portraitist. This exhibition, however, presents a different side to the photographer and costume designer. 

If you think a show about masculinity should be full of images of guns and cowboys and beer and beards, then you’re not going to be disappointed here. Unless you also want that show to be a celebration of those things, in which case you’re in for a rough ride. Because this exhibition doesn’t celebrate what it means to be a man, it undermines it, subverts it and totally reshapes it. 

These 34 large-scale photographs by John Offenbach explore what it means to be Jewish today. Sitters include religious and secular Jews, school teachers and convicted criminals, homeless and wealthy people. The photographer travelled the globe to photograph people in twelve different countries including Ethiopia, Ukraine, Argentina and China. 

Why did a young photographer spend five years obsessively photographing a single street in west London, visiting it 27 times and taking 1,400 photos?