Reims cathedral — west front and chevet

Notre-Dame de Reims is where the kings of France were crowned, and the west front shows it — three deep portals, a gallery of stone kings across the top, and over two thousand carved figures that change character with every hour of the day. The parvis is wide enough to get the whole facade in without a distorting lens; step back toward the Rue Libergier for the classic straight-on view down the street.

Late afternoon is the hour. The sun comes across the parvis from the west and rakes the portals, so the carving picks up shadow instead of flattening out, and the square empties as the day ends. Morning leaves the front in flat shade. In summer the facade is lit after dark and the parvis reads well at blue hour.

The frame most visitors miss is the chevet — walk round to the garden behind and the east end becomes a thicket of flying buttresses and pinnacles against open sky, with almost nobody in it at any hour. It is the best architectural photograph on the site and it costs nothing.

Inside, the nave is high, dark and slow to expose, and the Chagall windows in the axial chapel are the reason to go in. Sessions have to stay outside service times and out of the way of worshippers; check current rules with the parish before you plan a shoot inside.