When I first started visiting in the early 1980s Newcastle did seem like a city in black and white. Once a great industrial hub it had been hard hit by the closure of the shipyards and coal mines of the region.
-
-
Welcome to the ‘strange’ world of northern Norway, where June feels more like January in London and where the photographic rewards are great if you’re happy to brave the chilly fingers needed to press the shutter!
-
Much of the Norwegian landscape looked a little unreal to me even in its natural colours. The drama of its mountains, the almost eerie light around midnight, even the snow and rain. All these lent it a magical air.
-
If you’re looking for summer warmth this isn’t the place to come. On my recent trip to Trondheim (south of the Arctic Circle) and Tromsø (north of it) I experienced some sun, yes, but also rain, hail, sleet and snow!
-
When the Shard opened in London in 2012 it did so to quite a fanfare, and to a rather damp squib (in my view) of a laser show. But despite the laser show disappointing, the tower never has. Although not to everyone’s taste (the fractured ‘shards’ at the top that give it its name divide opinion), I have always found it striking.
-
Like many Londoners (and indeed town dwellers worldwide) I discovered the pleasures of our local park during the pandemic lockdowns. Whether on our permitted visits to the shops or on the also permitted daily walks close to home, Walpole Park was our refuge and our delight.
-
Picture India, and you are quite likely picturing Rajasthan. A land of ruined fortresses and long-abandoned palaces whose stones speak evocatively of past maharajas. A desert land where rural life is tough and little-changed over the centuries, yet vibrant and full of colour. A land whose people know how to celebrate and how to welcome strangers.
-
When I visited Lviv in 2010 I described it on my Virtual Tourist page as a beautiful city ‘waiting in the wings’. By this I meant that it was ripe for tourism but hadn’t yet been discovered by the masses, nor did it yet have the infrastructure to deal with them. What it did have was beautiful churches with elaborate interiors; a lovely main square surrounded by historic townhouses; broad avenues and narrow winding streets; quirky cafés, a striking opera house and monuments of all kinds and styles.
-
Opinion is divided on street art / graffiti. Some consider it vandalism, others (including me) enjoy the way it brightens a city. Great street art can be beautiful; it can make you think; it can transform a district. So of course I was on the lookout for street art in Tirana, as I am everywhere I go.
-
Like many photographers I have a fascination with doors in general and the details of doors in particular. And as soon as I started to explore Cartagena I realised what a wealth of such subject matter it would provide! The streets of its old town are lined with handsome buildings from the Spanish colonial era, most of them with equally handsome front doors.
