Shortly after unveiling his new portrait photograph of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at the Windsor Castle (above), Thomas Struth's solo show Photographs 1978–2010 opens this week at Whitechapel Gallery, London. Selection from thirty years of works of this pioneering German photographer, featuring his brand themes (tourists observing artworks in museums, panoramas of colossal technology projects etc), should definitely not be missed if you're planning an art trip to London before September.
Another fascinating, even if entirely different, photography show is that of recently discovered street photographer Vivian Maier: A Life Uncovered at the German Gymnasium in London. Vivian Maier, who died in 2009, was an eccentric Chicago nanny, working in New York, who photographed obsessively even when she couldn't afford to develop her images and had never publicly shown them. Her archive had only discovered after her death, when it was sold off to pay for storage fees. The new owner quickly understood the value of the pictures and is now full-time busy to preserve and to catalog them. This is Vivian Maier's first UK exhibition.
More details about both shows in the Independent's Art section and an interview with Struth (talking about his experience of photographing the Queen) in the Guardian.