Archive
Visiting the Dordogne and Limousin, June 2012 – Photo Report
As part of the same trip that started with a few days in beautiful Paris, we travelled south to the Dordogne / Limousin area for a few more days of exploration, relaxation, and degustation before joining up with some friends in the region for a three-day wedding extravaganza.
Our route took us from Limoges down to the Dordogne river itself, which is festooned with medieval villages and chateaux hewn out of hillsides and perched atop cliffs. Many of the villages and chateaux were variously at odds with each other during the Hundred Years War, with the French hunkered down in one redoubt while just a kilometer away, on the other side of the river, Richard the Lionheart might have been planning his next conquest. We were able to variously visit or canoe past many of these during our first couple of days.
Click on any of the photos below to view larger versions on Flickr – and click them again once you’re there if you want to see full screen!
Castelnaud-la-Chappelle
Beynac-et-Cazenac
Panorama of the Dordogne from Chateau Beynac-et-Cazenac
Roses of Beynac-et-Cazenac
Interior staircase of Chateau Beynac-et-Cazenac
Over the course of our visit we moved North, away from the Dordogne river, and visited many quaint (and quiet) villages en route, including Bourdeilles and the very picturesque Brantôme, “the Venice of the Dordogne”.
Roses of Bourdeilles
Brantôme Panorama
Canalside door, Brantôme
Hungry Ducks of Brantôme
No Parking, Brantôme
More images can be found in my Flickr set “The Dordogne and Limousin – June 2012“.
A Quick Hop to Paris – Photo Report
Let’s just get something straight right from the start: it is possible to drop your camera on its shutter release and take a good photo in Paris.
That being said, I have been to Paris so many times, that to be frank my last couple of visits have seen me running out of inspiration a bit. I thought to myself, there are only so many photos of the Seine and the Eiffel Tower that you can take. Which is true, but it’s been a few years since I did the “proper” tourist Paris, and a chance to take my girlfriend to the City of Light for her inaugural visit on our way down to the Dordogne meant that I had the perfect opportunity to recapture some of the most hackneyed photo subjects in the world – but we were lucky enough to have nice light most of the time, so I didn’t feel too ashamed of myself.
So take a ride with me as I present my own version of the Standard Book of Parisian Photography.
Carvings in the facade of Notre Dame
Keepie-uppie in Montmartre
Montmartre Couple
Paris Panorama from the Tour de Montparnasse
Eiffel Tower from Below
Sevres Gate on the Boulevard St Germain
Ile de la Cité Panorama
Summer Days on the Ile de la Cité
Deep Discussion on the Ile de la Cité
Sunset over the Pont des Arts
"Love Padlocks" on the Pont des Arts
Sunset at the Louvre
Sunset at the Louvre
Louvre Pyramid at Night
Eiffel Tower from the Palais de Chaillot, by night
You can see more of these shots on my flickr set here.
There will be more to come from the South of France in a couple of days, a set of shots I very much look forward to reliving.
A simple door in the Marais, Paris
More to come. Still on the road till next weekend.
[From the Archives] Photos from Marrakech, Morocco
From time to time, I will use these “From the Archives” posts to highlight some of my photography from the period before I started this blog in 2009. These photos have been publicly available on Flickr for some time but they have never before been featured on this blog. I hope you enjoy this blast from the past!
Waaaaay back in the early days of 2008 I popped over to Morocco for a brief (very brief) look around Marrahech, from the old medina surrounding the central square Jemaa al-Fna, including the myriad alleyways with mysterious doorways opening into stunning riads to the simultaneously fascinating and annoying souk – annoying due to very very persistent touts, but enjoyable nonetheless. Outside the centre were various palaces and mosques to be enjoyed, but the highlight was the beautiful Majorelle Gardens and their heritage buildings.
Arrival at Marrakech
Rose atop the Dar Silsila
Souk Beggar
More photos below the fold, simply click below:
Read more…
Winter in Berlin – Photo Report
Howdy everyone, hope February’s treating you well. Just this past weekend I travelled to Berlin for my girlfriends’s birthday celebrations and lugged my camera along. I love Berlin, it seems to be right at the centre of Europe’s respective cultural and political maelstroms and it’s a vibrant, ever-shifting and fascinating place to spend a few days. Of course, by choosing to travel there in early February we more or less guaranteed that it would be viciously cold, and we were not let down on this front. One (late) morning we discovered that the reason we’d felt especially cold at 4AM was that the temperature had dipped to -18C (0F). I’m from South Carolina and not even 12 winters living in London meant I had experienced that kind of cold. But, as they say, there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad preparation. Fortunately both of us were well kitted out with thermals, glove liners, toe warmers etc and still had a whale of a time. Anyway, the photos below show a rather abstract outdoor view of Berlin and don’t reflect the sheer amount of time we spent warming up indoors. But then again, once you’ve seen one blurry picture of a bar you’ve seen them all…
Reichstag Dome Reflection
Berlin Abstract
Berlin Holocaust Memorial in Winter
Berliner Dom and Fernseturm
Museum Island, Winter Light
Sony Centre Roof, Potsdamer Platz
Berlin Wall at Topography of Terror site
Gate of Babylon, Pergamon Museum
Jewish Museum Staircase
Anti-ACTA (Piracy Bill) March, Mitte
Moon and Fernsehturm, from Mitte
Roa Mural, Kreuzberg
Astronaut Mural by Victor Ash, Kreuzberg
As usual, more photos from this trip can be found over on Flickr.
A Winter Trip to the Isle of Skye
Last weekend I flew up to Scotland for a jaunt out to the Isle of Skye, accompanied by my trusty pal Corin and our able guide, David Langan, who escorted us out to the Isle of Skye for a full long weekend of trekking around Skye in search of the perfect landscapes. We braved 300m+ vertical hikes and gale-force winds in pursuit of our photos. I am happy to say that one or two of them came out.
