What is London Canvas?
London Canvas is a print-on-demand photography shop featuring canvas prints of both iconic and hidden areas of London.
Each canvas is of my own original photography, shot whilst I was either on a day out or just walking from place to place. Every product is printed to order through a premium print-on-demand process, creating wall art that’s designed to last and ready to hang.
📆 The history of London Canvas
For the last 10 years, I’ve been obsessed with street photography — especially that of London, where I’m lucky to live.
It’s tough to think about a time before the pandemic. But in such a day, there was a period of a few years when I worked in the City of London. I used to leave my laptop and other stuff in the office, meaning I was free to bring my camera stuff into work.
When I did, I’d make it a point to stroll out into the city and take pictures of the buildings; I always thought I’d make a name for myself in architecture photography (never did; didn’t stick with it for long enough).
I was active on Instagram, where I put a lot of these photos. But it wasn’t until a friend messaged me to compliment a picture I’d taken from London Bridge when I had a thought. Yeah, actually, some of these are pretty great. Why not print them out as decorations?
And so I did.
At a later point, when the same friend came to visit, she even asked if I could have the same image printed onto a canvas for her.
It was her birthday gift that year.
🇬🇧 Why the name “London Canvas”?
This was part of a lesson I learned in starting my first business: “don’t fret the small sh*t”.
This being, I didn’t want to get bogged down with coming up with “the perfect name”.
So, I came up with a name I thought was pretty snappy and registered the domain. If I need to rename/rebrand later, I can always do that. But to be totally honest, the name has grown on me a lot.
And, at least for the time being, I'm sticking with it!
 
Written by Tommy McDevitt
Photographer, lifelong Londoner and founder of London Canvas. London Canvas exists to capture the light, geometry and atmosphere of London; transforming everyday scenes into art that brings the city’s energy into people's homes.