Glen Shiel Reflection
Elgol Sunset
The Old Man of Storr, Sunrise
Glen Brittle Fairy Pools
Talisker Bay
Breakish Beach looking out over Applecross
Ord Beach - Rock Detail
Ord Beach (View of Loch Eishort)
The photo below may be somewhat pedestrian, but I had to shimmy out on to a ledge over a giant cliff to get it, which was the only way to shield the camera / tripod from the gale-force winds on the clifftop. The winds were so fierce, a waterfall nearby was blown back over the top of the cliff before any water actually fell. So this photo gets included, no matter the quality!
Neist Point Lighthouse
Duisdale Beach
Duisdale Beach, Sunrise
Torrin Beach - View of Loch Slapin and Blaven
These and more photos can also be seen over on my Flickr feed.
[From the Archives] Japan, November 2007
From time to time, I will use these “From the Archives” posts to highlight some of my photography from the period before I started this blog in 2009. These photos have been publicly available on Flickr for some time but they have never before been featured on this blog. I hope you enjoy this blast from the past!
JAPAN
Back in November 2007, I took a 2 week photo holiday to Southern Japan. Like many Westerners I had been fascinated with Japan since I was a child – every boy goes through a ninja phase, after all – and I had a growing appreciation for the refined nature of their culture, especially their cuisine. I came to Japan with many preconceived notions, somewhat expecting everyone to be demure, deferential and bowing non-stop, but I quickly realised – of course – that the Japanese are human after all, and a few rowdy nights in izakaya and out on the streets of Harajuku and Osaka quickly put paid to my hackneyed stereotypes. The Japanese people were generally very kind and even inquisitive, and it was a joy to travel through this land, and, barring the occasional instance of having no clue where I was or how to read the signs, I had one of the most perfect times imaginable. I am looking forward to returning to this fascinating land.
Below are a small selection of the thousands of photos I took during my travels through Japan:
Girl dressed for "Seven Five Three" ceremony, Yoyogi Park, Tokyo
Parental Encouragement, Yoyogi Park, Tokyo
Tokyo Rockabilly Club, Harajuku
Shinjuku Girls, Shinjuku, Tokyo
Toshogu Shrine Roof, Nikko
Sunset from Kyoto Graveyard
Heian Shrine, Kyoto
House on the Pond in Gardens of Heian Shrine, Kyoto
Mini Zen Rock Garden, Roan-ji, Kyoto
Entrance to Senso-Ji, Asakusa, Tokyo
Lanterns, Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto
Samurai Castle at Himeji
Itsukushima Shrine by Night, Miyajima
Morning at Torii Gate, Miyajima
Owakaduni Hot Springs, Hakone
Mount Fuji from Hakone
Moto-Hakone Lake Panoramic (Mt Fuji in Background)
Backlit trees and Maniden Roof, Shoshasan, near Himeji
Incense Smoke, Engakuji Temple, Kamakura
Temple Roof Detail, Shoshasan, near Himeji
Inari Kitsune Statue, Toshogu Shrine, Ueno Park, Tokyo
Temple Gate Detail, Engakuji Temple, Kamakura
More of my Japan 2007 photos can be found over on Flickr.
My 2011 Photographic Year-End Review
It’s been a good year for me. Not only have I got a new and exciting job with lots of travel, but I also moved in with my girlfriend and we’ve had the good fortune to have a couple of great holidays (to Vietnam and South Africa) and a couple more mini-break trips to boot.
It’s been an eventful year for me travel-wise. According to my profile on Tripit.com, in 2011 I have had 14 trips abroad totalling 100 days, racking up 147,596km of travel to 32 cities in 12 countries. Phew.
Apologies for the length of this post – I am having a hard time whittling down my favourite photos of the year!
January
In early January I was still getting to grips with my latest acquisition, a Canon 7D. I took it out on an crisp winter’s day and put it through its paces around West London:
I also made a brief business trip to Saudi Arabia. One of the stopovers was a coastal town called Yanbu, which like many Saudi cities has an “Al Balad”, an old town, which has often been left to rot, due to lack of a tourist trade and lack of interest in anything that isn’t shiny and new…
“The New York Post” – Photo Report
We capped off our travel this year with a personal trip over to New York for some family time around the Thanksgiving weekend. Lucky enough to have some relatives and friends who live in NYC, I make it over about once a year and always manage to find time to go out and shoot this mega-metropolis. Though I daresay I probably have enough Central Park shots in my library by now…
More of my latest New York photos can be seen either on Flickr (here) or Google+ (here).
This will probably be my penultimate post for 2011, if not my last – my next one will be a retrospective of the year with some of my favourite photos. It’s been a very fulfilling year.
South Africa 2011: Kruger National Park Photo Report 4 – Landscapes
Now, if I am totally honest, I wasn’t on the hunt for landscapes in the Kruger. For one thing, we spent every waking moment looking for wildlife. For another, you’re only allowed to get out of your car at certain points, and there’s no clambering through the bush trying to get that perfect framing of mountain, tree and sky. Taking landscapes out of the side of a car window is not ideal. And, regrettably, while Kruger is often beautiful, with wide expanses of veldt broken by a solitary tree, it is also quite often either A) flat or B) barren, and from about a half hour after sunrise to a half hour before sunset, the sun is a blazing presence, obliterating all shadow detail and washing out colours left, right and centre.
All this is a roundabout way of apologising that quite a lot of the pictures below feature, well, trees.
Well, that’s it for the South African photos (finally, a month after arriving home). Next up are shots from New York from a short trip there last month. Then, I think, a roundup of 2011.
Mortal Coil 